INTERVIEWER: I heard you've given up on the Rosalind Laker books?

EBOOKPIRATE: Well, almost.  They're very long over 400 pages and not much romance is involved.  The story PLODS ALONG VERRY SLLLOOOOOOOLY. They're mainly HISTORICALS and NOT HISTORICAL ROMANCE.  For those reasons, I may only digitize a couple or so of her books.

INTERVIEWER: And your next project?

EBOOKPIRATE: Marsha Canham.  I've already finished one and continuing on to her other 15 other non-digitized books.  Her works interest me since she "sticks" to the story and doesn't usually play the "heroine is a virgin and should be treated as such" nonsense.  She just treats all characters as "real" or "ordinary" characters no matter the time period, not forced to live the dictates of whatever society they're in, just 2 characters who are interested in each other in a "real" story or adventure that is smooth where she doesn't just take easy shortcuts and the romance is high even if there are few romance scenes.  The story is very detailed and very historical and you feel the story move at a rapid speed.

INTERVIEWER: But surely a real story wouldn't have female pirates who spoke like ladies?

EBOOKPIRATE: We ASSUME that is the case.  In fact, what do we know of reality except what remains of written documents and letters from the past?  How many people back then could even write or even WANTED to write their personal stories?  Back then, only the rich and/or educated elite (MAINLY MEN and usually those men who managed to kill off and/or enslave people) could write and read so we're mainly hearing THEIR thoughts and what they EXPECTED for society.  We don't really know what the TRUE REALITY was.  In ancient Greece, they talked about Female Amazon warriors. This was all thought a myth for hundreds of years and yet  researchers have come up with evidence of ancient female warriors such as their graves and weapons.  Just because we've BEEN TAUGHT AND HAVE READ what's been fed us by the media, our schools, our society, DOESN'T MEAN THAT WE KNOW EVERYTHING.  That's why I always hit the roof when I hear of some romance authors saying "oh, well, that's not reflecting what was real in that time, etc. Slaves were required to obey. A defiant slave heroine didn't live long."  Well,that may be true FROM WHAT THEY KNOW, but there must have been some homes that had slaves which basically "ruled" the home for one reason or another such as an overly kind master, old masters who had defiant yet loyal slaves, etc.

INTERVIEWER:  I've heard said that you hate popular and value "good" niche.  Is that true?

EBOOKPIRATE:  Quite right.  People ask me what they should share and what do I  like.  And I say don't share what I or others like. Share what YOU like because if it's not fun for you, then you won't continue doing it!  Also, popular stuff is pushed by the corporations and media and they're really only popular because of them. We should have a wider range of materials so that one person's "niche" may be the mass's "popular."  I'll do popular stuff but I have to like it too.  

NOTE:  EVERYTHING BELOW IS FICTIONAL, INCLUDING EVENTS AND CHARACTERS, AND ITEMS.

INTERVIEWER:  So what is your next project or projects, ebp?

EBOOKPIRATE:  Well, lately, I've been immersed in Bertrice Small's past books which are almost a decade old.  It's INCREDIBLE how she can write even ONE book in a year, never mind TWO BOOKS!!  And her books are soooo long, over 500 to 600 pages per book!!

I'm also proofing Horowitz' 3rd gatekeeper's book "Nightrise" though I'm not in a hurry since it can't be released to the public for 3 years anyway and it IS rather long and not specifically asked for in our closed group, so I've put it away for a while.

If I have time, I'll also do jenny nimmo's charlie bone book 4.  Though I really have too many books to do yet before I want to do this book, unless I'm in the mood to do it.

I've also love Marsha Canham's works so will try to compile many of her works.

I also have a pile of backlisted Scott Westerfeld books along with a LARGE pile of Rosalind Laker books.  I know nothing about Laker's writing - they're all based on requests from an individual and since I'm looking for better romance novels (not the same old, STUPID INNOCENT POOR VIRGIN HEROINE WITH JADED, RICH, STUD HERO WHO'LL BED ANYTHING), it seemed like a start with Laker's old backlisted books.  And she has A LOT of them which should keep me busy.

