“The books will stop working.” • Hacker News Board

Re: “The books will stop working.”

#231

Post by romwell » Thu, Jun 27, 2019, 11:31 PM UTC

lloeki wrote: post #210

sjy wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It could be longer than 100 years. I recently tried to find a copy of an article published in 1932. I can't find any version online and the nearest print version is in a library 1,000 km away. I asked the library if they could scan it and email it to me and they said no, it's still covered by copyright. This work was published early in the author's life; she died in 1983. So the Berne Convention would protect this wo…

Well I can’t even read my own research paper (lost my tex source and final digital copy when both hard drive and backup drive failed within the same hour). I know for a fact that it is archived and basically exactly where but it’s beyond either one of an abusive layer of bureaucracy or a paywall, whichever I would choose to go through. Not that it’s worthy of anything or even remotely interesting but it tells a lot a…

Can you get it off SciHub?

Re: “The books will stop working.”

#232

Post by la_barba » Thu, Jun 27, 2019, 11:32 PM UTC

nabla9 wrote: post #156

This is why when I buy a DRM ebook, I also get the pirated copy and put it into my Calibre. Buying a ebook is just for the payment.

You just signaled that you find value in the DRM'd product, even if that wasn't your intent. Why not reward creators who choose to distribute their works without DRM? I'm neither pro nor anti-DRM, but I find that people who love to hate on DRM (nothing personal towards you), never seem to be willing to take a hit when it comes to living without popular content that doesn't exist on non-DRM channels/platforms.

Re: “The books will stop working.”

#233

Post by la_barba » Thu, Jun 27, 2019, 11:37 PM UTC

zamadatix wrote: post #69

docker_up wrote: post #13

I have a close friend who published an engineering text book. He worked a couple of years on it and it was well received in his particular field. The book was pirated within months and is freely available on PDF. It's unfair that his hard work is being used globally for free. So yes, having books shut off sucks but so does piracy.

It being "unfair" seems to hinge on the assumption piracy = lost sale. Unless your friend simply laments people learn when they otherwise wouldn't have paid anyways in which case I'm not particularly sympathetic but at least understand the reasoning.

As an hypothetical.. If it were impossible to pirate Windows, would all of those users switch to BSD or some other free OSs? If even a single person goes out and buys Windows, then there is a definite argument that piracy resulted in the loss of at-least one sale.

Re: “The books will stop working.”

#234

Post by icebraining » Thu, Jun 27, 2019, 11:43 PM UTC

simias wrote: post #144

squaresmile wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got it from a private tracker but it looks like you can find it on libgen fiction too [0]. The 1.7Mb epub one is the one I got. [0] http://gen.lib.rus.ec/fiction/?q=A+Fire+Upon+the+Deep

>O site a que pretende aceder encontra-se bloqueado na sequência do cumprimento de ordem judicial ou administrativa. (The website you want to reach is blocked due to the execution of a judicial or administrative order). Ah the World Wide Web, less world-wide every day. I guess now if you don't use a VPN you're a second class netizen in many places.

No need for a VPN yet, thankfully it's just a DNS block.

Re: “The books will stop working.”

#235

Post by la_barba » Thu, Jun 27, 2019, 11:43 PM UTC

docker_up wrote: post #90

docker_up wrote: post #13

I have a close friend who published an engineering text book. He worked a couple of years on it and it was well received in his particular field. The book was pirated within months and is freely available on PDF. It's unfair that his hard work is being used globally for free. So yes, having books shut off sucks but so does piracy.

The lack of empathy in the responses is staggering to me. It's as if the idea that a content creator should be financially rewarded for his or her hard work is some sort of moral crime. Yes, DRM sucks, but what other way can content providers ensure that they get rewarded for the hard work and good content that they provide?

It is rather bizarre to see some people feel entitled to content which isn't distributed as per their own personal wishes. A principled person would chose to take his/her business elsewhere and purchase a book on a platform whose ethics they agree with.

