I think almost everyone is missing the point about illegal eBooks. Which is simply the same as that made by downloaders of music through portals like Kazaa, Bearshare, etc.
MEDIA IS JUST WAY TOO EXPENSIVE THESE DAYS FOR THE QUALITY OF THE CONTENT! It is government-sanctioned daylight robbery to charge $15 for a CD that contains 2 good songs and the rest as fluffy filler. In the same light, it is deplorable that a 750-page hardcover book that I am going to read once, maybe twice, in the span of three evenings, costs $30. Not everyone can pay this much for a book, and why do most of us have to wait for that book to come out in paperback (at $12.95 a pop) to be able to read it? The amount charged for value obtained, considering the economic situation of most people, is disproportionate.
A book is a great medium for personal amusement and edification, and for education and enlightenment. When school textbooks cost around $75 each and no book can be purchased for less than $5 at the bookstore, what are the people who cannot afford to buy these books going to read? Aren’t they entitled to this information as well? Especially when the technology and study material exists to create high-quality texts for a fraction of the cost that the publishers charge? With some of the arguments running around in these emails, one would think that these people would make teaching children how to read, used bookstores, or even lending libraries illegal as well.
iTunes has the right idea. $1 for a song that you pay to download after you have heard it. There is an example of exchange of money for value. Similarly, if dead-tree books didn’t cost so much and were available in different formats, it would give readers a CHOICE, which would make them hate a publishing company so much that they would get a pirate copy to enjoy what they CANNOT OTHERWISE OBTAIN.
Things that are wrong have been supported by legislation as long as history. To get past those wrongs, people have had to fight and in doing so, have been outlaws. Which begs the question: If I were to purchase a copy of the book and loan it to 50 of my friends, would that make me a criminal? So, if I make a copy of it and spread it across the internet to all of my “friends,” what’s wrong with that? Ironically, the whole expensive argument here is over replication and not over the number of people who have had access to one single copy of information.
