EPTAs for the practicality, I much prefer real books. When I read online, I always have the tendency to skip or get bored and go watch a stream or play a game. I can't dedicate myself to it the same way as if I'm in my bed or a comfortable chair. I've seen Kindles, but they're much less pleasant to read than an actual book, so I think I'll stick to real books for as long as humanly possible.
Paid eBooks\Stealing Books - Page 3
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Cel.erity
United States4890 Posts
As for the practicality, I much prefer real books. When I read online, I always have the tendency to skip or get bored and go watch a stream or play a game. I can't dedicate myself to it the same way as if I'm in my bed or a comfortable chair. I've seen Kindles, but they're much less pleasant to read than an actual book, so I think I'll stick to real books for as long as humanly possible. | ||
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hypercube
Hungary2735 Posts
On January 12 2012 23:42 Synwave wrote: Oh look another thread justifying theft. If you don't pay publishers to produce books they minimize business and pay less authors. Less authors can make a living being authors and we have less unique and interesting books. The only stuff that survives is sludge that is widely popular and can still be a safe bet for a publisher to spend money either distributing electronically or in physical form. You can justify it anyway you like but this is the path it goes down. You can't call it theft when it's not illegal (DISCLAIMER: this isn't legal advice, check your country's laws). The problem with the second argument that it doesn't say why pirating popular stuff is bad. Also the same argument works for banning people from giving their own stuff away from free. If people are allowed to create and distribute content freely it will discourage those who would only create stuff for profit. Maybe government should set a minimum price? How about classics? The poor authors have to compete with Shakespeare or Tolstoy. How does that not hurt content producers? Of course the argument goes that the readers' right to access classics for free comes before the authors' right to having a healthy market. It's obvious that the authors and society as a whole can have very different interests. But instead of encouraging a debate on where society's interests lie content producers are trying to poison it by painting it as a moral issue and comparing it to theft. I'm sorry but as long the benefits of more people accessing the works outweigh the loss of less books being produced piracy is good for society as a whole. And frankly, I'm not even sure authors (or other content producers) should even have a say in the debate, except as private citizens. The goal isn't to balance the interests of authors and readers. The position of the author and the publisher is analogous to the freeloader who refuses to pay no matter what. Both are working against society as a whole for their own self-interest. | ||
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HotShizz
France710 Posts
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=291588 Dammit it was Switzerland... I had the "sw" right at least  | ||
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Ryndika
1489 Posts
From 2 options. A. peopel dont read and dont pirate. B. people read and pirate. I like the choice B, but I see that not everyone wants option B. | ||
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Nevermind86
Somalia429 Posts
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Milkis
5003 Posts
Dunno, i wouldn't pirate a book mostly because i hate reading anything on my monitor and would prefer hard copies. After reading so many forums I think I lost my ability to read for a long period of time on my monitor. Zero problem reading actual books though. I also think every book should come with a coupon that gives you a free copy of an ebook. I'd buy a kindle in an instant if they started doing things like this. I love physical books too much to ever replace them with a kindle, i think :| | ||
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Yurie
11841 Posts
They don't have the live appearance appeal a musical artist has. I can't think of a single author I would pay to meet or hear reading his/her work out loud (maybe because I am not into the various variants of poetry). This just leaves the "DLC"/monthly subscription route of games where the author has a core following paying for things and nobody outside of that group can see the content until a certain time/event has passed. Like an author releasing book 1 in a series to the public domain, hoping that sparks enough interest to get people into his/her site with direct revenue. There are authors trying this route out now (Monbade from New Federation being one example) and they don't seem to be doing all that well, though they have no real brand, thus not enough followers. There is of course the advertisement revenue from being on a site. Text is cheap content to stream online with a book being under one MB in most situations. Doubtful you get enough exposure to live from that though. (I read all kind of content, pirated, bought, library, free and amateur content.) I like ebooks, about half the books I've read have been on a computer or ereader (Sony Pocket variant). E-ink is quite nice. | ||
