I have a ton of ebooks i am willing to share.

crayzboost · 06-23-05, 08:34 PM

as the topic goes. i noticed that alot of people are interested in ebooks. i dont read ebooks much but i have over 80 ebooks in lit format EDIT: i would like to share, BUT I CAN'T LEGALLY.

i am not even sure if i can do that so if it's against the rules please either delete this thread or let me know to change it..

i have too many to list but i have all stephen king titles, dean koontz, all harry potters, all lord of the rings, some michael crichton and manny other good titles. just please let me know if your interested.

harleyxlc · 06-23-05, 08:39 PM

crayzboost, I don't know for sure, but from the list of authors I would bet that none of those are supposed to be free. Normally these go for about the same cost as a paper book.

Please do not advertise illegal copies here.

Thanks.

crayzboost · 06-23-05, 09:04 PM

i never said that i didn't pay for them. wouldnt it be the same as lending a book to someone? if i am still in the wrong than i will delete my post.

harleyxlc · 06-23-05, 09:15 PM

Not saying you didn't pay for them :)

Where did you buy them from? I would imagine you could find the agreement there....and if it is ok for you to pass them on to others at no charge.

crayzboost · 06-23-05, 09:29 PM

ebooks.com, amazon, powells, and others some free. i know that you cant just buy software and give it away but i wasn't sure if it applied to ebooks as well. just trying to share is all.

benn600 · 06-23-05, 09:32 PM

They usually have encryption in them anyway, if I remember correctly, so giving them away would be worthless. Microsoft Reader usually verifies that you purchased that book before you can open it, but I could be wrong.

uwaku · 06-24-05, 09:01 AM

Also, some authors don't produce ebooks. For example, not to get you in trouble, but J.K. Rowling just last week stated that she will not authorize the Harry Potter books to be published as ebooks, so if you bought those, you got ripped off. They're certainly illegal.

The problem with sharing ebooks is the same as sharing copies of movies & music. No one used to care if you made a copy of a cassette & gave it to your friend. It was only when the internet allowed you to copy your new CD & share that one copy with hundreds of friends that the music business (and then the movie business) got upset.

Of the 8,000-odd ebooks I have, over two-thirds came from free e-book sites (Gutenburg, Baen, etc). Others were given to me by friends. Since they all work on my various readers, I know they're not encrypted, so as far as i'm concerned, they're ok, but I don't share them with the masses, especially the ones that I know weren't free.

Red Seven · 06-24-05, 10:26 AM

It's an interesting dilemma. It's OK for Used Book stores to sell used books so why not ebooks or audiobooks? I guess they try to say legally you don't own the book you are just purchasing the right to read it or something.

psionandy · 06-24-05, 11:17 AM

Ebook sharing =mp3 sharing=software sharing

If they are copywrited material then it's against the law, and also ipaqhq rules.

imported_MikeUnwired · 06-24-05, 11:47 AM

Originally Posted by crayzboost

i never said that i didn't pay for them. wouldnt it be the same as lending a book to someone? if i am still in the wrong than i will delete my post.

Actually, I think it may be a good idea to leave this post up as it helps "out" the reasons why you can't share files and software with others.

Unlike lending a hardback or paperback book to a friend -- which I've done many MANY times -- you can't typically lend eBook files out as they have purchaser-specific protections build into them when you download them. The typical protection ties the eBook to a specific electornic reading software's activation (that's a Microsoft Passport activation in the case of the .lit files for Microsoft Reader) or to a user name and credit card number (in the case of Palm aka eReader .pdb format books.) You'd have to lend your friend the eBook with your particular reader activation or give them your user name and credit card number -- both of which are possible, although not legal or smart.

However, if you wanted to legally lend a friend an eBook, you could lend them your Pocket PC to read it on -- that IS legal, although again, maybe not smart. It's like you can't copy a hardback book's pages on a copier and give that out, but you can give the words inside the original covers. The Pocket PC is, in this instance, the original "cover" or vessel in which the words are legally printed.

I regularly buy multiple copies of paper-based books and give them to customers or business contacts. I even mark those boks up with highlights and page markers to emphasize the points I want them to read. You could probably buy eBooks for people, although they'd have to be licensed to them and not you for it to be legal. Unless they give you quite a bit of personal information to make that happen, it's pretty hard to out and out buy an eBook for someone else. Maybe the online eBook sellers need to start offering a "Buy an eBook for a friend" system where you pay for it, but it's licensed to the receiver instead of you.

It's the same with music or other media files -- you can lend the original vessel to someone (ie: you can lend your iPod to a friend to listen to your playlist, but you can't burn them a copy of the songs legally.) So, you can lend a whole Pocket PC to someone to let them read an eBook you have bought, but you can't lend a file inside it if it's protected by some sort of DRM. I'm sure that HP wouldn't mind selling you four or five iPAQs to make this happen BTW.

imported_Mikey · 06-24-05, 12:46 PM

If you pay for it, and then give it to a friend and delete your copy, isn't that the same as handing over a paperback? There still would only be one copy in existance.

imported_MikeUnwired · 06-24-05, 12:53 PM

Originally Posted by Mikey

If you pay for it, and then give it to a friend and delete your copy, isn't that the same as handing over a paperback? There still would only be one copy in existance.

You'd think so, but the system doesn't allow for that. And, frankly, the vendors don't trust that you'll actually delete yours. With eReader, you have to enter your Name and Credit Card Number to access the book. You can change the credit card number to another card, but you'd have to jump through hoops to get the user name and receiver's credit card set-up for them. With Microsoft Reader, it's passport protected and you'd have to activate your friend's MS Reader with your passport to give them access to your eBooks. Again, difficult, cumbersome and illegal.

The only legal way to share it to pass the whole Pocket PC along on loan.

crayzboost · 06-24-05, 02:44 PM

wow, this is crazy, but i guess i understand, the harry potterts i bought off of ebay and some others. my thing is if i pay for somthing its mine and i can do what i want with it, i just know that it is against forum rules to advertise.

Tabby · 06-24-05, 02:47 PM

Originally Posted by crayzboost

wow, this is crazy, but i guess i understand, the harry potterts i bought off of ebay and some others. my thing is if i pay for somthing its mine and i can do what i want with it, i just know that it is against forum rules to advertise.

it is one thing if it is a hard copy that you bought...you can give it away, but it is a completly different when you are getting it eletronically...

there have been alot of lawsuits when people download mp3 and dont pay for it...it is like that..the artists is not getting paid for it...almost everybody now days have a computer...and if they download mp3s and dont have to pay...how is the artist going to get paid? They get their money when the people buy their alubulms/books...

Just keep that in mind...eletronic like ebooks and mp3 is completly different than hard copies...

Tabby · 06-24-05, 02:56 PM

http://www.ipaqhq.com/forums/showthr...1851#post91851