I really like Linnea Sinclair's blend of scifi and romance with Games of Command (from Command Performance) but she doesn't have many books with these same characters. That's too bad.  I'm sure I'm not the only fan who wanted to see a SERIES of books with Captain Tasha Sebastian and Admiral Kel-Paten.

It's surprising in this subgenre how FEW scifi/romance books there are.

INTERVIEWER:  You mean space opera/romance books, don't you?

EBOOKPIRATE:  Yes, that's right.  I've gotten too used to reading/loving/collecting space opera with star trek and star wars and david weber's honor harrington series that space opera romance certainly is one of my favorite subgenres in addition to time travel romances. Yeah, yeah, i'm a girl geek!! No need to tell me.

INTERVIEWER:  As far as Sinclair's Games of Command, I assume you also love her story because of the furzels, or cats?

EBOOKPIRATE:  Absolutely!! I LOVE Cats!!  And a cat that's going to telepathically call me Mommy is very cute!!  Sass's cat, uh, furzel, would call her MommySass!!  Just like Honor Harrington's 'cat Nimitz would empathically, then later telepathically talk to her, although he never called her MommyHonor!! hehehe

INTERVIEWER:  I've heard on the grapevine that you've released the erotic romances "Midnight Confessions" books I and II by Bonnie Edwards and "Something Naughty" by Delilah Dawson as well as the "Pleasures" contemporary erotic romances by Bertrice Small?

EBOOKPIRATE:  Only within our CLOSED group.  They're too recent to be released.  BUT THEY'RE DEFINITELY ENJOYED BY OUR CLOSED GROUP!! :-)  After 3 years, i'm sure it will be at a local filesharing network near you.:-)

But yes, as far as Bertrice Small, there are many out there NOW on the web with:

• Deceived
• The Duchess
• Besieged
• Bedazzled
• The Innocent
• A Memory of Love
• A Moment in Time
• To Love Again.

 

 

INTERVIEWER: What do you say when people say you pirate books because you disrespect those authors and publishers?

EBOOKPIRATE: I would say that unlike music lovers, book lovers are fundamentally different. It takes more effort to read books than to consume music. We LOVE the publishers as well as the authors.. We only go to certain publishers because only certain publishers have what we want, basically theyr'e excellent gate filterers that filter away all the dreck and only allow or improve upon the works that genre fans love. I pay more attention if the publisher is Kensington Brava/Aphrodisia, St. Martin's, Berkley Sensation, Ellora's Cave, Liquid Silver, Red Sage, etc. I usually ignore the cheaper dreckier publishers like those cheap cheesy stupid virgin heroine Harlequin 200 pg "novels", and i say the word "novels" LOOSELY. Well, except for their impressive Blaze line which has more steam and is more realistic about sex. So yes, we LOVE publishers. And we pirate those works that are the ones that are unique, special, interesting, popular, loved. Now, of course, the choice is the diitizer (pirate), but it won't keep being distributed (shared) unless it's popular with the rest of the p2p community.

Disrespect comes, i think, when publishers think they can pull a fast one like charging too high a price, only DRM format, etc. I mean charging $30 for the latest novel but at a hardcover price in eformat stings a lot of fans, so fans will ask the digitizer(pirates like me) to rip these works. As I said, I would have done it before, but I agree with the authors that they should be able to make as much as they want. I usually tell any requesters to wait a few years for the book to get old and stale before I'll rip it. After about 2 or 3 years, any effect the "piracy" would have would be negligible or might actually INCREASE sales of that and/or other works by that author.

