Sideloading: Own content or "from somewhere else"

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Cesca

Wouldn't "somewhere else" included public domain sites like Project Gutenberg? There are plenty of free sites that don't have pirated books. Manybooks, Girl ebooks, etc.

Yes, you're right of course.
But that's not the point I was aiming at.
Basically, what interests me:
From the roughly 10 people I know personally, who sideload books, only 1 is using legally purchased content.
The others use all kinds of sources. Can be freebies, but mostly it's the darknet.
So, from this (albeit small) test group, one could assume, sideloading to a significant extent is used for illegally obtained content.
I've phrased it carefully though, to not step on any toes.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by sakura-panda

I chose "I don't care about sideloading", "I buy from the merchant of my choice, strip and sideload to my hardware of choice" and "I don't mind paying for ebooks." I was a little stumped about the second one, because for me those three items are independent and not related to each other...

The issue, that interests me:
Is sideloading mostly used for pirated content (for my small "test group" of 9 out of 10 friends it is) or is the content legally obtained? If so, is it transferred to another device or is it mainly as a precaution (not losing the content).
So, those points don't necessarily have to be related. But they are related for the topic I wanted to stress.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

The issue, that interests me:
Is sideloading mostly used for pirated content (for my small "test group" of 9 out of 10 friends it is) or is the content legally obtained?

In my case, it is 100% legally obtained. All 6756 books that are currently in my Calibre library.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

Thanks. I use Amazon mainly for cheap and free books and I hate trying to read on my Kindle so the statements with "somewhere else" seemed apply to me for that reason.

If you read the headline of the poll "own content or 'from somewhere else'" I hope it's clear what I was aiming for.
Only 1 of my friends who sideload is using "his own" (=legally obtained) content, all others download from "dubious sources".

[AlbertaCowboy]

I'm still running my Sony 650 for reading, which is sideloading only, however the most important reason for me is strictly for disinfection purposes. I don't use any cloud hosting, nor do I trust implicitly that all my purchases will be backed up on the store's site indefinitely, so I make sure that I always have a clean copy in my Calibre. Besides, I'm very specific about how I like my tags and collections ordered on my books, so I wouldn't download right to device even if I had the option.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by AlbertaCowboy

Besides, I'm very specific about how I like my tags and collections ordered on my books, so I wouldn't download right to device even if I had the option.

Yes, that's an excellent point - metadata. I end up editing the metadata of the majority of books I load into Calibre. Sometimes to remove irritating extraneous information from the title (a lot of publishers add this!); sometimes to add series information so that it will be displayed properly on my reading devices thanks to Calibre's plugboards.

[CRussel]

I object to the notion that "for free from somewhere else" means pirated. what about books downloaded from Mobileread itself, or Project Gutenberg, or any of several other legitimate sources of free books? Given what people are equating that choice with, I didn't check it, but were the question phrased in a more neutral way, I would certainly have said yes. While I don't read too many books that are in the public domain, I certainly do read some. (Such as the entire Miss Silver series, all of Dorothy Sayers, or even Ernest Hemingway. Keep in mind that I'm in Canada, a +50 country.)

Otherwise, I'm very much in agreement with Harry. I buy from wherever, strip DRM and bring into Calibre, convert as required, and sideload.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I object to the notion that "for free from somewhere else" means pirated...

I had put "from somewhere else" in quotation marks. In combination with the headline "own content or 'from somewhere else'" I hoped it would be clear what I was aiming at.
Yes, free can be from all kinds of sources. But that's not the point that was interesting me.
Since the word "pirated" has been repeated already (which I wanted to avoid): The issue that interests me: In my small test group of about 10 friends, only 1 is sideloading his own legally obtained content. All others sideload from the darknet. It will be different amongst mobileread users of course. But I wanted to get a feeling, to what extent sideloading equals using pirated stuff. In my small test group it would be >>90%, which might be a bit drastic for the general population, but doesn't seem entirely unrealistic.

[Doonge]

I have a Kobo and my first book on it was a book I bought from Kobo.

Then I sideloaded all the rest. Many reasons, one that stuck is that I wasn't trusting the software within the Kobo.

[rixte]

I bought .lit books and peanut press books to read on an Aero in '99 - there's no way I'm NOT religiously stripping and archiving! Way too many places go out of business or the evolution of hardware doesn't support older technology. I sideload as a matter of course - I rarely (only if I'm traveling and away from my PC) ever have a book directly loaded on to my reader. Otherwise it's buy/strip/sideload, since that also serves the purpose of archiving.

I'm also uncomfortable with the 'somewhere else' being a synonym for piracy - I didn't check that because I read enough of the thread but there are several legitimately free 'somewhere else's that I use.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I think you would be guessing wrong. I'm not quite following why you believe the Kindle's ecosystem to be more rigid than Kobo's?...

Everything else would contradict Jeff Bezoes.
Quote: "We don't want to make money by selling hardware. We want to make money when our hardware is used".
I haven't read a single statement yet, where Amazon claims for aiming for outstanding hardware. It's all about the ecosystem.
As the exception to the rule, we certainly will find some people using Kindle only for the freebies and sideloading. But vast majority states: "I want to buy my books from Amazon and that's why I buy a Kindle".
On the other hand, only few claim Kobo's ecosystem being on par with (or even superior to) Amazon. But some consider the hardware superior and many more open and less rigid in their attempts to bind you to their ecosystem. You easily and without any hacks can load ePUBS via ADE onto your Kobo. What can you use for your Kindle? You can't use any "standard" 3rd party tool. (Yes, calibre is 3rd party and calibre to many is a "standard", but it's certainly not as widely spread and considered "standard" as ADE and the likes).

[Ripplinger]

Since I have such a huge backlog of to-be-read books, I haven't been buying much this last year, yet I've picked a LOT of free ebooks mostly from Amazon when they have the free days on some titles, B&N as well. Books not paid for don't necessarily mean they were obtained illegally and I didn't take the poll as meaning only that.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by rixte

..I'm also uncomfortable with the 'somewhere else' being a synonym for piracy - I didn't check that because I read enough of the thread but there are several legitimately free 'somewhere else's that I use.

Should I have written "pirated"?
That's exactly what I wanted to avoid, given the mobileread regulations and "big brother".
That's why I put it in quotation marks. And the headline differentiates between "your own" and "from somewhere else".
I had hoped this would be enough to make it clear...

[eschwartz]

My main reason for religiously sideoading all my books is to clean up the disgusting mess that is publisher metadata.

All my books go to my Kindle and from there into calibre, and then right back onto my Kindle after I normalize the title and author and series and apply plugboards.

Obviously, I use calibre for archival purposes, but this is why I also sideload rather than sync to Amazon's servers when I wish to add a book to my Kindle.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

...Books not paid for don't necessarily mean they were obtained illegally and I didn't take the poll as meaning only that.

Since some state the same, I obviously didn't make it clear.
I thought the headline "your own" or "from somewhere else" and the "somewhere else" in quotation marks would be obvious.

Anway...
The only point that interested me and what I wanted to stress with the poll, without being to obvious and use words as "pirated":
Almost all of my friends who sideload do it with illegal content. And most of them don't use Kindles because they don't have any advantages then for them.
Are the >90% of my friends (only 1 out of at least 10 using his own legally obtained content) a coincidence or is it the general trend?

Yes, you can sideload your legal content.
Yes, you can get stuff legally for free.
But I wanted to focus on the aforementioned aspect...