Sideloading: Own content or "from somewhere else"

[mgmueller]

In another poll (Kindle Voyage <----> Kobo Aura H2O) it's pretty obvious:
Sideloading content seems to be important for most members in mobileread - and this seems to be one of the main reasons if buying Kobo over Kindle.

Personally, I don't sideload anymore for at least 3 years or so.
Of my friends sideloading content, only one is using his own content (= buying, in his case, from Amazon, stripping from DRM and loading onto his 2 other readers). All other "have their content from somewhere else".
One of my friends even argued: "The reader is 150 Euro. A single book would be € 15, so after having downloaded 10 books I'm even. And I already have more than 3.000".
Again, personally I'm not downloading "somewhere else" anymore. It's still easy enough, but I don't want to bother about conversion, correcting metadata and such. And I'm not that fond of pirating anyway, having earned my income for a few years in related markets...

Anyway...

I'd be interested to know:
When talking about "sideloading content": Does this mean downloading "from somewhere else" for you? Or does it mean, you've bought the content, but simply free it from DRM and use it on other hardware?

Multiple choices allowed = needed.

[HarryT]

In my own case it's very much because I've been buying books for an awful lot of years, and from all sorts of different sources, many of which no longer exist (eg FictionWise, BooksOnBoard). Maintaining my ebook library in a single place (Calibre), and sideloading all my content means that I have a single central point where all my books are stored, and no worries about trying to remember where I bought each book from, or what devices I can load it onto. I can read all my books on all my devices.

[GeoffR]

I sideload fo two main reasons:

* so I can make changes to the books (fix errors, add higher resolution images, split an omnibus into individual books, etc.)

* so I can buy books at whichever shop has the best deal at the time, and not have to worry about it going out of business in the future.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

In another poll (Kindle Voyage <----> Kobo Aura H2O) it's pretty obvious:
Sideloading content seems to be important for most members in mobileread - and this seems to be one of the main reasons if buying Kobo over Kindle.

Personally, I don't sideload anymore for at least 3 years or so.
Of my friends sideloading content, only one is using his own content (= buying, in his case, from Amazon, stripping from DRM and loading onto his 2 other readers). All other "have their content from somewhere else".
One of my friends even argued: "The reader is 150 Euro. A single book would be € 15, so after having downloaded 10 books I'm even. And I already have more than 3.000".
Again, personally I'm not downloading "somewhere else" anymore. It's still easy enough, but I don't want to bother about conversion, correcting metadata and such. And I'm not that fond of pirating anyway, having earned my income for a few years in related markets...

Anyway...

I'd be interested to know:
When talking about "sideloading content": Does this mean downloading "from somewhere else" for you? Or does it mean, you've bought the content, but simply free it from DRM and use it on other hardware?

Multiple choices allowed = needed.

I buy my books mostly from Amazon, some from Baen, some from a few other places (fewer other places now than there used to be...) If I don't buy the book directly from Amazon, I do send it to Amazon's cloud so that I can pull it down to my Kindle directly. (Just for clarification, I DO consider doing that "sideloading" books to my Kindle.)

I refuse to buy books that use Adobe DRM because
1. I don't trust Adobe to keep my information safe.
2. It's a cumbersome practice, and I don't want to encourage it.
Adobe's process REQUIRES that a reader be connected to a PC, and I just absolutely reject that as a process that should need to be used in modern times.

I use Calibre, both as a way to organize my books and as a backup solution. I would like to know why you seem to equate "sideloading" with piracy? I never have, actually, especially because if a person buys books from Google and wants to read on an e-ink screen they kind of have to sideload. Same if a person buys from Smashwords, OmniLit, Baen, or direct from any publisher.

When I first saw this poll, I almost chose the choices that used the phrase "from somewhere else", until I realized that you were talking about pirate sites. Why do you not consider any of the sources of legitimate ebooks that are not associated with a specific device?

Shari

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by HarryT

In my own case it's very much because I've been buying books for an awful lot of years, and from all sorts of different sources, many of which no longer exist (eg FictionWise, BooksOnBoard). Maintaining my ebook library in a single place (Calibre), and sideloading all my content means that I have a single central point where all my books are stored, and no worries about trying to remember where I bought each book from, or what devices I can load it onto. I can read all my books on all my devices.

Exactly so. Just the same for me.

[A general comment, in Moderator Voice]
Publically announcing on MobileRead that one pirates ebooks probably isn't a wise course of action. Note that this is a public poll.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by shalym

... I would like to know why you seem to equate "sideloading" with piracy?...

I don't.
Like I wrote and gave as options: One can sideload their own content, but one can download pirated content as well.
I'd like to see, what it means for most.
A poll on mobileread obviously won't be a valid representation of the general public. On mobileread it's mostly enthusiasts and we probably are more likely to spend money on our passion.
But, like I wrote as an example, I know quite a few people who justify their invest in hardware with savings on content. And by "savings" they don't talk about the 10%, ebooks might be cheaper than paperbacks. Most of them talk about "free eBooks". And when asked, those "free" ones aren't freebies from Amazon. It's pirated books from the darknet. And then those pirated books are sideloaded.

