This type of concern, extended to file formats, is a large reason as to why I haven't switched to an e-book reader, even though it would greatly help with my physical space storage issues.
Stealing Trek Literature
- Thread starter Scott Pearson
- Start date
Several points:
You can store like 1,500 books on your Kindle 2 and twice that for Kindle 3.
You can back them up on your hard drive very easily and they take up very, very little space.
A free program called Calibre lets you manage your library very easily and convert from one format to another. In this way I can read books that are on my wife's Nook and she can read books I buy for the Kindle.
I haven't researched this personally, but a friend at work who is a huge Kindle fan said that in the case that Amazon were to "go away" (never going to happen) then they have to provide you access to any books you've purchased.
In my mind, knowing what I know now, I'd say having an eBook is at least as safe and secure as a hard copy. I know with as many hard copies of books as I have, I sometimes loan them out or misplace them. Now, I have a folder on my storage drive and every ebook I own is categorized and backed up.
Interesting. I'm a Luddite and technophobe at heart, but I do see the advantage there. I've got a house full of books and I'm forever scanning my book shelves trying to remember where I put that old reference book on Vikings . . . .
LOL, that made me chuckle a bit since you write science fiction.
Anyway, I have hardback and paperback books from the 70's that are getting fragile and yellow although they have a wonderful smell
. My ebooks files from the early 90's, while not as old, are still in the same condition as the day they were acquired.
kkozoriz1
Fleet Captain
Oh, I've never pretended to be a hard sf guy. I grew up on Lovecraft and Matheson and Edgar Rice Burroughs, not Heinlein.
Hell, my first book was a non-fiction guide to vampire novels!
I completely understand reticence on anyone's part to adopt ebooks as the standard. I'm one of "those" people who likes to get a brand new hard back, open the book and just run my hand over the pages......enjoying the tactile pleasures of the book....I even like the smell of most brand new books. Like many who grew up loving books, I really enjoy the feel of a brand new hard back in my hands.
Still, I've come to find that the ease at which it is to manage one's library at by pressing a few buttons has really won me over. Vacation no longer require scanning book shelfs, going to stores/libraries, finding room to pack several books and that's just for leisure reading. I'd say 4-5 years ago with the technology being so new and so little support and tools for ebooks made it easy to resist making the leap. Now, things have gotten so easy that pretty much anyone can manage their library right on their home computer with very, very little difficulty.
Also, depending on how big a book is, the actual reading of the book is easier too. It's easy for me to take the kindle to the gym while I'm on the stair master or recumbent bike and read while I exercise. Reading a book in hard back form like "Under the Dome" which is 1100 pages is not nearly as easy as it is the Kindle.
Now, outside of a few authors that I already own every hard back for, I'm excited to make the jump because it's so much easier to manage, share or even find.
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I can definitely see the advantages when it comes to travel. I still remember schlepping what felt like an entire library all over Italy. (Guidebooks, phrase books, leisure reading, etc.)
Not to mention the time that I got stuck on an airport runway for hours without a new book. (These days I routinely pack two paperbacks when I fly, just in case.)
*GASP* I just discovered another book I wanted to buy as a ebook but cannot!! "Assignment: Eternity" What a bummer! 
And no, I do not want a scanned/stolen version, just someone to get the publisher to embrace the future. I have a paperback version from half priced books but wanted to use my lovely Kindle...
And no, I do not want a scanned/stolen version, just someone to get the publisher to embrace the future. I have a paperback version from half priced books but wanted to use my lovely Kindle...
But it's one of those laws where no-one will even find out and no-one will get hurt if you do it. Jaywalking across an empty road.
Plus all that daft stuff that's still on the books in some places. We do pick and choose the laws we follow and as a general rule as long as it's not hurting anyone else, then no-one is going to report you.
Still, that's also just for the specific case of stripping DRM as it's covered in the US DMCA. There's a push to introduce similar laws in Europe but I don't think most member states are there yet.
For terms and conditions of sales in general, they don't necessarily mean anything. Consumer rights generally trump any terms and conditions - it's why EULAs rarely get tested in court.
I only get bootlegs of stuff that's unavailable the legal way. So if the book's out of print, I might download an illegal copy, but not if I can find it used somewhere for a reasonable price. Selling something for $75 bucks just because it's out of print, when you know frakkin right well the book's only worth $10 or $15, is just WRONG.
Karen
Karen
So antique furniture and vintage toys should be sold at original cost - because heaven help if someone makes a profit on something that has become rare because they looked after it well?
The law of supply and demand.
You don't want to know what I just paid for the 33-cent Kooky Spooky I waited 41 years to own.
http://therinofandor.blogspot.com/2010/12/late-for-dinner.html
Sure, but collectors both receive commensurate value for their purchase for antiques and can sell their product so there's definitely an equitable trade with antiques and vintage toys.
Unless you're collecting out of print books as a hobby or to resell them, it doesn't make sense to pay that type of premium just so you can read a book for enjoyment.
Personally, if a publisher doesn't give us a way to purchase a book and you can't get one from the library, I really don't have any issues with searching on the internet for a copy of it.
For me it all boils down to following the spirit of the law, not necessarily the letter of the law. I want to support the authors/artists that produce works I enjoy. I don't want to steal or help others steal books, but I'm not going to deny myself reading a book that I can't find anywhere but on a bit torrent site.
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That was my point. I'm not talking eBooks here, but replying to terpette's comment.
Saying you refuse to pay $75 for a hardcopy book that someone else bought, perhaps to be a collectors' item or investment item some day, means that you have to be prepared to buy at the going rate for a highly coveted title, and if you don't wish to keep it, you take a chance (like the original owner) and resell it at the new going rate. Which may rise or fall in the meantime. Or, you wait to find it at a bargain price. The law of supply and demand. The answer is not, "Well, look for it in digital form on a torrent site."
But you know that will be (and already is) precisely the answer for the majority of people. The digital supply is infinite, so the law of supply and demand dictates that the cost must be zero. I make no statement about whether this is morally correct or not. It's simply the way it is now. Anyone born in the last decade won't take even two seconds to ponder the ethics of it. Music, films, anything that can be rendered digitally is now, and forever after, simply assumed to be free*.
You can get into a red-fanged rage about the unfairness of this fact, but it is a cold hard fact, and sooner or later those parts of the world that haven't already caught up will have to adjust to this new reality.
Apple recently celebrated the 10 billionth iTunes download. So unless just 10 people have each bought a billion songs, I don't think your claim that "the majority of people" are stealing digitally is a "cold hard fact."
^ I teach high school, and I was quite amused to hear, yesterday, a girl complaining that her brother won't let her buy more than 10 songs a week. And everyone saying that was, indeed, really awful. After a bit of a pause, someone said "and downloading it from one of those free sites is such a pain in the ass, too." And everyone agreed.
Like: my point is proven. I think we internet saavy nerdy Trek fan people forget how actually difficult to figure out a lot of this stuff is for the average user. iTunes beats pirates by being easier.
Like: my point is proven. I think we internet saavy nerdy Trek fan people forget how actually difficult to figure out a lot of this stuff is for the average user. iTunes beats pirates by being easier.
Easy wins over free for me. Download to Kindle with one click in less than a minute or search for a torrent and then move it to a device? Download. I like cheap, but I also like easy and convenient. I'm moving mostly to Kindle for books. I have the Kindle 2, the app on my iPad, iPod and PC. Same books on all my devices. I only go real books for stuff I collect like Trek or used stuff that is still cheaper. I'm really just trying to have fewer physical items and I don't like waiting for books since I'm not in the US.
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