I had a case with one good friend who loved Jack McDevitt's works and I ripped his latest novel Cauldron pubished just this year just for her because the price was too high at hardcover prices, and she understood she couldn't share the ebook with anyone else. I WISHED that I could allow her to share it since he's one of her favorite authors and it's one of her favorite ebooks but he's too well known. The effect might be dettrimental to McDevitt's primary income stream. I was so proud of her because she said after she had read it, she deleted it from her computer to make sure she wouldn't share it with anyone else and I trust her because she's already proved her integrity to me at the most direst of times.

DISCLAIMER: ALL CHARACTERS AND EVENTS BELOW ARE FICTIONAL:

Interviewer:  I get a hint that you pirated for "technology's" sake.

Ebookpirate:  You guessed correctly.  I've always been a "tinkerer" and when the computer came along, while not being technically "tech-savvy," I was fascinated by the compputer.  That you could record songs with it and play them back to one's self.  That one could DL applications that someone else had written and have them perform live on your computer.  That you could correspond with anyone in the world for virtually free by email.

Interviewer:  So it was a case of boredom and technophilia?

Ebookpirate:  Yes.  In the beginning, it was great pirating songs and sharing them but what with the TYRRANICAL RIAA coming around, and frankly, I had already DL'ded all the songs I wanted, so I moved out to ebooks.  Years ago, scanning and OCR apps were not as fast and near-perfect and easy as they are today, so proofing was a pain and took a helluva long time.

Interviewer:  But now?

Ebookpirate:  Now, I can scan a 400 page book in 2 hours and have it read in under an hour and proofread it in 7 to 8 hours which together would be about....

Interviewer:  10 to 11 hours per book!

Ebookpirate:  You've got it! 

Interviewer:  What was the state of p2p for ebooks at that time when you began?

Ebookpirate:   horrible!!  There were very few of us who dealt with ebooks and the files we shared were the same ones we passed to each other.  At first i had joined a group where the leader would bring in new ebooks from other parts of the darknet but then he or she was too busy doing other things to continue bringing in new books.  And you know, if you're only sharing the same old books, well there's really no point in p2p for ebooks, so i kicked myself in the head and said to myself, "well, if there are no ebooks on now.  Why not create new efiles from pbooks?"  And so I started digitizing books and I started with my own personal library of books. 

Interviewer:  That must have been quite a project considering what you've said about the state of technology for OCR and scanning at the time?

Ebookpirate:  It was frightening!  When i first began, i had to leave a lot of books NON-PROOFED because there were just too many errors.  You could flatten that book until your blue in the face and the OCR would STILL make errors!!  But when technology improved, esp with scanners and OCR, then I moved towards the newer scanners and upgraded OCR programs and so it became easier and faster and more accurate.  I have no respect for any pirate who's not going to at least PROOF their own efile!!  If you're going to share with the p2p community, give us quality, not crap!!  Excuse my french.

 

DISCLAIMER:  THIS JUNE 1 ENTRY AS PART OF "THE CHRONICLES" IS FICTIONAL AS TO EVENTS, CHARACTERS, ETC.

Interviewer:  I've heard you've discussed piracy with others as your alter ego "normal consumer."

ebookpirate:  I have.  And you can't believe the dunceNOSES out there. They debate CLUELESSLY with each other and have ABSOLUTELY NO EXPERIENCE except for dealing only with legally sold ebooks and their cluelessly unquaint ebook reader devices. They think either consumers are criminals OR honor abiding citizens.  They NEVER think about those consumers who also have their reading devices who are also consumers of the darknet.  They help "distribute" or share.  Are they criminals also?  No, just consumers seeking the best $$ value and best convenience in ebooks.  The dunceNOSES also think pirates rip books no matter what because of ego-boosting and would never buy ebooks anyway no matter what.  Now I have no doubt this happens, but for many, like me, it was just a hobby and if the ebooks were available, people like me would buy them.  Who wants to waste time, energy, and effort as well as computer/scanner resources digitizing a book if it's already sold online at a fair price?

interviewer:  hobby?