[Ripplinger]

Originally Posted by HarryT

In my own case it's very much because I've been buying books for an awful lot of years, and from all sorts of different sources, many of which no longer exist (eg FictionWise, BooksOnBoard). Maintaining my ebook library in a single place (Calibre), and sideloading all my content means that I have a single central point where all my books are stored, and no worries about trying to remember where I bought each book from, or what devices I can load it onto. I can read all my books on all my devices.

Everything HarryT said. I buy from wherever the book is the cheapest, strip DRM and sideload to my readers, keeping all books in one location in my Calibre Library.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by shalym

If I don't buy the book directly from Amazon, I do send it to Amazon's cloud so that I can pull it down to my Kindle directly. (Just for clarification, I DO consider doing that "sideloading" books to my Kindle.)

That's not what's conventionally meant by "sideloading". Most people use the word to mean "loading via the USB connection". Although I certainly see why you would use the term to describe what it is that you're doing.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by HarryT

In my own case it's very much because I've been buying books for an awful lot of years, and from all sorts of different sources, many of which no longer exist (eg FictionWise, BooksOnBoard). Maintaining my ebook library in a single place (Calibre), and sideloading all my content means that I have a single central point where all my books are stored, and no worries about trying to remember where I bought each book from, or what devices I can load it onto. I can read all my books on all my devices.

I am also with Harry on this one.
Apache

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by shalym

...When I first saw this poll, I almost chose the choices that used the phrase "from somewhere else", until I realized that you were talking about pirate sites. Why do you not consider any of the sources of legitimate ebooks that are not associated with a specific device?...

I did:
Point 3: "I buy from my merchant of choice, strip from DRM and sideload to my hardware of choice."
It could be the same "merchant of choice" for hardware and content, could be a different one. For most people I know, it's a different one and that's their main reason for stripping from DRM, converting and sideloading.

[pdurrant]

I have tweaked one poll option (added "for free") and fixed some typos.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by HarryT

In my own case it's very much because I've been buying books for an awful lot of years, and from all sorts of different sources, many of which no longer exist (eg FictionWise, BooksOnBoard). Maintaining my ebook library in a single place (Calibre), and sideloading all my content means that I have a single central point where all my books are stored, and no worries about trying to remember where I bought each book from, or what devices I can load it onto. I can read all my books on all my devices.

I did so as well until maybe 3 years ago.
For whatever reason I stopped downloading to the PC. Probably because I mostly purchase on my readers, often enough when on the road.
And when coming home from my business trip, I usually go straight to my business tasks and forget about the private stuff.
If I would start using calibre again, I would have to download about 1.500 eBooks from about 5 different sources.
Instead of doing so, I bought the respective readers from my most important sources of the last few years: Nook Glowlight, Kobo Aura H2O and Kindle Voyage. This doesn't solve my "problem" about my 500 .lit files from my Pocket PCs for example, but 90% of my purchases of the last 3 or so years.

I guess, at some point in the next few months, I'll go for the compromise solution: I'll download the desktop reader software from Amazon and Kobo, make a batch download of my entire library and strip all from DRM. I won't convert them, I won't touch them. But I'll archive them DRM free.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

I did so as well until maybe 3 years ago.
For whatever reason I stopped downloading to the PC. Probably because I mostly purchase on my readers, often enough when on the road.
And when coming home from my business trip, I usually go straight to my business tasks and forget about the private stuff.
If I would start using calibre again, I would have to download about 1.500 eBooks from about 5 different sources.
Instead of doing so, I bought the respective readers from my most important sources of the last few years: Nook Glowlight, Kobo Aura H2O and Kindle Voyage. This doesn't solve my "problem" about my 500 .lit files from my Pocket PCs for example, but 90% of my purchases of the last 3 or so years.

I guess, at some point in the next few months, I'll go for the compromise solution: I'll download the desktop reader software from Amazon and Kobo, make a batch download of my entire library and strip all from DRM. I won't convert them, I won't touch them. But I'll archive them DRM free.

Sure - totally understand that.

In my own case, no matter what device I buy the book from, I always download it on my PC (eg when I buy a Kindle book, I buy it using the Amazon web site and set the device to deliver to to be "Kindle for PC"). Then, once a week or so, I run K4PC, wait until it's downloaded all the new books, copy them all into Calibre, and delete them from K4PC. That way I can ensure that all my books are in Calibre.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

[A general comment, in Moderator Voice]
Publically announcing on MobileRead that one pirates ebooks probably isn't a wise course of action. Note that this is a public poll.

Strange enough, there's no risk involved.
I had softened my phrases and ominously used "for free" as an example.
But actually it wouldn't be necessary.
How do I know this?
2 years ago, a friend of mine in an email correspondence to a friend described some illegal action.
For an entirely different reason, later there was a search warrant against this friend (not me, btw). Police and prosecutors got hold of this email trail and wanted to search my friend's premises. Lucky enough, his sister in law is a lawyer. No way, a search warrant would be granted for a statement, which could be falsified, have been sent by someone else or something like that.
I was quite surprised. But obviously, legal actions warrant more base than public announcements, showboating and the likes.

You're right, of course. Wording should be used carefully.
But I wanted to give this brief anecdote (which certainly differs from country to country). The example above is quite complicated anyway: French citizen, now living in UK, having lived in Germany at the time of the potential offense...

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

Strange enough, there's no risk involved.

There's a very real risk that anyone unwise enough to advocate ebook piracy would find themselves banned from MR . That's what Paul was referring to.