Copyright and distribution insanity
I love my kindle. I have about 5 books on the go at the moment. When the latest Dance of Dragons by George RR Martin announced its release date, I pre-ordered a copy from Amazon. Then I totally forgot about it till it showed up on my Kindle on the day of release. Awesome.
It's not all light and sunshine though. I've been systematically trying to replace my paper back copies with digital copies and free up space on my overflowing bookcases, but it hasn't always been easy, especially if the author isn't so popular. I thought the issue was that maybe it wasn't in digital format, but this isn't necessarily the case. In fact more often than not, the digital version is only available in the US and I'm not allowed to buy it. I find it unfathomable that in this day and age of digital communication that frees us from the restrictions of location, that I'm not allowed to buy something digital available to other people because I'm in the wrong location. Especially given the fact that I could just order the US hard copy and have it shipped over.
Worse, its not just old releases. When I wanted to buy Towers of Midnight, the digital version for the pacific did not get released till 2 months afterwards. Nevermind that by then, I'd already found myself a pirated version and read that. Now I'll wait till it drops down to a much cheaper price before spending my money on it, but on release day I was willing to pay a lot more. Their loss. Literally.
And no, its not just ebooks. Apps too. I go to a website and they're telling me to download their free iPad app. And no..I can't. I can't subscribe to your goods that you make available through your app (manga sales btw). Stop tempting me and leave me to my pirating and overflowing bookshelves.
I don't see why customers have to be punished because distributors want to have complicated legal wranglings over the rights for distribution in each and every country and then the rights holders complain about the pirating that goes on. Sorry, but I just can't be bothered waiting for that crap, if you're going to advertise it to me, you'd better be prepared to actually be able to sell it to me.
Even if you're not directly advertising it to me, you must realise that we're a global community, we talk about TVs, books and movies now and together. There are no borders except language and sometimes we get around those too. The world is our watercooler. I can't wait 6 months to talk about this episode or chapter, because by that time, no one else in the community cares. So yes, expect me to pirate so that I can keep up and keep my interest and enthusiasm alive. This is how I operate. Give me the goods when everyone else gets theirs and at a fair and reasonable price. Yes, I'm a demanding consumer, but isn't that the way of the capitalism that you praise so much?
It's not all light and sunshine though. I've been systematically trying to replace my paper back copies with digital copies and free up space on my overflowing bookcases, but it hasn't always been easy, especially if the author isn't so popular. I thought the issue was that maybe it wasn't in digital format, but this isn't necessarily the case. In fact more often than not, the digital version is only available in the US and I'm not allowed to buy it. I find it unfathomable that in this day and age of digital communication that frees us from the restrictions of location, that I'm not allowed to buy something digital available to other people because I'm in the wrong location. Especially given the fact that I could just order the US hard copy and have it shipped over.
Worse, its not just old releases. When I wanted to buy Towers of Midnight, the digital version for the pacific did not get released till 2 months afterwards. Nevermind that by then, I'd already found myself a pirated version and read that. Now I'll wait till it drops down to a much cheaper price before spending my money on it, but on release day I was willing to pay a lot more. Their loss. Literally.
And no, its not just ebooks. Apps too. I go to a website and they're telling me to download their free iPad app. And no..I can't. I can't subscribe to your goods that you make available through your app (manga sales btw). Stop tempting me and leave me to my pirating and overflowing bookshelves.
I don't see why customers have to be punished because distributors want to have complicated legal wranglings over the rights for distribution in each and every country and then the rights holders complain about the pirating that goes on. Sorry, but I just can't be bothered waiting for that crap, if you're going to advertise it to me, you'd better be prepared to actually be able to sell it to me.
Even if you're not directly advertising it to me, you must realise that we're a global community, we talk about TVs, books and movies now and together. There are no borders except language and sometimes we get around those too. The world is our watercooler. I can't wait 6 months to talk about this episode or chapter, because by that time, no one else in the community cares. So yes, expect me to pirate so that I can keep up and keep my interest and enthusiasm alive. This is how I operate. Give me the goods when everyone else gets theirs and at a fair and reasonable price. Yes, I'm a demanding consumer, but isn't that the way of the capitalism that you praise so much?