BTW, this is coming from someone who still purchases CD’s and doesn’t download music except from itunes.
I agree with the OP’s sentiments!
I am willing to make a wager: Those of you who do not pay for information are broke.
It’s a true correlation.
Some of us (who are not broke) realize that information has value. You can take information and do stuff with it… improve your life… improve your business… make yourself healthier, wealthier, or wise.
I would say that 90% of people who steal e-books are not successful people. I’m sorry, guys, but that’s the true. Until you see value in information others possess, you yourself will never see the value in the information you possess.
Incidentally, I like to review an e-book before buying it. If you send me one and I read it and get something out of it, I’ll go buy the book - even though I already read it.
I bought a worthless book once, and couldn’t get my money back. A lot of the people producing e-books produce crappy work. I would only buy an e-book without reviewing the book only if I knew the author or if there was a 100% money-back guarantee.
You are someone who sees the VALUE in information.
If you are not already making a living based off of your own brain the information contained therein; I will wager that you soon will be.
I personally don’t like to read E-Books, my eyes start to kill me when looking at a monitor for to long. Reading a physical hard copy of a book i can read for hours with out these issues. I also like to flip through a book before I buy it. In fitness books especially. Why would I pay 50$ for something when I either A) know the information being presented B) know where I can find the same exact information for free already or C) find out the information provided doesn’t help me reach the goals I am trying to reach.
Digital format books should be less expensive than a hardcopy format book. The cost to process and print them is not there. 40$ + dollars is ridiculous cost for a E-book. I make an okay living and can easily spend 50$, but I do not see the value in an ebook.
Purchases I have made that came from this site recomendation
Precision Nutrition
BulletProof Knee’s
All of these are in a hard cover format that I can physically touch. I believe both are worth the cost associated with them.
So my friend goes out and buys the new Jack Reacher novel. Reads it then gives it to me.
Then he goes online and buys an ebook on whatever, reads it and then gives it to me.
What is the difference? So I am not a thief in the first instance but I am in the second? And everyone that goes to a library is a thief? I think that maybe someone is applying “rules” from the far distant past to a much different social environment today. Hey, 20 years ago no one had a mobile phone, ipod, computer (not to mention a laptop) or the internet. At best they were either non existant or cutting edge technology.
On a practical note, a hard cover book is much nicer to read (particularly on the can or in bed) but an ebook weighs nothing so you can take it on a plane or have it at your fingertips for research without dragging a library around with you.
Now what I would like is a hard cover that includes a free (probably encrypted or whatever) ebook copy.
[quote]Triceptaurus wrote:
Now what I would like is a hard cover that includes a free (probably encrypted or whatever) ebook copy.[/quote]
Sometimes amazon.com tries to upsell you a digital version of a book you just bought. It seems they don’t indicate that a digital version is available until AFTER you buy the hard copy. So basically you can start reading it right away while you wait for the hard copy to arrive. The digital content and software that displays it and allows annotation sits on amazon’s servers; you have to be logged into your amazon account to read it.
[quote]Triceptaurus wrote:
So my friend goes out and buys the new Jack Reacher novel. Reads it then gives it to me.
Then he goes online and buys an ebook on whatever, reads it and then gives it to me.
[/quote]
that might be the best argument yet.
I would say however, that it’s different loaning/giving a book to a friend and sending an e-book out to 100 people.
I’m taking a side here, just tossing out my opinion.
[quote]CaliforniaLaw wrote:
I agree with the OP’s sentiments!
I am willing to make a wager: Those of you who do not pay for information are broke.
It’s a true correlation.
Some of us (who are not broke) realize that information has value. You can take information and do stuff with it… improve your life… improve your business… make yourself healthier, wealthier, or wise.
I would say that 90% of people who steal e-books are not successful people. I’m sorry, guys, but that’s the true. Until you see value in information others possess, you yourself will never see the value in the information you possess.
Incidentally, I like to review an e-book before buying it. If you send me one and I read it and get something out of it, I’ll go buy the book - even though I already read it.
I bought a worthless book once, and couldn’t get my money back. A lot of the people producing e-books produce crappy work. I would only buy an e-book without reviewing the book only if I knew the author or if there was a 100% money-back guarantee. [/quote]
This is somewhat true for me. I am a broke-ass college student, though I buy my required textbooks and I’ll by hard copy literature to read every so often.
I DO see the value in information others possess - that’s why I want it. I just get more bang for my buck if I happen to get it for free.
Another huge difference between an E-Book and a printed one is quality.
If you’ve found a publishing company willing to take on your book, it means that you have impressed someone enough for them to take a risk on you…someone who has made a career of weeding out inferior ideas. Yes, sometimes crap gets published, but typically if a book makes it to print someone has determined “this will appeal to an audience and make money”.
Published books are also scrutinized on an editorial standpoint. The grammar must be perfect, run-on sentences must be avoided, and overly verbose passages must be simplified.
Now, if a published work by a real author is transferred to E-Book format (scanned, for example) I might be willing to part with some money for its purchase. Not as much as I would spend for a real book, as I’m not big on the electronic medium for reading books, but some money nonetheless.
If its by some dipshit who has haphazardly thrown together a bunch of poorly-written Microsoft Word files into a “book”, and a LOT of E-books that I’ve seen fall into this category, sorry, but you don’t get a dime of my money.
I’ll chime in here again. I’m also in college and have been known to download some textbooks. Theyre good for reading a few times for class, but I’'m never gonna use most of them again and trying to resell them is a hassle.
[quote]CaliforniaLaw wrote:
I agree with the OP’s sentiments!
I am willing to make a wager: Those of you who do not pay for information are broke.
It’s a true correlation.
Some of us (who are not broke) realize that information has value. You can take information and do stuff with it… improve your life… improve your business… make yourself healthier, wealthier, or wise.
I would say that 90% of people who steal e-books are not successful people. I’m sorry, guys, but that’s the true. Until you see value in information others possess, you yourself will never see the value in the information you possess.
Incidentally, I like to review an e-book before buying it. If you send me one and I read it and get something out of it, I’ll go buy the book - even though I already read it.
I bought a worthless book once, and couldn’t get my money back. A lot of the people producing e-books produce crappy work. I would only buy an e-book without reviewing the book only if I knew the author or if there was a 100% money-back guarantee. [/quote]
(I stopped at this post and didn’t read anything past it)
You sir are assuming that there is value inherent in information. That’s where you’re argument fails. Value is placed upon things and ideas based on the end users assessment not because value is inherent. The value of everything is what YOU deem it to be not what someone else says. You can agree something’s value is equal to the price that’s being asked and pay that for it or you can disagree with the price doesn’t equal the value and either barter or don’t purchase the thing or idea.
Let me ask you a question: If something was priced UNDER the value you deemed the item to possess would you pay the price or would you pay the value? Price does not always equal value.