Do you pirate books and why?

[Apache]

The covers are stripped off of paperback books and returned to the publisher for a refund because the book went unsold. If the store then sells the book without the cover they are stealing. I used to see lots of coverless books for sale in used book stores.
Apache

[ianw]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

All of Agatha Christie's books are still in copyright in Australia. I would have thought that they're also all available as ebooks in Australia.

Copyright piracy? Probably. The UK doesn't have any laws allowing format conversion, and I suspect that Australia doesn't either.

Plus Neither one has an Agatha Christie to pay.....

[ianw]

Originally Posted by carld

“Piracy may not be a bad thing”, shares Angry Birds Creator

I would guess that if Angry Birds weren't an enormous success he might say something different. It's easy to say piracy isn't a problem when you're sitting in an office chair made of hundred dollar bills.

You say that like the two are not related?

McDonalds says cheap food may not be a bad thing.

I would guess that if McDonalds weren't an enormous success he might say something different. It's easy to say cheap food isn't a problem when you're sitting in an office chair made of hundred dollar bills.

However lots of businesses go to the wall.

I feel that most people want to do the "right thing" and that they will support artists by going to concerts, buying t-shirts, etc etc.

However those same people are probably not going to every buy a £795 photo package to touch up red eyes.

Here's a question for you, if Photoshop were £99, would they sell more or less of it.

Easy right, how about this.

Would it be pirated less?

Spotify has probably shown the way, lots of people I know who had huge music collections don't any more, because they are happy paying a small amount to "borrow" music from spotify's music library.

Perhaps when we have the same for Film and books, this argument becomes mute..?

[ianw]

Originally Posted by tompe

This is still a bogus argument. "identy theft" is not theft. It is "identy theft". Compare to "X science" which does not imply that X is is a science. Calling "identy theft" just theft would be confusing and wrong.

According to google, there are several hundred people who have stolen my identity, by having the same name as me. (My identity)

However, it's not hurt me in the slightest at the moment.

It didn't seem to affect Dave Gorman either.

[xg4bx]

Originally Posted by carld

“Piracy may not be a bad thing”, shares Angry Birds Creator

I would guess that if Angry Birds weren't an enormous success he might say something different. It's easy to say piracy isn't a problem when you're sitting in an office chair made of hundred dollar bills.

the thing thats striking about angry birds in particular is that its free. if you own an android platform its a free game (apple makes you pay for it). they made their fortune by putting out a free product that people enjoyed, wanted to support and by treating their customers well.

despite a very large chunk of their fanbase getting the game for free either through legitimate means or piracy, they still made a bloody fortune. why were these guys able to do it but companies with infinitely more resources and money can't? these "little guys" should be the ones bemoaning piracy but they're not.

[Equazi]

I completely agree with HarryT's point-of-view. I often do the same thing with movies. If I already own the movie, I don't have any issue downloading a copy of it.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Equazi

I completely agree with HarryT's point-of-view. I often do the same thing with movies. If I already own the movie, I don't have any issue downloading a copy of it.

Please be careful what you attribute to me. I said that I have no problem with it if there is no commercial eBook available. I do not believe that owning a paper book entitles me to a free eBook.

[Ninjalawyer]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Please be careful what you attribute to me. I said that I have no problem with it if there is no commercial eBook available. I do not believe that owning a paper book entitles me to a free eBook.

Oh HarryT, your justifications for stealing money out of the pockets of authors who have chosen not make their works available are as thin as onion paper; might as well just put on the pirate hat and embrace what you are.

[Pinecone]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Many expensive products such as cars are put into the showroom by the manufacturer. The dealer only pays the price after the car is sold. If it's an older model, the dealer can arrange to have a discount (partly) subtracted from the price he has to pay. That is why many dealers can provide a 10-15% discount even on newer cars; the manufacturer carries part or even all of the cost. At least, it's like this in the Netherlands, and it of course applies only to very expensive products.

In the US, the dealer pays interest on the loan of the car in their showroom. It is paid monthly, and used to be about 3/4% per month, but probably less now.

So the longer it sits on their lot, the more their actual cost is.

[Pinecone]

Originally Posted by xg4bx

i worked in a conveinence store and was told that i would be fired if i ate anything (i.e. day old donuts) even if it were on its way to the garbage can. even if it were placed in the garbage can and somebody then picked it out and ate it it was still considered theft.

That is to make sure that you do not "throw out" a fresh donut just to eat it.

It just makes the whole thing easier to enforce.

[The Straven]

I only pirate when I verb nouns. I have been known to swashbuckle once in a while though. Yarrr!

* This post has been certified 100% Grade-A Useless by the USDA.

[Ophysette]

I have 2 maybe 3 pallet loads of books in the garage I can no longer access. something about shifting boxes in a wheelchair. I really don't think its fair that I have to buy -again- when the books are quite readable, I just can't get to them. I am also now on a fixed income and my budget is $30/mon rather than 150/mon. It was bad enough to have to replace the books that were held together by rubber bands, also replace those that wandered off when my son went to college.
Ebooks have been a godsend. So has Project Gutenburg and I bless Baen weekly.

[Marbles]

I think that the increase in the price of ebooks along with the agency pricing we will see more pirating of books. I think if they kept the price reasonable and the ability to use coupons or have them on sale authors would not only sell more but that there would be less prirating. I have no problem paying for what books I want as that is the only way we keep writers writing.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Ophysette

I have 2 maybe 3 pallet loads of books in the garage I can no longer access. something about shifting boxes in a wheelchair. I really don't think its fair that I have to buy -again- when the books are quite readable, I just can't get to them. I am also now on a fixed income and my budget is $30/mon rather than 150/mon. It was bad enough to have to replace the books that were held together by rubber bands, also replace those that wandered off when my son went to college.
Ebooks have been a godsend. So has Project Gutenburg and I bless Baen weekly.

Honestly, don't you think that gaining access to your own books is an issue for you to sort out, rather than using it as an excuse to legitimise piracy? Owning a paper book doesn't entitle you to a free ebook, any more than owning a hardback entitles you to a free paperback.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Honestly, don't you think that gaining access to your own books is an issue for you to sort out, rather than using it as an excuse to legitimise piracy? Owning a paper book doesn't entitle you to a free ebook, any more than owning a hardback entitles you to a free paperback.

Owning a comic book in a sealed wrapper doesn't give me the right to one to read in my living room, but if my neighbor's willing to open his shelves to me, I'm not going to feel guilty for not buying a second copy.

These debates go round and round because there are two mutually incompatible viewpoints: one, that the author (and whatever assistants the author has hired) deserve to get paid by each reader (not "for each copy"--I can copy a Smashwords book to my computer, my ereader, my phone, with no complaint), and the other, that the author deserves to get paid for each edition bought, with the notion that each of those purchases may have several readers.

The first crowd insists that, if you don't have to pay for everything you read, you might not pay for any of it, or might not pay for enough to support authors. If all works are available for free, who's going to pay for any of them? Which is a valid question--however, the fact remains that people often *do* pay for content to which they have free access, for a variety of reasons.

The second crowd insists that they've *never* paid for everything they read, and authors seemed to make a tolerable living that way for hundreds of years, and we're not seeing *less* full-time-pro authors now than we were twenty years ago.