E-Book Piracy: The Publishing Industry's Next Epic Saga?

[lene1949]

I'm confused as to the point of sale...

If I send a book somewhere, I upload it... If I want a book on my computer I download it...

If I buy a book from Amazon, wouldn't they upload to my computer????

[DawnFalcon]

Originally Posted by David Derrico

I like to make my work available from as many places as possible, in any format the reader wants to read it in, without DRM. Many of you are saying that you will ONLY buy non-DRM work, and some are saying they will only buy direct from the author.

To be clear, my objections are format exclusivity to the Kindle (because of their policies, which inflate book prices and I consider highly unethical and potentially fraudulent, as well as their insistence I use *their* reader, rather than one I find even remotely comfortable) as "I will buy second hand", and DRM as "I'll probably buy second hand".

If it's avaliable in a format I want, and non-DRM'ed, then it's down to price. And well, afaik Baen has it right. And yes, I do buy e-ARC's.

If you want to reach me, incidentally, a lot of the sites I frequent use Project Wonderful. You can get a lot of banner hits cheaply within a category of target websites as long as you're not hung up about any single website.

[shazwagon]

Originally Posted by sabredog

Add geographic restrictions to the list of reasons why readers turn to piracy to get a book they are quite prepared to pay to obtain but cannot.

I can't agree more. I have had to go through the same to buy music. Most popular music sites do not give their services in my country. I tried iTunes, eMusic, lala, spotify - they are just not available in my country, though they all claim to be working "feverishly" to correct this.

In India most CD's available are of artists I just don't enjoy - Britney Spears, Black Eyed Peas, Megadeth, Bryan Adams etc. - all very mainstream and (in my opinion) boring.

I know I can always order real CD's online but I find the shipping costs expensive. Hence, when everyone is raving about the new Animal Collective CD the only option left for me is to head over to Pirate Bay! I pointed this out to the above sites but they seem unable to help because of rights issue.

[neilmarr]

***Well, I'm an eBook publisher in Germany, and about all online retailers over here charge at least the same percentage than your average brick & mortar book shop***

It's about individual deals, K-Thorn. We've been selling paperback and ebook versions of our titles in online stores all over the world and in the high street for eight years now. We manage to keep online retail discount down to around 25-30% (ebook and treebook). Brick and mortar stores (treebook only, of course) will be anyhthing over 40%, with sale-and-return demanded as part of the arrangement. Cheers. Neil

[Blue Tyson]

Originally Posted by lene1949

I'm confused as to the point of sale...

If I send a book somewhere, I upload it... If I want a book on my computer I download it...

If I buy a book from Amazon, wouldn't they upload to my computer????

Yes, definitely. The actual transfer of material does happen that way, as I pointed out before.

The 'sale takes place at your computer' is a complete legal fiction.

[Nathan Campos]

Hmmm...
This is going to be like programs and musics today. The internet is a weapon that the humans can't control any more. Just wait when eBooks get more popular and you are going to see Warez eBook sites poping up.

In some years, we are going to have much autors and publishing corporations in the court judging the piracy as we have the musicans today.

Piracy is unstoppable!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Nathan Campos

Hmmm...
This is going to be like programs and musics today. The internet is a weapon that the humans can't control any more. Just wait when eBooks get more popular and you are going to see Warez eBook sites poping up.

Sorry - what do you mean "going to see"? They've been around for years, unfortunately.

Piracy is unstoppable!

True, but so are most crimes. Does that mean that we should not attempt to prosecute and punish the offenders?

[DawnFalcon]

Originally Posted by Nathan Campos

you are going to see Warez eBook sites poping up.

Do a quick google. "going to see"?

[tompe]

Originally Posted by HarryT

True, but so are most crimes. Does that mean that we should not attempt to prosecute and punish the offenders?

Of course it means just that in some cases. The laws should be changed to make it legal. There are no natural law telling what should be illegal. What is illegal is what we have decided to be illegal.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by tompe

Of course it means just that in some cases. The laws should be changed to make it legal. There are no natural law telling what should be illegal. What is illegal is what we have decided to be illegal.

Exactly. And "we" (ie "society") have, in most countries, decided that distributing pirated material via the internet is illegal. And quite rightly too, in my view. Of course, anyone is very welcome to feel differently about it.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Exactly. And "we" (ie "society") have, in most countries, decided that distributing pirated material via the internet is illegal. And quite rightly too, in my view. Of course, anyone is very welcome to feel differently about it.

But in the transition process to make it legal it can very well be right to not care about people breaking the law that is going to be removed. With "right" I here mean best for the society.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by tompe

But in the transition process to make it legal it can very well be right to not care about people breaking the law that is going to be removed. With "right" I here mean best for the society.

That may be true if you accept the premise that it is "best for society". I'm afraid that I don't.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That may be true if you accept the premise that it is "best for society". I'm afraid that I don't.

I am not talking about any particular case. I just talked about the general case that you described with "True, but so are most crimes. Does that mean that we should not attempt to prosecute and punish the offenders?". It is not true in the general case that we should always try to punish the offenders.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by tompe

Of course it means just that in some cases. The laws should be changed to make it legal. There are no natural law telling what should be illegal. What is illegal is what we have decided to be illegal.

No the laws should be changed to better manage ebook distribution (including banning DRM) and to better manage copyright protection and to prosecute those criminals that violate it.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That may be true if you accept the premise that it is "best for society". I'm afraid that I don't.

Nor do I. The copyright laws are in place to encourage creative works to be made available to society. Certainly that are not perfect, particularly in the digital age, but that doesn't mean the concept behind them is wrong. We need to improve them to work better at what they do and to prosecute those that break them to the fullest extent of the law.