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/lit/ - Literature

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2284487 No.2284487 [Reply] [Original]

I'm assuming that everybody on /lit/ who has a Kindle has pirated most of their ebooks. That's a fair assumption, right?

Is ebook pirating as widespread among the general population, though? If it is, then how long is it going to be before the whole publishing industry collapses?

I downloaded a torrent (will not link) that ensures that I will never need to buy another book again. I feel guilty about this (though I continue to use the pirated books)
but I'm not going to throw my money away for some doomed cause.

pic related.

>> No.2284492

>>2284487
I doubt it, especially when most people barely know how to drag and drop files

Either way, seems like print has been dying, as seen with newspapers and increase in digital options

>> No.2284493

nah, there are still plenty of fools who pay for ebooks. They'll keep the industry afloat. Don't you worry.

>> No.2284495

OMG FUCK YOU OP, BOOK PIRACY IS NOT AT ALL THE SAME AS STEALING AND IT HAS NO NEGATIVE EFFECTS ON AUTHORS OR THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY!!!!!!! BOOK PIRACY IS MORALLY UPRIGHT AND I WILL NOT EVER FEEL GUILTY FOR IT! IF JESUS CHRIST WAS ALIVE TODAY HE WOULD TOTALLY PIRATE BOOKS!

/every piracy advocate ever

>> No.2284502

Wait how can you download ONE torrent that ensure you get every book ever?

Also why wouldn't you link? If you're worried about the industry, buy books. if you want to pirate then share. That's what piracy is. File SHARING

>> No.2284505

>>2284487
> (will not link)

Fuck you, tragedy of the commons.

>> No.2284507

>>2284492

The technological ignorance of most consumers will be the saving grace of the publishing industry. If one desires to pirate books, first they must learn how to use
torrents- no easy task for most middle aged and senior citizens (the vast majority of the book-buying market.) Then they need to figure out how to convert formats so the
book can be read on their particular device. After that, they have to figure out how to transfer files from their computer to their ereader. All of this assuming, in the first place,
that they *have* an ereader (and I can't imagine my grandma or grandpa ever using or even wanting to use one.)

I don't see that happening.

>> No.2284509

>>2284502
>>2284505

You can find it quite easily if you really want to.

I will not promote the further pirating of books. Modern authors need all the help they can get.

>> No.2284510

>>2284507
Over the long-term, though, when the majority of consumers aren't grandpa and grandma, but people like us, or even people younger than us who have grown up with this digital medium as something as natural as television or print for previous generations - at some point does it pose a problem? In 40 years, 60 years, 80 years? At some point are we gonna need to establish new models for all this shit? How fundamental a change is the Internet going to be, once it REALLY gets up and running?

>> No.2284517

>>2284510

If SOPA passes, pirating will be a whole different ballgame- one only the most dedicated pirates will want to play.

As we got older, our technological savviness will stop keeping up pace with technological growth. We will not have time, nor the desire, to devote to "breaking the rules." We will settle
for the simplest option- paying for the products we want. Instead of jumping through endless hoops, we can have what we want with the push of a button- it it costs us five bucks, so what.
Most of us will have jobs by then.

I'm not worried.

>> No.2284525

You'd think they would just stop releasing ebooks if everyone just pirates them.

So, my guess is that the publishing wouldn't collapse, it will just go back to physical copies.

Or it will have to make some kind of subscription/library service that allows me to get all the new releases and obscure textbooks I want without having to trawl the internet.

I tend to not feel too bad about piracy in the end. I usually get copyright free books (or the author is dead anyway), second hand copies or I borrow books from libraries. The writers haven't really lost my money in the end. But unlike music I still buy some books and it is because I feel guilty about stealing them.

>> No.2284526

I enjoy reading books with real pages and having books on my shelves. I like to navigate the mazes of musty old bookstores and peruse the little-heard-of works of decades long past. That's why I don't use e-readers. My main worry about the future is that my hobby of owning real books will become expensive and difficult to pursue.

