I know people who ONLY download their software. In fact, someone recently asked if I wanted something they had and seemed to be completely confused when I said no. If I needed it, I would buy it. They just didn’t get why I would “waste” the money if I didn’t have to.

I think a lot of people feel ENTITLED to these downloads, simply because someone made them available. Sadly, that seems to be more prevalent these days and is it not just limited to the younger generations.

I disagree completely in that assumption, not just because you think it’s the younger generation causing the piracy, but also that stealing a movie or music will extend to books.

I think it’s equal oppurtunity pirating, because after all someone had to come up with the programs to allow them to not only steal, but use the pirated technology which doesn’t exclude the “older generation”.

The music industry has it’s hands full right now, trying to jump out of their backwards marketing and actually join technology. Apple got into the market at the right time, and they seem to know what they’re doing with the music, movies, rentals, ebooks, and audiobooks. They’re offering downloads for decent pricing that is compatible with the Ipod or Iphone. That’s definitely more than the publishers are doing and squabbling over the Kindle’s voice feature which allows the blind the option of listening to the book voice actor free. Its a computer doing the voice. But now they are cracking down on cutting edge technology that would simply allow a small fraction of the world to listen to a book without having to buy the audiobook. But they bought the kindle book on amazon…they paid their money for the book and are going to be prevented from listening to it if the publishers have their way. Simply because it was an unplanned idea that they refused to accept.

The publishers look just about as bad in this story as the music industry did a few years ago. When the music industry began the lawsuits against little old grandmothers (whose grandchildren used her computer to get pirated music), and dead corpses, they made the transition to cold unfeeling corporate America afraid to lose potential profits. If the publishers had marketing and ads saying something like, “By pirating ebooks, you are stealing $ from Mary Sue’s royalties, and she’s having a hard time feeding her family” it’d be a different story. Because I now that a lot of people don’t realize what selling a book does for the author. Yes, it can potentially get their name on the NYT bestseller list, but it also provides them with a small royalty per book which pays the author’s bills.

Now, IMO piracy is illegal and should be prosecuted. But to my friends, they view piracy like they are cutting out the middlemen. The movie theaters, the record/cd stores, grocery/gm giants, and publishers. What they don’t necessarily realize or care about is that those people have to pay the bills too.

And like some other comments, here, what exactly are we as consumers supposed to do? We can do what the authors do, and report the pirated copies to the publisher’s, but that won’t stop new software from finding a loophole.

So, what exactly are the people innocent of pirating, supposed to do in this situation?

In my post I do mention that the difference between the two is that when you pass along a used book, you no longer own a copy yourself.

That still doesn’t mean that the owner of the book owns the intellectual property contained inside of it. So I would argue that giving away or selling a used book is the “moral equivalent” to giving away or selling an ebook. The fact that one isn’t as easily copyable doesn’t, to my mind, make much difference.

That said, believe me, I’ve bought and read many used books in my time. Sharing books is a traditional part of the reading experience. Something we’ve done for centuries. Something that is considered normal and legal.

All we’re dealing with here is a new form of sharing. Unfortunately, that sharing can be done on a massive scale and it scares us.

Ebooks are a new technology. And like any new technology there will be an adjustment period before we fully understand its impact.

But, again, I tend to believe that, in the long run, ebooks and Kindle devices can only be good for authors — if only because it means that people who don’t normally read might actually start doing it. If they have a fancy little gadget that allows them to download a book, then those who never stepped foot in an actual bookstore or library might decide to take a chance.

I discovered books through a magazine. I was not really a reader when, at the age of twelve, I read the first part of a serialized novel by Donald Westlake in a magazine. That moment changed my life. Not only turned me into a reader, but gave me the desire to want to write, as well.

So anything — ANYTHING — that gets our work out there can only be good for us.

In illegal downloads, you’re taking one unique book and making digital COPIES of it. You’re replicating the book and distributing multiple copies of the same individual “unit.”

Whoops, just saw Jess’s comment below. What she said

But everyone would have to decide as a collective, that this is bad behavior, and we won’t ignore it within our community.

Jess

That’s the bottom line as far as copyright law goes.

If you buy a book, you do own a book, not the compilation of the words therein. A book is a physical object, and treated as personal property just like a necklace or a desk. If you will your book collection to your nephew, he gets the actual books, not just the right to read them.

More proof of this lies in plagiarism law. If we owned the words when we owned a book, we would be able to use the words with impunity, and we cannot.

The reason that unsold books with their covers torn are stolen property is because as soon as the covers are ripped, the book becomes the legal property of the publisher, who is acting in good faith that the copy in your hands was destroyed. If you didn’t compensate the publisher when you snagged that book out of the trash, then you just stole it.

A physical book is property that a person can own. An ebook is property that a person can own. They just can’t create new copies of it.

And I completely agree with you about the price point of ebooks. I don’t know what the production costs are for ebooks, but the fact remains that consumers expect digital media to be cheaper than print media. And so that need has to be met somehow.

Jess

When you sell a used book, people aren’t buying it for the paper and the binding or the ink, they’re buying it for the words contained therein — which, I’m afraid, they DON’T own.

The only real difference is this: when you sell a used copy of a book, YOU no longer own a copy yourself.

With an electronic copy, you can pass that book along to a hundred or a thousand people and the author gets screwed.

But I’m not sure that really matters. Most people only read a book once.

And I’m not implying that there’s nothing we can ever do about it — I’m saying it flat out. There is NOTHING we can do about it. The record industry has been trying for several years now and has had no success whatsoever. They’ve made a few bucks prosecuting downloaders, but that has only gotten them bad publicity and hasn’t deterred downloading a bit.

What they HAVE found, however, is that if you make DRM free music available for sale at reasonable prices, people WILL buy it. And they’ll buy a lot of it. The iTunes music store is quickly becoming the #1 music store in the world and they’re making money hand over fist — as are the record companies who work with them.

I believe Audible.com is doing pretty well also.

In general people WANT to be honest and get books legitimately. The trick is to offer it to them at a reasonable price point. If publishers were to offer downloads at slightly less than paperback prices, I have a feeling they’d sell a lot more books.

Kindle bestsellers are selling for 10 bucks. Which, I think is a good place to start.

If you want a book in a digital format, buy it in that format.

If you want a book on paper, buy it in that format.

If you for some reason want both, buy both formats.

Paying for one item does not entitle you to free refills for life on related items in ANY industry, and the “I know it’s unethical and/or illegal, but I don’t care, I’m doing it anyway” attitude is hardly going to encourage publishers to loosen up digital restrictions. Most loss-prevention experts actually discourage making it easier for thieves to steal and fence the merchandise.