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Monday, October 5, 2009

Books / Teh Internets The New York Times Teaches You To Pirate E-Books

Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Oct 5, 2009 at 12:53 PM

This story for the New York Times, titled "Will Books Be Napsterized?" asks some pertinent questions:

With the new devices in hand, will book buyers avert their eyes from the free copies only a few clicks away that have been uploaded without the copyright holder’s permission? Mindful of what happened to the music industry at a similar transitional juncture, book publishers are about to discover whether their industry is different enough to be spared a similarly dismal fate.

And then it basically gives New York Times readers a step-by-step guide to pirating the e-book version of The Lost Symbol. This is important because I believe that New York Times readers are the last people in the world to partake in digital piracy. You can read my review of The Lost Symbol over here. (Short version: It's not worth the piracy.)

Comments (4) RSS

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for the record, i think pretty much everything you write is stupid. and this is no exception.
why in the world would nytimes readers be the last people to pirate something? wow. so stupid.

Posted by ng53 on October 5, 2009 at 1:03 PM

Not to mention a lot of the authors never authorized the usage of their digital rights, since they were not part of the publishing contracts and they (the author) still hold the copyrights.

That said, just use an iPhone as an eReader - it's way more functional unless you're literally reading textbooks.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on October 5, 2009 at 1:03 PM

@1: I think everything Paul writes is great and he's the main reason I read Slog.

Posted by Jigae on October 5, 2009 at 6:18 PM

@1: Bitter much?
I'm inclined to mostly agree with Paul's statement; but the kicker really is how the article in question did give out specific sites & techniques, so for those that didn't initially want to pirate because they didn't know where to start, now they have a guide.

The bigger issue above all of this is the mention of The Lost Symbol and its price: $9.99. Really? For a glorified pdf? After the cost to produce the book, pay the editors, pay the designers, and PAY THE AUTHOR THAT AWFUL ADVANCE, the e-book doesn't cost a cent more to produce (except running the text file, indesign file, etc. through a program for each format).
Hasn't Big Publishing learned from the App Store? Price the e-book at $2.99 watch the sales increase...

Posted by Vlad on October 6, 2009 at 1:03 PM