Did you already own the HP paper back?

[pidgeon92]

I bought the ebooks, and I will give my set of hardcovers to the daughter of a friend.

[JoeD]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

I see piracy as theft

My position on that is likely found in numerous posts on here, so I'll leave it at that We can agree it's wrong and leave semantics to others.

I have stated that I would only pirate a book when I have purchased the book and the e-book is not available on the market. The day the e-book becomes available, I will buy the e-book because I believe the author should get paid for their efforts. I paid for one format, I want another format, I pay for the second format.

I've no issue with that, although I don't really judge those who buy the books in paper form when the ebook isn't available to make up for downloading the dodgy ebook copy but don't then buy the ebook when it becomes available either.

I'm not sure how I feel in the case of ebook being available to buy, but you already have the paper version and don't want to scan it yourself. I can see why some see it as justified and others see it as wrong.

Since I no longer buy paper books though, I'd have no justification for downloading the ebook anyway, which is why I've yet to read HP. I don't own the paper books and won't illegally download the ebooks (fortunately, Pottermore has provided a nice solution

I get that other people do not see it the same way and feel like it is ok to pirate e-books of books they already own even if they could purchase the e-books. I have seen the various reasons why. I don't agree with this but such is life. I would not encourage said behavior but I am not going to run around saying that people who pirate are evil.

I take it from your previous posts, you're ok with format conversions as long as you're the one doing it, even if the process itself is fairly automated, such as mobi -> epub conversion.

If you were wanting to scan one of your paperbacks to make an ebook and your neighbour said they've just finished doing it, would you be ok with taking their scanned copy rather than making your own?

How about, if you could pay someone to scan it for you.

What if the person you paid, to save time when they're asked to scan the same book they've already scanned for themselves, just gave you that file (assuming you both had identical editions)?

Not trying to be facetious, just gauging whether it's the wide scale distribution with no way to know if the people downloading really do own the original that's the main issue? (and knowing that in most cases they probably don't)

As an aside, If there was a non-destructive service where you could pay to get a book converted to ebook form, no cutting up your existing book for scanning, perhaps just marking the inside of the front/back cover and then giving you access to the ebook, I'd be more against people downloading an ebook of a book they already own (whether the ebook was available or not). Something like they're trying with movies, only for books I think it makes a whole lot more sense than it does movies, where you can very easily do it yourself.

Probably make more sense for reference books than fiction though.

[ProfCrash]

For me, and only me, no I would not take it from a neighbor nor would I share my copy with a neighbor or family. I would not pay for a service to do it, that would be similar to paying for the book from a pirated site. If you are going to convert, you need to do so on your own. Scan it on your own, just like you rip the CD on your own. Granted it is easier to rip a CD then it is to scan a book but that has to do with the medium in question.

Yes I strip DRM and would happily convert books. When they charge me $2 to use the liscene I will change my stance. When they charge me the same amount as the hardcopy of the paperback I am not buying a liscense, I am buying the book. In my mind, that means I own that book and can do with it what I want. If I want to remove the DRM in order to convert the book so I can change e-readers then more power to me. I see that as the same as ripping a CD for the MP3s.

I do not share my DRM free versions. If someone wants to borrow a book and I can legally loan it, I will happily do so. I do not hand out the DRM free versions.

[JoeD]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Granted it is easier to rip a CD then it is to scan a book but that has to do with the medium in question.

Yeah, I doubt this would even be a discussion if it was as straightforward as CD ripping.

Yes I strip DRM and would happily convert books. When they charge me $2 to use the liscene I will change my stance. When they charge me the same amount as the hardcopy of the paperback I am not buying a liscense, I am buying the book. In my mind, that means I own that book and can do with it what I want. If I want to remove the DRM in order to convert the book so I can change e-readers then more power to me. I see that as the same as ripping a CD for the MP3s.

I agree.

Edit: Happened across this post on google when looking for info on what others feel about the ethics involved

I'm more interested in the ethics rather than current legality since ethics can shape future laws and provides a more interesting (and hopefully less political) discussion :P

Reading between the lines, each sides differing opinion appear to come down to whether they believe you should treat a digital product exactly the same as a physical item.

i.e those who believe you should, where buying paper back doesn't entitle you to the hardback for free, then with digital products buying mobi shouldn't entitle you to the epub for free (and obviously paper to ebook is equally a no-no)

For me, whilst I do think digital items share similarities with physical items and in some ways can be treated the same, there's sufficient different that you can't treat them as exactly the same. I'm just not yet convinced where the line should be.

[ProfCrash]

The line is not clear and I am aware that I make ethical decisions that others disagree with.

I don't like piracy. There are some cases where I understand why people would pirate books but for the most part, I don't think that the various excuses hold water. That and $5 might get your a drink at Starbucks. I do think it is an ethical decision. For me, if it means depriving the author of money, it is wrong. The author has a right to make a living and anyone depriving him/her of money owed them for selling their e-book by pirating is just in the wrong. That is my ethical take on it.

Others disagree, I get that. (shrugs)

[snarkophilus]

I had one of those "moral dilemma" or at least "interesting thought" moments the other day.

First a little background - I try to buy ebooks where I can (to the extent of telling Amazon I live in the US if a Kindle title isn't available in Oz), but will fall back to the darknet if I've reasonably exhausted all attempts to give someone money for a book I want.

The local supermarket had a stack of paperbacks at 3 for $10, and there were a number of David Baldacci books there. I'd been meaning to check some of his books out for a while now. My first thought was "Gee, I can justify this to myself if I buy the cheap paperbacks and then download darknet versions for my reader. I've paid for them and I can read them how I want to."

In the end I didn't buy the books (nor did I grab them on the darknet), but it was the first time that such a thought had occurred to me...

Cheers,
Simon.

[tea2]

I have the audiobooks; I just bought the ebooks. Trying to save space.