ebookpirate:  yes.  it was a way for me to relax and since I wanted to share ebook files with others online, then I started to digitize files they would like  as well as digitize my own personal library of books - who would think that the most popular type of books would be erotic romance?? :-)
So, it had nothing to do with ego boosting - only 2 things mattered:"sharing" and "value."  I wanted to share ebook files of value.  At the time, ebooks, esp. for romance, were not sold en masse in estores and later when it became more popular, I digitized the books with the high ticket price on them, you know, the large paperback 300 page anthology erotic romance with large font by 3 different authors with 50 pages of nothing and it all costs $20 or more.  Even if the estores offered the same ebook but at the ridiculous cost of $15 or more, it was value to the filesharing community.

Interviewer:  isn't this upon the time you edited your "ripping" policy?

ebookpirate: Yes.  Since many of the backlisted books that I thought were the best ones, were already ripped, I thought the best books for value ripping wouild be the newer releases like Balogh's "Simply Magic" and Woodiwiss' "Everlasting" and the scifi bk Bujold's "Sharing Knife" Legacy but then i realized these same authors whose stories i loved, even the ones I didn't like or had no feelings for one way or another like Bujold, well I felt that they might actually LOSE $$'s selling books since they were already so famous and well-known, so I set upon myself the policy of not digitizing post-2006 books that would land in the hands of the public.  I'm not so "pure" though since I still digitize post-2006 books for myself and close friends, but at least, I can reduce my "bad karma."

Interviewer:  Now, i hear you do scifi and fantasy as well as romance?

ebookpirate:  Mainly for close friends who like scifi and fantasy.

Interviewer:  And you will digitize books even if they're in ebook format but are CLOSED, drm format or proprietary?

ebookpirate:  As long as there is no way to convert that ebook into an open format like txt, doc, rtf, html, etc. then I WILL convert it since that is value.  No one likes to own ebook files that will disappear after a month or so after switching computers, having a computer crash, etc.  They should have an open format copy to store wherever else place they want in case they want to read it again later.  Yes, for most books, I only read them once, but who knows when later on I want to reread it again?  Yeah, like i should trust the estores or epublishers to give me back my ebooks?? hehehe 

Interviewer:  Now that most books, esp romance are being sold online as ebooks by main publishers for reasonable prices in reasonable formats like lit, your hobby must be coming to an end.

ebookpirate:  Not  at all.  Really, only if it strikes me as a unique, very good romance to excellent romance to be forever treasured like Kleypas' "Lady Sophia's Lover"(which someone else digitized) OR overpriced OR closed format, will I actually digitize it.  I'm still busy, however, digitizing books in other genres like scifi, fantasy, and young adult.

Interviewer:  I'm confused.  You said you no longer digitize post-2006 books for the public and yet your last statements are contrary to that.

ebookpirate:  I said that I would digitize "keeper" books, overpriced books and closed formats?

interviewer nods.

ebookpirate:  All of them must be pre 2006 except the completely closed formats like DRM.  I have no mercy for any author or publisher who puts their newest books in complete DRM format where we can't convert them to an open format and I don't think Adobe's pdf is an open format.  I'm not against the author charging whatever they want for their newest books since that money goes to the author as well as their publisher and if people can't afford it, they can wait months later at a used book store or a library.  I personally think that publishers SHOULD reduce their new ebook prices, otherwise other pirates will pirate the book as a "$$ Value" to the public.  But for myself, I wouldn't digitize them.  But if the author and/or publisher deliberately CLOSE their ebook format and make it inconvenient for the average joe or joann, well, then that, i think, is where pirates like me, step in.  Now, I've personally seen IDIOT consumers out there who convert all their ebooks to pdf and CLUELESSLY THINK that pdf is open format, but that's them.  Everyone else who understands the importance of open format should have a choice as to how they want their ebook.

