Could the Kindle spark book piracy?

[RWood]

As more people have ebook readers, more will look for free sources. The rise of piracy will be a direct result.

[mdibella]

Steve, I don't think that anyone is saying that electronic versions have no value. In my case, it is more a sense of feeling that if I own a paper copy of a book, I have in effect already purchased the content. Do you, as an author, feel it is wrong for someone to download electronic versions of books they already own?

How about taking those books and scanning them into ebook format? Is that wrong?

[kovidgoyal]

You need to add an option that says something like "E-book piracy is already a thriving activity"

[NatCh]

Wouldn't that fall under the third, "no change" option?

[kovidgoyal]

I guess, but it's more dramatic this way

[rflashman]

Maybe its this discussion that will spark book piracy... until I saw this forum the thought had not occurred to me. Now I'm wondering... is there a booktorrents.com or other bizarre operation taking place that I'm not aware of? (tongue in cheek)

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

I guess, but it's more dramatic this way

Point.

Originally Posted by rflashman

... is there a booktorrents.com or other bizarre operation taking place that I'm not aware of? (tongue in cheek)

Of course there is! You could spend your life cataloging the cussed things and still not know about all of them

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by rflashman

Maybe its this discussion that will spark book piracy... until I saw this forum the thought had not occurred to me.

I believe there is no security through obscurity. Hiding from a fact does not make it any safer. And I also believe in constructive discussions, no matter how controversial the topic.

[TadW]

I hope that the publishing industry will study history and learn from the mistakes of the music industry. We don't need a second RIAA.

And what's so different with the Kindle? People have been pirating e-books for as long as I can remember, and yet I haven't heard a single word about the imminent death of the book industry. Stop crying.

[astra]

I believe the level of the darknet ebook traffic is going to increase.

There are two reasons.

1. Because Kindle is so famous and more people are learning about ebook readers and buy them, there will be more people who realise that they cannot read what they do want to read - on the very expensive ebook reader they bought (as I mentioned before, there are so many books that you cannot buy in ebook format such as Glean Cook - Black Company, Robert Jordan - Wheel of Time, Steven Erikson - Malazan Book of the Fallen and many more). After paying a lot of money for the reader and being hooked to it and realising just too later about it, people will turn to the darknet.

Mind you, the reason is not - money. They would love to pay money for the books they would like to read but they will not be able to.


2. The more people buy ebook readers, the faster will grow a number of people who, until today, are blissfully unaware of all the problems that DRM introduce. When they switch reading devices in 1-2 year time or any other situation when they are going to encounter DRM related problems and realise they cannot read books they bought 1-2 years ago for their well-earned money....they are going to get a little bit upset...

[donovanh]

I take exception to my religion being bashed like this! Pirates are supreme beings and have no time for footling around with dinky electronic gizmos. They spend their time in search of wenches, grog, booty and shenanigans. Also being Filthy is a virtue and should not be abused in such a perjorative underhanded manner.

RAmen.

[wgrimm]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

If you'd ordered a book that turned out to be an ugly hardback, you wouldn't consider it okay to walk into the bookstore or library and just take a paperback copy for free. (And neither would the store or library. Ask them.) To balance out the cost, you'd return one and use the refund to buy the other. They are two distinct properties, and both have to be paid for (or returned, in the library's case).

I still hear an issue of believing that electronic versions of documents are essentially worth nothing, and therefore okay to just take at will.......

There are some problems with this logic. First, both hardback and paperback books are tangible physical objects, that have definite costs because of the raw materials needed to make them. No raw materials, aside from the text itself, are needed to make an ebook.

The biggest problem with this argument is the inevitable comparison with the Ipod. If I own a music cd, should I have to pay more money to listen to it on my Ipod? Neither Apple (by providing the functionality to rip cd's) nor many others would argue the opposite. The consensus seems to be that if a person purchases a music cd, he should be able to listen to its contents on an Ipod.

Now consider e-books. What some are saying is the exact opposite- well, you bought a hardbound book, and now you have to pay another $15 or so to read that on an electronic reading device. Shell out cash for something that cost essentially ZERO to produce. That just doesn't seem right..............And as far as I know, not a single publisher is offering people the option to return a paper book for an ebook.

I bought a copy of Singh's "Mac OS X Internals" several months ago. Overpriced, of course- I paid around $70 for it (list is $80 I think). If I want to access it at work, I have to carry it in with me- and it's a heavy object to lug. Would be nice to have an e-book version....Guess what!! There IS an e-book version, pdf. And I ONLY have to pay $49.95 to be a good boy and RE-PURCHASE it. Or should I grab, for free, a .chm version that has been posted on the net? Ethically, why should I be required to RE-PURCHASE this content? Spend $49.95 on something that cost about ZERO to produce?

[nekokami]

Format shifting is legal in the US with regards to music, and by extension, probably books as well. But it's not legal in some countries, including the UK, apparently.

[vivaldirules]

Originally Posted by donovanh

I take exception to my religion being bashed like this! Pirates are supreme beings and have no time for footling around with dinky electronic gizmos. They spend their time in search of wenches, grog, booty and shenanigans. Also being Filthy is a virtue and should not be abused in such a perjorative underhanded manner.

RAmen.

A witch! Let's burn him!!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by wgrimm

I bought a copy of Singh's "Mac OS X Internals" several months ago. Overpriced, of course- I paid around $70 for it (list is $80 I think). If I want to access it at work, I have to carry it in with me- and it's a heavy object to lug. Would be nice to have an e-book version....Guess what!! There IS an e-book version, pdf. And I ONLY have to pay $49.95 to be a good boy and RE-PURCHASE it. Or should I grab, for free, a .chm version that has been posted on the net? Ethically, why should I be required to RE-PURCHASE this content? Spend $49.95 on something that cost about ZERO to produce?

Why didn't you just buy the eBook version in the first place? You would have saved $20, and had something that was more convenient to carry around.

I'm a little unclear about why you say that you are being "required" to repurchase it; nobody is going to force you to do so. All you have to do is make the decision as to whether having the eBook is worth $49 to you. If it is, buy it, if it isn't, don't. Is is "ethical" to take the eBook without paying for it? Personally I'd say not. Is it legal? Absolutely not!