| Forum Index > General Forum |
|
XeliN
United Kingdom1755 Posts
I also realise it is far easier, and much less risky to do, and have myself downloaded just under 10,000 ebooks and am indifferent at best to the notion that what I am doing is wrong. I simply couldn't care, perhaps could slightly if pushed. If I were to justify my behaviour (not that I think I need to!) it would probably be in the form of an anti capitalist rant. | ||
|
TheQforce
United Kingdom48 Posts
On January 12 2012 23:13 bITt.mAN wrote: If it's for the sake of increased learning and wisdom, why SHOULDN'T I download a bunch of teach-yourself-Korean books? because not paying for literature means that you aren't supporting the writers and if everyone done it , it would cause becoming a writer to be impossible to do for a livving, and a lack of literature would hurt society in the long run | ||
|
killa_robot
Canada1884 Posts
If they want what they publish to be free it's their choice, not yours. | ||
|
Megaliskuu
United States5123 Posts
On January 13 2012 04:40 XeliN wrote: I am fully of the opinion that downloading ebooks originally is stealing and is similar to if you actually went into a shop and stole it. I also realise it is far easier, and much less risky to do, and have myself downloaded just under 10,000 ebooks and am indifferent at best to the notion that what I am doing is wrong. I simply couldn't care, perhaps could slightly if pushed. If I were to justify my behaviour (not that I think I need to!) it would probably be in the form of an anti capitalist rant. This would essentially be my post here , I sure haven't downloaded 10k books though lol, I know technically its wrong, and that its not supporting the author, but its just much more convenient for me and saves me money. I can't really justify it, nor would I even try because its just me being greedy. | ||
|
DeepElemBlues
United States5079 Posts
I honestly can't see why people would want to buy hardcover books anymore as anything more than a collectible. Textbooks are even heavier and EXPENSIVE :/ Just my opinion, but there's nothing better than sitting down with an old hardcover copy of one of the classics when reading. The hardcovers they make today are crappy quality and fall apart too easily (sometimes it seems like paperbacks are more durable anymore) so I agree with those not being worth it. And they're BIG and clunky. Hardcovers used to generally be smaller in length/width of the paper. | ||
|
ticklishmusic
United States15977 Posts
I have three bookshelves in my room. Each one is about 6 feet tall, 4 feet wide with 6 shelves full of books. That's a lot of books. Take away those shelves, put a Kindle in a corner. It would look rather silly. Maybe it's because I'm so used to reading from books that I prefer them over reading some sort of electronic format. I enjoy reading TL Final Edits, news, strategy, wiki, whatever on the internet, computer, e-reader. However, when it comes to a novel, I feel that holding the book in your hands, feeling its heft, and then flipping page by page as you progress through the story is part of the reading experience. My parents bought a Kindle (I use it sometimes) and I like it... to a degree. I understand how its convenient to have a hundred-plus books in a single device. I also applaud Amazon for their great design-- it's small, fairly inexpensive and easy on the eyes. But, pressing a next page button and watching a percent completed bar at the bottom seems so detached. When I read a book, I want to immerse myself in it. These buttons and progress bars add another layer of disconnect with the story, the characters, their hopes dreams conflicts, the plot and the rest of it. And it feels strange. This applies to textbooks too. I like having the physical thing, and I also like my textbooks new and unused (for college). I don't write in them or anything, but I want a clean copy. I'm by no means rich, but to satisfy my idiosyncracy, I am willing to shell out a few hundred extra bucks. Yeah, not cheap. Sorry if that was a bit off topic. Anyways, when Inheritance came out in November, I had minor nerdgasms. I wanted to read it, although I figured it would be pretty much just like Star Wars as it had been for the last three books. So, I planned to go the university bookstore (Barnes and Nobles) right after my last class, get a coffee, find a copy of the book and power through until they kicked me out. Unfortunately (and somewhat surprisingly) the last copy was already gone. Yes, this was a college bookstore. I suppose that many other people wanted to capstone their childhood as I did, but goddammit, why did they have to buy all the copies? With no other option, I went back to my dorm and got my laptop. After a little while, I found a copy of the book online. I realize this is/was piracy, but I downloaded it and from 9PM to maybe 3AM, I read it. Well written (far as details), plot was full of holes and almost a complete Star Wars rip off. Geez. But since the details were good, it felt like the story moved along nicely. Yeah. Now here is the issue. I took an electronic copy and read it for free. Well, actually, I/my family had purchased a copy, and it had shipped home. I couldn't wait till frikking Thanksgiving to read it, right (I mean, 10 days+, come on!) ? So I felt it was okay since I had technically already paid for the book. I deleted my electronic copy right afterwards though. But ignore the fact I had paid what I'll call a "license to use" fee for the book. What would be the difference between me bootlegging a copy from the internet and going to B&N to "borrow" a copy and read it? I did that quite a bit in the past-- I'd go to B&N and sit down the ground and read manga or a book. There were many others there like me, and probably thousands who did it worldwide. Of course, I made purchases from B&N, but probably bought less than 5% of the books I read. | ||