Interviewer:  I see.  But you said you would digitize for yourself and closed friends post-2006?  What happens to them? Isn't that piracy?

ebookpirate. Yes.  But then the effect on the author would be a "drop in the bucket."  Those files that I've digitized for myself and my close friends are closed to the public until 2 years have passed. I and my group have agreed to that.  That gives the authors time to make whatever profits they would have made without "piracy."  After 2 years, in general, those books become backlisted so I feel no guilt in releasing them after a long length of time. 

Silence.

Interviewer:  But again, what is your thought about the authors who are stridently VOCAL against piracy of books?

ebookpirate:  Well, i can tell you my favorite authors have better things to than complain about file-sharing.  My favorite authors would rather just write more and better books.  The ones usually being VOCAL are "A DIME A DOZEN AUTHORS" like Shiloh Walker, Brenna Lyons, etc. hehehe  So i guess the fans of THOSE types of authors should boycott them by not buying and sharing their books.  After all, isn't SHARING a FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHT??

 

(all contents & characters below are fictional)

INTERVIEWER:  Hello, Ebookpirate.  We haven’t seen you in a while.  Been busy?

EBOOKPIRATE:  Definitely.  I’ve just finished the Mary Balogh old regency books except for “The First Snowdrop” and a few short stories.  It seems there’s a run-in with Everyone in the world wanting to borrow “the First Snowdrop” from the library and it’s sooooo hard to get a hold of it!

INTERVIEWER:  Now, that’s a pity.  ….I’ve heard your views have changed regarding book piracy.  You believe in the “patron” system?  Why?

EBOOKPIRATE:  I believe WE, the fan-reading public, are the “patrons.”  I thought I had it all straightened in my mind that sharing wasn’t a crime and since we weren’t doing it for profit, then we weren’t stealing as some control freaks would think.  After all, if we make digital copies of an item, the owner still has his original.  We stole nothing from him or her……

INTERVIEWER:  And yet your mind changed ….

EBOOKPIRATE: I still believe we’re not stealing.  The problem is that we ARE booklovers and the only ones who can give us what we need are our favorite AUTHORS.  You see the dilemma?

INTERVIEWER:  I see.  Like a never-ending cycle of “mutualism.”  While they need you to make money, you need them for more of your favorite stories.

EBOOKPIRATE:  EXACTLY!!  It’s not a matter of being “nice” or honoring an obsolete system of copyright.  It’s SELFISHNESS, pure and simple!!  I WANT MORE STORIES FROM MY FAVORITE AUTHORS!!  So, I had to MODIFY the way I thought a bit.  Before, it was that since I wasn’t stealing and no one was hurt, then everything was ok.  But if the authors are hurt because people won’t support them by buying their books because they already have the ebooks, then sooner or later, the well dries up.  This was, I think where the disconnect was. 

INTERVIEWER:  So you say, even if the books are listed on the darknet as ebooks or efiles, fans should still buy their favorite authors’ NON-USED BOOKS (non used since authors gain zero dollars if they’re used) and/or their ebooks.  Is that correct?

EBOOKPIRATE:  That’s correct.  It’s important that we, the fan reading public, support their works by “patronizing” our favorite authors so they can pay their bills. Whereas music recording artists can make money other ways like performing, authors have no real other way of making money.

INTERVIEWER:  Some authors say it’s not a matter of money.  That you have no right to share those files if you did not get consent. 

EBOOKPIRATE:    And if an author was STRIDENT about not wanting their books pirated, I wouldn’t share them.  In fact, I would DELETE them from my hard drives.  Thankfully, the authors who think this way aren’t authors whose style of writing or content I care for, anyway.  Many of the authors who complain about sharing are authors whose works I wouldn’t read, in any case.  Simply, they’re not great nor very good authors.  They have writing styles or content that I abhor.  They say they lose money because of filesharing but that must just mean that no one would want to buy their books anyway.  Just because your work is shared doesn’t mean everyone’s going to like it, so WHY WOULD ANYONE BUY IT??!!  Authors like musicians just don’t realize how bad their workmanship is.  Now, for great authors and very good authors, the more exposure they get, the more fans they’ll get in which case they’ll make more $$’s from their reading fans.  SO IT’S OBVIOUS THAT THE FEW AUTHORS WHO COMPLAIN ARE THE ONES WHO DON’T KNOW HOW TO WRITE ANYWAY OR they have an incorrect idea of how it hurts their profits!!

