Does anyone browse the darknet library before buying an ebook?

[Nathanael]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

No. If I want to browse a book I'll use the sample pages. The darknet is just too much hassle.

I've personally never had much trouble finding anything I wanted on the "darknet". (Not that I do so often. I have no use for the Windows software the darknet is awash in; and my musical tastes run pretty much toward classical, so I can generally get my music legitimately fairly cheaply.)

While I often use the darknet to preview books, I rarely actually read books from the darknet. They're mostly either unformatted, unproofed raw text (not a pleasant reading experience) or PDF, which isn't well suited for ereaders. The few books I have read I've either already purchased (the leaked version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which I already had on backorder at Amazon) or purchased subsequently -- e.g., some of Harry Turtledove's alternative fiction stuff.

The only exception I can think of is The Lost Symbol. As ashamed as I was to have actually paid for The Davinci Code (never trust professional critics), I had sworn Dan Brown would never see another penny of my money. But a local literary rag had asked me to review The Lost Symbol, so I downloaded it, without regret.

That's not to say I don't have unpurchased stuff floating around my hard drives. But that's nearly all stuff I either decided I wasn't interested in (hence, no lost sales) and haven't cleaned out yet, or haven't gotten around to looking at.

[CharlieBird]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

Would you reconsider installing the older B&N PC app? My version is still 2.1.1.2 and when it downloads books from B&N, it still downloads them as PDBs.

Version 2.1.1.2 is what I uninstalled but had it saved on my backup drive until just last Spring when I cleaned out obsolete or unused apps. Sorry now because their latest version is awful. I will keep fumbling around w/the unDRMing tools (a couple of good folks have given me some pointers & I am determined). Hopefully I won't have to ask you for a copy.

Apologize for taking so long to thank you but just got through a rough patch.
d

[speakingtohe]

Looking beyond GR, for the publishers it would increase their sales to have an International audience - don't they see that ?

I have always thought that this was a territorial agreement between publishers/retailers. ie. I won't sell to your customers if you won't sell to mine.

Geographical restrictions have always applied as in shipping costs and import fees etc. The ease of international digital sales has put publishers outside their comfort zones and the first move is always to bury ones head in the sand.

Plus there are probably traditional models of selling publishing rights to other countries that are embedded in their marketing plans that they think they can preserve. Good luck with that there.

I expect that these restrictions and others like them are all that will postpone for a short while, the demise of the small publisher.

To bad there are so many opportunities being missed that could turn a publisher into the next Microsoft or Google.

Helen

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by CharlieBird

Version 2.1.1.2 is what I uninstalled but had it saved on my backup drive until just last Spring when I cleaned out obsolete or unused apps. Sorry now because their latest version is awful. I will keep fumbling around w/the unDRMing tools (a couple of good folks have given me some pointers & I am determined). Hopefully I won't have to ask you for a copy.

As long as you're using a Windows machine, I'd gladly share. I can throw it out onto Rapidshare or something like that...maybe I can create a public folder in my Dropbox account.

I have a couple of old versions - I posted them on another thread. I'm assuming the new of the two (which I didn't add the version number to when I downloaded) is the 2.1.1.2. But I have one older than that, too.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

I have always thought that this was a territorial agreement between publishers/retailers. ie. I won't sell to your customers if you won't sell to mine.

That would be true, if that book was actually available in all regions. Most often, it's not. There are not a lot of Dutch publishers who will publish English books. And yet I'm not allowed to buy those books in the US, where there is a publisher who publishes it...

[speakingtohe]

That would be true, if that book was actually available in all regions. Most often, it's not. There are not a lot of Dutch publishers who will publish English books. And yet I'm not allowed to buy those books in the US, where there is a publisher who publishes it...

You are absolutely right in that you should be able to purchase a book in any language anywhere.

I was not implying that restrictions are right just that they are in effect in other ways for reasons that may seem valid to to the publishers.

I live in Canada and I don't recall ever seeing a Dutch book in a bookstore or library.
I am sure there are a few but not found easily by a quick library search. But I could probably order one from a bookstore in Holland if I tried very hard.

I would have thought that you could order English ebooks from another European country though, so just goes to show what I know.

If you were to purchase a geographically restricted ebook by hiding your ip I can't see geographic restrictions having much weight in court.

I think the GR concept is inneffective and archaic but my opinions do not hold much sway in the publishing industry.

I do sympathisize with you and hope things change for the better soon
Helen

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

You are absolutely right in that you should be able to purchase a book in any language anywhere.

I was not implying that restrictions are right just that they are in effect in other ways for reasons that may seem valid to to the publishers.

I live in Canada and I don't recall ever seeing a Dutch book in a bookstore or library.
I am sure there are a few but not found easily by a quick library search. But I could probably order one from a bookstore in Holland if I tried very hard.

I would have thought that you could order English ebooks from another European country though, so just goes to show what I know.

If you were to purchase a geographically restricted ebook by hiding your ip I can't see geographic restrictions having much weight in court.

I think the GR concept is inneffective and archaic but my opinions do not hold much sway in the publishing industry.

I do sympathisize with you and hope things change for the better soon
Helen

I can buy all books from all over the world, as long as they are in paper. It's only when it enters the digital realm that borders suddenly become very important again, even within Europe, apparently...

[EricDP]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

I can buy all books from all over the world, as long as they are in paper. It's only when it enters the digital realm that borders suddenly become very important again, even within Europe, apparently...

Nice regression.

[Ajax]

Posting here to share an amusing story that happened recently:

The darknet actually notified me of a new book release that I've been waiting to buy!

I've got an rss feed setup to notify me of new Sci-fi or Fantasy books posted. Well yesterday I woke up to seeing that the new John Ringo ARC Citadel had finally been released the sequel to "Live Free or Die". I've been waiting on this book for awhile since I loved the first one so much, but I knew it didn't release until Jan 2011 so I hadn't checked webscriptions lately.

So because of it getting posted to the darknet it "advertised" to me the release so I was able to go pick it up at Baen.

[Avex]

Originally Posted by greenapple

Since we can't browse at ebook stores, does anyone use the darknet 'library' for browsing before actually buying the ebooks?

Nah. I usually browse through the online bookstores first except there is 1 problem for me. Geographical Restriction on Ebooks which are unavailable for me. Darknet is my only last resort for ebooks except I don't go down that path most the time.