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Nookd

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Re: Nookd

#21

Post by duaneb »

why-el wrote: post #19
jgfoot wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But remember that War and Peace was not originally written in English, and the quality of translation matters a great deal. With Russian literature especially, the quality of translation varies widely, and some of the best translations into English are still copyrighted. A bad translation might faithfully reproduce the text's literal meaning but badly mangle the literary elegance that made the book so acclaimed in th…

I agree, but I think in the case of Tolstoy, or even Dostoevsky, the best translations also have their copyrights expired, since they were written usually few years after the works were published. I read a French version of Anna Karenina (Recommended by the way) once in hard copy, then reread the Gutenberg version, and to me the literary differences were minimal.

I can't speak for Tolstoy, but the Gutenberg version of Dostoevsky was atrocious compared to the Pevear & Volokhonsky translation. FOr a more modern example, Simone de Beauvoir's first translation was by an unskilled botanist who happened to know french and english. A recent translation came out that is night and day compared to the original, but it will enter public domain some fifty years later.

Re: Nookd

#22

Post by swdunlop »

This actually points to a risk that Barnes and Nobles, Amazon and other content stores are susceptible to: users who assume that they edit their content like a traditional publisher would or should.

This was a 99c purchase of a public domain work that was probably reformatted by someone who didn't care enough to check their work. This work was then publicly criticized by a consumer who didn't care enough to check their facts, either.

Re: Nookd

#23

Post by aamar »

aiscott wrote: post #12
bishnu wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It worries you that people will read more? That people will read more varied things? That authors will get better compensation? That self-publishing will become a much more viable model for literally millions of authors? Man you worry about some weird stuff dude.

Hard-copies endure. Digital, not so much. Checkout Jordan Mechner's recent archaeological expedition to retrieve some source code of his from 25 years ago (Prince of Persia). It was nearly lost, and that is only 25 years! The digital world is ephemeral.

Source code is intentionally kept secret and is different from the widely-distributed version.

The book-equivalent of source code is the collection of discarded drafts and working notes of the author. These, too, are often lost, but that has little to do with whether they are digital or not.

It's expensive to properly store and maintain physical copies of things like books. I understand that archivists have some trepidation replacing a known system of storing physical books with a relatively unfamiliar and untested system of storing digital goods. But the bugs are already being worked out; if you want to make sure something lasts, make it digital and make sure lots of others can get to it.

Re: Nookd

#24

Post by glesica »

excuse-me wrote: post #18
monatron wrote: post #15

Is the authors implication that in the digital nature of ebooks the ability to manipulate text becomes easier? Regardless of medium isn't this always a possibility? Whether it happens at the publisher and then printed on dead wood or otherwise -- to me it seems like one in the same?

It's rather harder for some government/publisher/web search company to modify the hardback copies on my shelf to airbrush Trotsky out of the pictures. With an eBook all it takes is a click by somebody at Amazon

This is a good argument against DRM and e-book-related cloud services but not really against e-books generally. I own a Nook and have never bought a locked-down e-book, so the publisher really can't edit the copy I own short of breaking into my computer.

Re: Nookd

#25

Post by colomon »

jgfoot wrote: post #13
why-el wrote: post #6

I have the kindle version and it looks fine. And why are they paying for copyright-free material? They can get a nice eBook version from Project Gutenberg.

But remember that War and Peace was not originally written in English, and the quality of translation matters a great deal. With Russian literature especially, the quality of translation varies widely, and some of the best translations into English are still copyrighted. A bad translation might faithfully reproduce the text's literal meaning but badly mangle the literary elegance that made the book so acclaimed in th…

Sure, but the 99 cent edition in question almost certainly is the Project Gutenberg edition, mangled by a third-party file conversion.

(On personal note, a few months ago I decided to read Les Miserables. I read a few chapters in one of the modern translations and the same material in the Project Gutenberg version. I concluded that IMO the Gutenberg version was clearly the superior translation.)

Re: Nookd

#26

Post by tyree732 »

eclipxe wrote: post #3

I was an engineer on the Nook team. It isn't possible for the device software to change text of books. Most likely the author or conversion service took the Kindle edition, ran a search and replace for 'Kindle' and there you have it.

Well good thing the author of this post bothered to talk to anyone before throwing this out there on the internet.

Re: Nookd

#27

Post by ctdonath »

aiscott wrote: post #12
bishnu wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It worries you that people will read more? That people will read more varied things? That authors will get better compensation? That self-publishing will become a much more viable model for literally millions of authors? Man you worry about some weird stuff dude.

Hard-copies endure. Digital, not so much. Checkout Jordan Mechner's recent archaeological expedition to retrieve some source code of his from 25 years ago (Prince of Persia). It was nearly lost, and that is only 25 years! The digital world is ephemeral.

Atlanta is enjoying an exhibit ("Passages") of a very large collection of very rare Bibles. From fragments of early/original texts (ex.: Dead Sea Scrolls) to definitive works (first-run King James Bible) to remarkable renditions (illuminated works) to unusual associations (mother-of-pearl encrusted cover Bible given by (!) Yassir Arafat) to notable errors (Wicked Bible, named for the single typo "Thou shalt commit adultery"), the soon-ending exhibition is for this thread a testimony of the importance of physical copies.

Per that last example, consider that the "Nooked" War and Peace could be considered a "great typo" someday sought after by collectors - except that, being ephemera, the digital copy will either be lost or copies unverifiable due to ease of replication.

I certainly appreciate the benefits of e-books. At the same time, physical presence carries a lot of meaning beyond just content. Alas for those notable books lost in a sea of bits...

Re: Nookd

#28

Post by ctdonath »

tyree732 wrote: post #26
eclipxe wrote: post #3

I was an engineer on the Nook team. It isn't possible for the device software to change text of books. Most likely the author or conversion service took the Kindle edition, ran a search and replace for 'Kindle' and there you have it.

Well good thing the author of this post bothered to talk to anyone before throwing this out there on the internet.

To the contrary of the snark, throwing this out there on the internet may have been about the only way for the post's author to get attention of a Nook team member. It wasn't B&N's fault (they're just retailing what they're paid to), so getting someone knowledgeable to look at the issue via nook.com may have been ... unlikely.

It was posted, it got discussed on HN, within a few hours we have a good relevant answer from an insider.

Re: Nookd

#29

Post by opminion »

jgfoot wrote: post #13
why-el wrote: post #6

I have the kindle version and it looks fine. And why are they paying for copyright-free material? They can get a nice eBook version from Project Gutenberg.

But remember that War and Peace was not originally written in English, and the quality of translation matters a great deal. With Russian literature especially, the quality of translation varies widely, and some of the best translations into English are still copyrighted. A bad translation might faithfully reproduce the text's literal meaning but badly mangle the literary elegance that made the book so acclaimed in th…

the quality of translation matters a great deal

Indeed. The English translation of Jules Verne's "The Mysterious Island" in Project Guttenberg is an "old" one which censors certain aspects of Captain Nemo's anti-colonial background.

Re: Nookd

#30

Post by tlb »

eclipxe wrote: post #3

I was an engineer on the Nook team. It isn't possible for the device software to change text of books. Most likely the author or conversion service took the Kindle edition, ran a search and replace for 'Kindle' and there you have it.

The device software reads data from flash and renders it in pixels on the screen. It is absolutely possible for it to modify the text as it does so.
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