>> No.2284532

>>2284525

>But unlike music I still buy some books and it is because I feel guilty about stealing them.

Me too. Reason being, musicians make most of their money from touring. Authors have no equivalent income avenue. So I cut them a little slack.

>> No.2284541

>>2284532

I also just don't care about musicians. Writing a book is an achievement even if it isn't any good and they can take years. Half the people I know have recorded an album and nearly all of them can play instruments. If you are a musician you can always make a little bit of cash somewhere. It takes real balls to try and become an author.

>> No.2284544

>>2284509
>I'll make sure I can break the law but after that no one else is allowed.

Also, you didn't answer my question. How can there be ONE torrent file that provides you with very book ever made?

>> No.2284551

>>2284532
but you still steal from them and you try to offset your guilt by not allowing others to pirate? fucking double standards

>> No.2284553

>>2284532
authors can still benefit from free writing. Sam Harris has the right idea in this regard - shorter pieces more frequently and making greater use of online resources. And they can make money from talks and appearances they give at book festivals

>> No.2284574

A completely non-literary (but reasonably techy) friend of mine pirated 5000 ebooks for his grandma for her kindle. So I guess it is in people that a related to nerds?

>> No.2284579

>>2284517
Just chiming in to say that what you describe would be a tragedy for me as I'd never be able to afford all the music I try and no, 30 second "preview" clips don't cut it.

>> No.2284584

>>2284544

I never said it had every single book ever made- just every book that I would ever need. Big difference.

>> No.2284588

People are still going to want hard copies. It's easier for students taking notes and a much better experience all round. Plus sense of ownership is important to people. You don't get that with software.

>> No.2284593

>>2284584
you said
>ensures that I will never need to buy another book again

What type of books are you talking about? classics? science? sci-fi?

>> No.2284602

Like I give a fuck - I'm not going to choose to pay for something if I don't have to.

Now that I've switched to digital format, I don't care about publishers of hard copies. People can publish online at no cost.

>> No.2284613

>>2284593

Everything.

>> No.2284614

>>2284487
Just buy the eBook of the authors you like.

It's not a matter of supporting a doomed cause so much as compensating authors for work you appreciated.

>> No.2284615

Just because the world of publishing and reading is changing doesn't mean the world of publishing and reading is collapsing.

If you look at Borders as an example--it refused to change with the times. For a long time, their website just linked to Amazon, for the patrons who wanted to buy books. That is horrible business. Likewise, they dipped into the e-reader pool too late and they ended up going bankrupt.

The people who make a splash in publishing in the future are the ones who see the opportunities rather than the negatives of the changing market.

>> No.2284616

>>2284510

Then, my friend, things return to the patronage system, and we start paying for authors to CREATE their works rather than the ability/right to READ said works.

>> No.2284619

>>2284616
Me gusta!

>> No.2285059

I've just gotten 40gb worth of books I may never need...and I don't see whats there to feel bad about it. I'd rather spend money on the books I can't get or can't read on the Kindle.

...Like obscure translations of the Vedic Scriptures, a ridiculously expensive index of Japanese kimono patterns, giddy kaleidoscopes of Russian art and a mind numbing encyclopedia of every architectural form to date.

>> No.2285076

>>2284616
so literature only prospers as a function of the wealthiest class. the new feudalism, huh?

>> No.2285248 [DELETED] 

The content of a book is much more important then the medium of it's delivery. For me, ereaders can be nice and convenient, but I will always prefer physical books.

>> No.2285257

>>2285076

Not necessarily. kickstarter.com is an example of the patronage system at work today, and it relies exclusively on lower classes to function.

A patronage system does not require just one patron; with the economic capabilities of the modern era an artist can rely on the support of many people of lesser means, and are no longer required to seek out a single individual capable of supporting him.

I do suspect that it is a system that as a whole will not be able to support as many authors as the previous one.