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ghost_403
United States1825 Posts
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REDBLUEGREEN
Germany1903 Posts
On January 13 2012 01:03 Nevermind86 wrote: LONG LIVE PIRACY. Did you change your country for that post? :D | ||
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Kupon3ss
時の回廊10066 Posts
But neither is speeding and j-walking, just watch out for the 1/1000 chance that there are actual ramifications for such behavior | ||
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WikidSik
Canada382 Posts
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Telcontar
United Kingdom16710 Posts
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Hikko
United States1126 Posts
I buy books and I buy games and I buy music and I buy movies (or rent them usually) because I know that if I were in the business of programming or recording or acting, I would prefer if I got paid for my work. And ebooks are harder to read for me, especially text books. | ||
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Yurie
11841 Posts
On January 13 2012 01:10 WikidSik wrote: I wonder y the price setters havent thought of this yet? If they sell 2k books, total, before a book becomes old and have to pay for the person writing it, the editors, printing, marketing... Then it costs a lot to break even or make a profit. | ||
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Cel.erity
United States4890 Posts
On January 13 2012 01:01 Ryndika wrote: If pirating a book is unethical is lending from library too?? MMMMMMMM...? Hate this argument, libraries pay to be able to lend out those books. Also, every library also lends out music CDs. The reason why you probably think it's not the same is because if you like a CD, you'll want to listen to it for more than a couple weeks, so borrowing one is impractical. For purposes of a discussion on ethics though, borrowing/pirating a book is no different from a CD. In terms of what supports the producers of the content, buying a used game at GameStop is actually less ethical than borrowing a book from a library. | ||
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Vinland
Argentina136 Posts
How much does an ebook cost anyway? (compared to its hardcover version) | ||
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Sanhadrian
Poland33 Posts
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fofa2000
Canada548 Posts
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FranzP
France270 Posts
On January 13 2012 00:41 bITt.mAN wrote: -A time capsule of a USB key is about as 'permanant' of eBook storage as you can get IMO. No way that'll last 2000 years, nor have ancient Greek texts, they were continually re-copied, as with the bible by monks. Geez I sound so kopimist :E Yes there are books hundreds of years old, the ones made cheap now aren't as good quality and certainly don't last as long. But good old fashioned ink on paper is still much more durable and long-lasting than software and electronics, which evlove so quickly bakcwards compatability can't be ensured forever. In 500 years, as long as you can read the language, you can read the same book, but a USB key with today's data storage? No way, it'll be and antique, too different. Having a solid book on a shelf or in a box somewhere is totally more sound way to store the investment, you dig up WAAY old books all the time. But once you've read them once, twice .... what worth is left to them? There are movements of putting used books in plastic sleves and leaving them on park benches, to pass onto the next person. What's the use of a physical book once you're done reading it, apart from having it for future reference? First of all, ebooks don't smell anything. I guess physical books will never die because some of them are pieces of art. Objects you cherish because of their physical form. People just like to have them, everybody isn't as utilitarian as you (I do understand your point) I do have a kindle but mostly for programming books. | ||
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Ryndika
1489 Posts
On January 13 2012 01:13 Cel.erity wrote: Hate this argument, libraries pay to be able to lend out those books. Also, every library also lends out music CDs. The reason why you probably think it's not the same is because if you like a CD, you'll want to listen to it for more than a couple weeks, so borrowing one is impractical. For purposes of a discussion on ethics though, borrowing/pirating a book is no different from a CD. In terms of what supports the producers of the content, buying a used game at GameStop is actually less ethical than borrowing a book from a library. I wasn't very serious about it because there is many different ethical opinions, wanted to see perspective from other side =D (ofcourse my opinion being that pirating is ethical [note I buy my games]). In my own personal experiences I felt kind of cheated when I HAD to buy 30e worth book and we opened it ONCE at class. Note it was classes were about subject you don't get homework, can't really remember what it was but some kind of business service. If I had iPad I would maybe pirate books for certain subjects in school. Ofcourse my own freetime books I still buy in hardcovers and treasure them with love. e: Would be nice to see price comparisons in OP. | ||
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