INTERVIEWER:  But some authors don’t care about money.  They don’t want their files shared. Period.

EBOOKPIRATE:  And I respect that.  As I said, I don’t share files of authors who are stridently anti-sharing.  As fpr those authors who aren’t loud mouthed about not wanting to be fileshare,  I respect their right to make a living and in fact don’t pirate their most recent works. I may digitize their most recent works for my OWN e-library, but I won’t share them until they’re considered old works.   I try to keep the sharing to old works where no one’s making a profit anyway except used booksellers.    

INTERVIEWER:  Well, this was definitely a more enlightening interview, ebookpirate!  Or should i say ebookpatron?  (laugh)

EBOOKPIRATE:  Ebookpirate is fine.  A pirate's life is the life for me, on the edge, on the go!!

INTERVIEWER:  I hope we can talk again, then, ebookpirate!!

EBOOKPIRATE:  So do I, S____!! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(this is a fictional story, all events/characters/places fictional)

INTERVIEWER:  So, ebookpirate, how has the ripping of books been going?  I would think it wouild take a long time to scan and proofread all your favorite books?

EBOOKPIRATE:  It does.  Believe me.  it does.  that's why since a lot of publishers are now selling their ebooks online for reasonable prices $5 or so, then i only rip off books that 1) they don't publish as ebooks at all or 2) are still ludicrously expensive like charging $25 or more for an ebook

INTERVIEWER:  Do you release unproofed books so you can rip faster?

EBOOKPIRATE:  I used to but i felt guilty.  I mean, i'm ripping them to enjoy for myself and so the rest of the world can enjoy them so why just rip them and not proofread them?  for the status of sharing the most ebooks?  nah, that's not what i wanted.  I wanted for everyone in the world to enjoy them and alot of people don't know english so i decided that if i couldn't proofread them at least, then  i had no reason to post them.  So these days, i have a whole backlog of scanned books but it takes me forever to proofread them.  Some of the books go back over 10 years. 

INTERVIEWER:  10 YEARS??!!

EBOOKPIRATE:  Yeah. 'Cause there are books out there that are good whether they've been written 10 years ago, 30 years ago, whenever but the point is that a good writer is a good writer no matter when they wrote it.

INTERVIEWER:  I see. 

EBOOKPIRATE:  I'm right now concentating on Mary Balogh books, you know, the ones from 10 to 20 years ago, her old regency books.

INTERVIEWER:  Yes, i do.  she's a great author who stands out in her genre as one of a kind.

EBOOKPIRATE:  She sure is.  And i'd like the whole world to enjoy ALL her books and stories, not just the ones that are popular, not just the ones that are out these past 2 years.  It would help a lot if her publishers would just put them out in ebook form since she has a HUGE fan base, but i guess it's there for us little guys to go ahead and rip her books for her fans, like myself.  I'm not saying  i love all her books.  I don't.  But as a one of a kind unique author,  having all her books at your fingertips gives you that wonderful feeling of being so warm that you have access to ALL her books and stories.   We can all learn something from when an author makes bad stories as well as when they make great stories.  That's not to say i'd want a whole list of bad stories from a bad author or regular author, but when it comes to a star author like mary balogh, i'd want EVERY one of them and not just see them available only to FAT CAT rich collectors who have the DOUGH to lay down $30 to $100 or more  PER BOOK at ebay.  MY MOTTO:  INFO SHOULD BE FREE TO EVERYBODY!!!

