Amazon's Kindle

[Griffin NoName]

I've now selected the first book to download from Amaazon. A saving of about £2 over the cheapest real book format. At that rate it will take a while to recoup costs.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

The program Calibre (spelling correct:  google) is indispensable for keeping order with my P.G. ebook collection.   Without it, I could not begin to keep things straight.

User's manual here:  http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/

Download here: http://calibre-ebook.com/

__________________

I've now selected the first book to download from Amaazon. A saving of about £2 over the cheapest real book format. At that rate it will take a while to recoup costs.

Until you locate many of the classics for free, elsewhere.

Here's a good place to begin:  http://manybooks.net/

[Griffin NoName]

Thanks for the links !

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

* quietly nudges the cd with un millón de ilustraciones antiguas under the desk *   

That works beautifully, you even got the accent on the ó. 

[Griffin NoName]

It's arrived!!! Several days early. Haven't opened parcel yet...............

[Sibling DavidH]

Oh, deepjoy!

More good sources: www.TUEBL.com
http://www.epubbud.com/browse.php
http://www.epubbooks.com/
http://www.free-ebooks.net/

Anything from these needs converting with Calibre.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

I suspect we won't be hearing from our beloved Griff for a bit...



______________

Oh, deepjoy!

More good sources: www.TUEBL.com
http://www.epubbud.com/browse.php
http://www.epubbooks.com/
http://www.free-ebooks.net/

Anything from these needs converting with Calibre.

Yes--- I go both ways, as I use my Kindle for Kindle content, and I use Cool Reader (on my Android tab) for any non-DRM stuff-- and I prefer epub format for that.

And Calibre lets me have both (MOBI for Kindle and ePub for Cool Reader) formats at the same time, no fuss, no muss.

[Griffin NoName]

Oh, deepjoy!

More good sources: www.TUEBL.com
http://www.epubbud.com/browse.php
http://www.epubbooks.com/
http://www.free-ebooks.net/

Anything from these needs converting with Calibre.

Presumably all books (free) on these sites are either out of copyright or submitted by the author? I'm not quite clued in as to whether US Copyright expired means ok in thee UK, or if the UK copyright has not expired but US has, what's the deal?

I still have not opened the package yet, I am making myself wait til I fiinish my essay* !

*actually it is finished but have to get it through the cr*ppppyyyy plagiarism s/w

[Sibling DavidH]

Presumably all books (free) on these sites are either out of copyright or submitted by the author? I'm not quite clued in as to whether US Copyright expired means ok in thee UK, or if the UK copyright has not expired but US has, what's the deal?

Dunno.  Who cares?

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Agree with DavidH here.... especially if the author has passed on.

The copyright was specifically set up to promote authors and the public (not their deadbeat heirs), and was designed to let the works of deceased authors automatically go into the public domain.

Copyright was hijacked by greedy corporations (Disney, among others) and corrupted to the mess it is today.  

As such, I feel zero compunction at getting for free any book by any author that has died, regardless if it's legit or not-- the spirit of copyright says it should be.

But I do take great pains to try to find legit copies of ebooks, if the author is still among the living-- even then, however, if the work in question cannot be had legitimately in ebook form?  I then look to illegitimate sources, if it's a book I've read previously (and owned a dead-tree copy of).

So, what about books I legitimately purchased in dead-tree editions, and I'm given an opportunity to get a questionable ebook version for free?   I usually go ahead, if the author in question is successful (i.e. not hurting for money).

Ain't I a situational ethicist?

 

[Griffin NoName]

Agree with DavidH here.... especially if the author has passed on.

The copyright was specifically set up to promote authors and the public (not their deadbeat heirs), and was designed to let the works of deceased authors automatically go into the public domain.

Copyright was hijacked by greedy corporations (Disney, among others) and corrupted to the mess it is today.  

As such, I feel zero compunction at getting for free any book by any author that has died, regardless if it's legit or not-- the spirit of copyright says it should be.

But I do take great pains to try to find legit copies of ebooks, if the author is still among the living-- even then, however, if the work in question cannot be had legitimately in ebook form?  I then look to illegitimate sources, if it's a book I've read previously (and owned a dead-tree copy of).

So, what about books I legitimately purchased in dead-tree editions, and I'm given an opportunity to get a questionable ebook version for free?   I usually go ahead, if the author in question is successful (i.e. not hurting for money).

Ain't I a situational ethicist?

 

Nothing like making up your own laws.

This delights me:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/apr/22/academic-publishing-monopoly-challenged

I do care about copyright, not for dead people, but definitely for live people, regardless of the law - so happens the law agrees with me. I've had software I've written stolen by a customer and used for free - made me v.cross (there was a contract).

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Oh, I most certainly agree-- copyright should be highly protective of living authors. 

This was the intent by the US copyright framers, back in the day-- to encourage authors to be... authors.

Unfortunately?  Greed has ruined that since then, and publishing has been all about the publishers, not the acutal authors themselves.   

But I'm not making up the laws myself-- I'm using the spirit of the original copyright framer's intent.  And ignoring the greedy-guts leeches who only wish to make money off the backs of authors, while contributing exactly nothing in the process.

[Roland Deschain]

Great article. Looking at the cost of some of those journals, especially when coupled with the fact that a university would need to subscribe to a great many, it's shocking how much money must be going to them. Scientific research isn't about making a profit, it's about increasing knowledge, and it's the profit incentive that can quite easily ruin the integrity of academic research.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Great article. Looking at the cost of some of those journals, especially when coupled with the fact that a university would need to subscribe to a great many, it's shocking how much money must be going to them. Scientific research isn't about making a profit, it's about increasing knowledge, and it's the profit incentive that can quite easily ruin the integrity of academic research.

The real sick thing about all this?

Is that in these modern times of virtual publication via the world wide web?  Actual costs to publish could be nearly zero.   If you factor in that any typical University would already have a large pipe to the interwebs anyway, the only real cost to publish would be editing fees.  For the peer-review is already on a volunteer basis (no cost).  So these editing tasks could easily be done in-house, or ... imagine this.. a committee of grad students for free.  Spell checking has long since been reduced to software anyway.  So all the real editing is about content and presentation.   Easily done by the submitting professor back to his crew for impact/analysis.   

The final publication could take place on the web itself, in a subscription-based website location hosted by the University itself.  Then, anyone with credentials could easily have access...

... and a paper-based journal is nearly as inexpensive:  gone are the laborious hand-set typesetting processes.  Gone are the by hand layups of each page, painstakingly done by hand with proofs and copy and scissors.  It's all done virtually using layup software that feeds directly into the computer-driven printing press.   An article could be published for 1/1000'th of what they charge.

Just look how cheap it is to do a "glory press" book!   A coupla hundred dollars, and you can have your "novel" published with a hundred copies to foist upon your unsuspecting friends....

The real costs of publishing these days?  Is promotion and advertising. 

And there is none of that in academia press.

[Griffin NoName]

It is sick. I have been using my uni.'s journal articles extensively and am really shocked at how many they have to subscribe to at utterly stupid prices. Of course, that's partly why we all pay excessive fees to the Uni. I found and article in a journal they did not subscribe to and it would have cost me over £300 just to look at that article on the journal's website and get the pdf. I can't understand how none of that payment goes to the author. It's totally werd.