Why people (me included) are going to pirate the prologue

[yoniy0]

From what I could gather I cannot use the DM eBooks store from the Netherlands, is that correct? And if so, any other possiblity?

You shouldn't have a problem, now that Tor has released it to those countries as well. If you do, let me know and I'll inquire further on your behalf.

[Glowbal]

I have just tried it and unfortunally I was not able to purchase the Prologue. I've gotten the message about not being available outside the United States.

[yoniy0]

I have just tried it and unfortunally I was not able to purchase the Prologue. I've gotten the message about not being available outside the United States.

Gotcha. I'm not aware of any limitation beyond what Tor enforces on us, but I've already asked about it. When I have answers I'll post them here.

[batcaver]

I am going to pirate simply because Audible, Itunes and Amazon don't seem to be able to function cooperatively enough for me to complete the simple purchase. Itunes( the trashiest program in the world that the benevolent oracles at Apple have not seen fit to improve since it's creation, probably since they haven't figured out a way to charge an obscene pricefor it) crashes every time I try to sync the damn Audible file which must, of course, come in unique copy protected format instead of a versatile mp3 that I could put on any number of devices in 2 seconds. Now since I don't feel like spending my entire night trying to figure out what the problem is, I intend to just download the ebook from a torrent site, despite having already paid for the audio. If I pay for a book, I want to own it. If I'm just using a book, but don't own it, then I shouldn't have to pay for it. That's why we have libraries. I'm fully aware that my problem is technical and probably unique to me, but that doesn't change the fact that I am essentially being punished for being a paying customer by not being able to download anything but a .aa file, when just a simple mp3 would be so much more convenient. Next time I'll just check the torrent site first and avoid the hassle.

[yoniy0]

I don't know what's the problem you've encountered, but Audible for Android not only downloads your book at the press of a button, it also starts playing it immediately (as opposed to having to wait until the first chunk downloads; which used to be the case with their PC application). If your issue is solely with the DRM format, well then it's a good thing DM now offers Tor ebooks in a DRM-free format (both .prc and .epub, available here whenever you need it).

[XXX]

The prologue is not worth the 2,99 dollars you spend on it. You are missing nothing.

[Zewe]

I bought it twice - once for me, once for my girlfriend - and I think it was worth the $5.98 I spent on it. Not that the text itself is worth a sizable fraction of the cost of the proper book (it was great and all, but nothing ridiculous like that), but you're paying for the privilege of reading it early. Not for the prologue as a standalone work.

[Kudzu]

How come then I can buy all of the paper editions of TOR (or any other American publisher)'s books, from Amazon, Book depository, and plenty of other sites, even though I live in Europe? Why is it different with e-books?

Because Americans elect old men who think the typewriter is new fangled tech. Paper books are hundreds of years old, it is hard to be scared of them. Electronic books are a decade old and publishers are just as scared of change as every other manufacturer so they take their fears to the old men and tell them that if people can buy them easily it will destroy the world and the old men believe them because they don't know better.

 

The problem is, people can get the ebooks for free illegally with less effort than it takes to buy them legally (this is actually the last digital media that I care about for which it is true, Steam has done more to curb game piracy than the DMRC ever did). Until that changes, more and more restrictions will be put on their sale which just increases piracy. Harriett's decision to delay the ebook release is pretty much the only way you can slow piracy in the current environment and even with that the Audible version will be on the torrent sites within the week and a scanned copy within the month.

 

I think there was a pirate ebook of Deathly Hallows available within 24 or 48 hours of release, or some ridiculously short time like that. Not a scan either, a group of people actually typed it up. Rowling refused for a long time to release the Potter books as eBooks as she was afraid of piracy. The problem is the ebooks were still available, but the only option was to pirate them, as there was no legal means. I found this out earlier this year, when I decided to finally read all the Potter books, I went to Amazon to buy the first book only to discover I couldn't. So I downloaded them all for free instead, no skin of my nose.

 

This will probably happen with aMoL as well, people won't want to wait to buy a legit ebook so they'll find a pirate one instead and Tor will loose more sales to piracy than if they release the eBook at the same time as the hard copy.

[yoniy0]

You're correct, but in this case it's not the money they're thinking about, it's the NYT bestseller list.