INTERVIEWER:  Thank you for this chat, ebookpirate!

EBOOKPIRATE:  Any time!

 

 

this day's blog is fictional, all characters/plot/story are fictional, are not taken from any real people/events/ since "we know it's illegal to pirate books."

FICTIONAL STORY: CHRONICLES 1-An ebookpirate's thoughts by Anonymous

i'm an ebookpirate, that's right, i scan books and upload them for others to read/share/collect. why? i believe in literacy. not all countries and not even areas in the US have equal access to books in the US which is a pity. Oh, boo hoo you'll say sarcastically, 'who cares about bestselling drivel?' well, some books i upload are bestsellers or from bestselling authors, but many are from authors who are lost into obscurity, so i'm actually PRESERVING the best works of the fiction bookworld. And you can't force people to read what they don't want so why not give them what they want which gives the same result, that being, increased literacy?? what i've given up doing is uploading DRIVEL from any authors including bestselling authors. no wonder, nobody reads/uploads THOSE books!!

you'll think i'm an unethical person, but that's not true. i'm very ethical. if i see money falling from someone's purse or wallet, i'll give it back. i regularly give money or food to the homeless. if i ever sell or trade online, i ALWAYS describe any defects in the item i'm selling or trading. so WHAT IS ETHICAL? digital "bookpirating" is like me sharing my own books or library books with everyone else. there's nothing wrong with that. if the book industry doesn't take advantage of the fact that people now want to buy their favorite authors ASAP, hence in digital form, then it's not my fault. if the book industry is pricing their new hardcover books way over the 50% of hardcover limit, then naturally, people will turn to me to scan/proofread/upload it to them. Unless i really like the story AND i already have the paperback in front of me, i try not to waste my time uploading ebooks that you can buy online for a reasonable price like $5 or less--after all, even MY time is money, esp. a waste of my scanner. it takes at least 3 hours to scan in a 360 page novel. and the more i use my scanner, the closer it needs to go to the repair shop.  then it takes another 4 to 5 hours to proofread it 'cause you know the scanner is just a machine and a machine is not always correct, esp to humans who have to read it.  SO IF PUBLISHERS/AUTHORS WANT TO DEFEAT FILESHARING/PIRATING EBOOKS, THEY OUGHT TO JUST OFFER IT UP ONLINE FOR AN OK PRICE.

i try to upload/share only those books that aren't being sold as ebooks now which means i upload/share older works or books from recalcitrant publishers(hello Penguin books!) who refuse or are too stupid to sell ebooks. i'll share/upload the latest great books but that's because of myself being a bibliophile fanatic but i do try to state that people should buy the REAL BOOK NEW OR OTHER NEW,not used,  BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR to support the author's livelihood.  i really didn't want to upload/share Bujold's books since i know she's a sharer on baen, but because her PUBLISHER refuses to ask for less than hardcover price for her latest ebook, THAT'S RIGHT, EBOOK, AS IN A BUNCH OF DIGITAL NUMBERS FROM COMPUTER TO COMPUTER, i was forced to share/upload one of her books.

how do i feel about DRM?

i HATE it.  i won't share/upload heavy drm or proprietary formats(what's the point,to encourage even more drm?), so i guess the best way for authors to protect their ebooks is that way, WHICH LEADS TO OBSCURITY because who wants to share anything that needs extra software??  Oh, yeah, i can crack the mainstream drms so that's no problem.  the problem is when it comes in something like gemstar's imp format.  thank god they went out of biz!! if i can't crack it at all, i head towards my local library or used bookstore online to acquire the book. IF it's ONLY in e-format with heavy drm or proprietary software, i won't share/upload it UNLESS it's esp. popular or is a book i really like.  That's right, for bozo authors/publishers who think heavy drm and proprietary software will protect them, no, it won't.  if it's popular and/or a good book, then it WILL BE PIRATED!!!  LOL>>>>>

end for now by anonymous