Not saying I'm some Mother Teresa type.. but I'm against online ads, and I don't run an ad-blocker. I simply don't visit sites which feature blaring in-your-face ads. I filter Google results to exclude domains which I will never visit because of their ad policy.

Re: “The books will stop working.”

#236

Post by cestith » Thu, Jun 27, 2019, 11:50 PM UTC

filoleg wrote: post #163

harimau777 wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally I find that I just don't get as much out of digital books. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but the closest I can describe is that it feels like I'm looking through a window at a book rather than actually viewing it directly.

I found that for certain types of books, digital works fine, while for others it is a disaster. For novels, poems, and other non-textbook books without tons of graphics, ebooks are great. For textbooks or other materials where you are expected to flip back and forth through pages trying to digest the material, as well as for books with tons of graphs and diagrams, ebooks are indeed suboptimal. My personal rule is tha…

I find the opposite. If I just want to read, I prefer a book. If it's a text, I want to be able to read and search, and I want to be able to scale the graphs and footnotes. Not all eBook formats support color and scaling, but some do.

It's nice although our preferences are reversed to find someone else who has preferences for both in different circumstances.

I really like the books that include an eBook with the print copy.

Re: “The books will stop working.”

#237

Post by DenisM » Thu, Jun 27, 2019, 11:51 PM UTC

la_barba wrote: post #201

ajuc wrote: post #7

This is why DRM isn't just anti-consumer, it's also morally evil using the same logic that says libraries are a good thing. This is also why I buy games on gog.com instead of steam if they both have them.

Have you found a solution to piracy that doesn't involve DRM? What was its success rate? I'm sure the publishers would love to switch to a better system if it exists.

Apple, Inc. did - they sell all of their music without DRM for the last, like, 10 years. Meanwhile the music industry is alive and well.

The key is convenience. When it's convenient to buy, people buy.

Re: “The books will stop working.”

#238

Post by DenisM » Thu, Jun 27, 2019, 11:56 PM UTC

AnssiH wrote: post #87

hyperman1 wrote: post #4

I wonder how this can even be legal in Europe. If someone sold you something, its yours. AFAIK, There is enough consumer protection to stop most EULA bullshit. So it seems it only needs someone to sue and some proof microsoft used the word 'sold' when you bought it.

I doubt the law requires anything more than the full refund which MS is providing. Similarly, if someone sells you a physical product that is faulty, the seller is not required to produce a replacement, they can just refund you instead.

> the seller is not required to produce a replacement

As well they cannot demand any such thing - the country's money is legislated to be accepted as a settlement for any kind of debt. It's the "legal tender" thing.

Re: “The books will stop working.”

#239

Post by zouhair » Thu, Jun 27, 2019, 11:56 PM UTC

blakesterz wrote: post #15

Can you imagine someone trying to start public libraries if they didn't already exist now? I think it's safe to say it would never ever happen, at least in the US. Between lobbying and the general disdain for most things run by any type of government here, they'd never have a chance. Luckily we still have places that still purchase printed books (along with ebooks) and you can go borrow them any time and they never s…

The thing you can find a book that is hundreds of years old that is still readable, how long would data in a hard drive last in the wild?

Re: “The books will stop working.”

#240

Post by la_barba » Thu, Jun 27, 2019, 11:59 PM UTC

DenisM wrote: post #237

la_barba wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you found a solution to piracy that doesn't involve DRM? What was its success rate? I'm sure the publishers would love to switch to a better system if it exists.

Apple, Inc. did - they sell all of their music without DRM for the last, like, 10 years. Meanwhile the music industry is alive and well. The key is convenience. When it's convenient to buy, people buy.

Oh? I thought Apple Music was encumbered with DRM in their M4P format. I'm not super familiar with their service though. Maybe I'm wrong..

Edit: Looks like the M4P format was mainly on older songs pre2009. Though I see forum threads with people saying that they have to re-pay Apple w/ itunes match to get the drm-free version.