|
Luzbeda
United States53 Posts
I think authors should focus on selling nice physical copies of their books. A real book isn't that expensive and is much more comfortable to read. They also also look nice on a shelf in your apartment as others have noted. They make you look smart. Physical books will always have a place, I think the market will just be smaller. | ||
|
HardMacro
Canada361 Posts
On January 12 2012 23:50 Cambium wrote: Also, books will never go away. Never is a strong word, a few decades? Maybe. A few centuries? I wouldn't bet money on it. | ||
|
ilovelings
Argentina776 Posts
| ||
|
SpiffD
Denmark1264 Posts
| ||
|
ticklishmusic
United States15977 Posts
On January 13 2012 05:42 SpiffD wrote: Some guy at my university just got busted printing an electrodynamics textbook on university printers, lol. Lol, I had a friend who bought a book from some site, and he got a stack of photocopied pages. It was pretty hilarious. | ||
|
Jaisse
United States66 Posts
Regarding textbooks, especially the math and science ones, I could certainly see why people would pirate them. They are extremely expensive, even used. What's worse is if you buy them from the university bookstore and want to return it when the semester is over, you get less than half of your money back. But, at least with me, the same logic applies here. If I absolutely can not find it anywhere, I pirate it. | ||
|
ilovelings
Argentina776 Posts
On January 13 2012 05:42 SpiffD wrote: Some guy at my university just got busted printing an electrodynamics textbook on university printers, lol. On the bookshelf that's behind me right now, I have over 50 books that got photocopied. All you need to read during a college carrier in my faculty is available in photocopies too. | ||
|
dAPhREAk
Nauru12397 Posts
On January 13 2012 05:55 ticklishmusic wrote: Lol, I had a friend who bought a book from some site, and he got a stack of photocopied pages. It was pretty hilarious. when i was traveling in vietnam on the beach, they had book vendors who would sell photocopied books. its always fun to see a page or two missing, or pages that are upside down. | ||
|
Geo.Rion
7377 Posts
| ||
|
bITt.mAN
Switzerland3693 Posts
When I can, I'll synthesize all the reasons for and against, into a nice little list, and then we can move onto the bigger topic (universally open free learning). G'night, and thanks for broadening my perspective. | ||
|
nalgene
Canada2153 Posts
It is more convenient to have a few pdfs compared to several heavy physical copies... | ||
Falling
Canada11350 Posts
I don't download books and I don't think I would. However, there's a bigger problem beyond whether or not downloading books are illegal and that is all the DRM and electronic locks that are being put onto it. It's turning a bit into glorified rental with personal accounts and the like. I actually don't buy any hardcovers new (too expensive), I do buy softcovers new, but I mostly frequent second hand bookstores. It seems that publishers are intent on getting rid of the second hand market as well as the ability to lend books to a friend. I understand why there is a concern because a copied file actually duplicates it so its now in two places and there is little motivation to get rid of it. However, I am convinced one of the most powerful marketing tools is word of mouth personal recommendations combined with actually experiencing the product before buying it. Every single new author I've tried, has been me experiencing the book for free. Usually recommended by a friend and then I lend it from them. When the author comes out with a new book, I'll probably buy that one and buy his old book from the second hand bookstore. Whereas I probably wouldn't have tried it at all. I think one of author Brandon Sanderson's guests to Writing Excuses, a publisher, said maybe 10% of book buyers will actually purchase a book off the shelf without having read a book from that author. Everyone else is buying a book because they've read that author before. But all this DRM is making it progressively difficult to lend books online. Then there's the issue of extending copyright laws so that we will probably never have books fall into the Public Domain again. The purpose of copyright was to protect authors so they could make monetary gain for their effort so they will continue to write more books. However, copyrights are pushing more and more into the courts of the publishers. Now there certainly is value in having gatekeepers and the job of the editors and line editors is very crucial to creating a quality work. However, once the author has been dead for a sufficient amount of time, they won't be creating any more books and needing any more money. A good portion of the classics have become Public Domain which means you can legally download them onto your device (my brother has been going through all sorts oldies.) But the way things are going, publishers are trying too hard to control the book's copyright. | ||
|
Voltaire
United States1485 Posts
| ||
|
Proof.
535 Posts
Textbooks, however, will NOT be taken over by e-books imo..it just feels wrong. I need to be able to flip through pages back n forth quickly. | ||
| ||
StarCraft 2 StarCraft: Brood War Stormgate Dota 2 Other Games |
|
WardiTV Summer Champion…
Stormgate Nexus
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
The PondCast
WardiTV Summer Champion…
Replay Cast
LiuLi Cup
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
RSL Revival
RSL Revival
[ Show More ] |
|
|
EPT
