4 ms·

>Furthermore, society would benefit if the book were in the public domain. It would be available from more sources than just the one state-granted monopoly that

by tsotha 15y ago

>Furthermore, society would benefit if the book were in the public domain. It would be available from more sources than just the one state-granted monopoly that's selling them now. No it wouldn't. It wouldn't be available from any source, because it would never get written at all. There's only so much time people are willing to put into an unpaid hobby.

sp332 15y ago
Why do you assume he wouldn't get paid for it?
- tsotha 15y ago
  Who would pay?
  - sp332 15y ago
    Anyone who thinks it's worth the money, anyone who wants to thank him for writing a book, anyone who wants to encourage him to make more books, anyone who makes an impulse buy, anyone who wants a physical copy... you know, all the same exact people who pay for it now.
    - res0nat0r 15y ago
      Except for all the people who will be happy to get it for free instead, which they couldn't do previously without breaking the (copyright) law. If you were able to walk into your local Barnes & Noble tomorrow and everything was free to take, I'm sure you wouldn't be ponying up the money for everything you walked out the door with in your arms.
      - sp332 15y ago
        Actually, the people who currently get stuff outside the bounds of copyright law ("pirates") are the ones who currently spend the most money on it. http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/04/study-pirates-buy-tons-more-music-than-average-folks.ars http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/04/study-pirates-buy-... The COO of EMI knows that pirates are their best customers. http://www.cnet.com.au/will-former-google-exec-help-save-the-music-industry-339287896.htm http://www.cnet.com.au/will-former-google-exec-help-save-the... People do business with each other because they feel like it, not because they are legally obligated to. People give money to Kickstarter projects in return for very small rewards, or even nothing at all. e.g. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/textfiles/the-jason-scott-documentary-three-pack/comments http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/textfiles/the-jason-scot... I think Louis C.K.'s statement about piracy, while not especially insightful, has exactly the right idea: Please bear in mind that I am not a company or a corporation. I’m just some guy. I paid for the production and posting of this video with my own money. I would like to be able to post more material to the fans in this way, which makes it cheaper for the buyer and more pleasant for me. So, please help me keep this being a good idea. I can’t stop you from torrenting; all I can do is politely ask you to pay your five little dollars, enjoy the video, and let other people find it in the same way. Sincerely, Louis C.K.
        tsotha 15y ago
        Will they still pay when the novelty wears off, though? Also, it's one thing to send money to a guy who makes you laugh. How many people would voluntarily send money for a textbook or an SAT prep workbook? I doubt anyone would be buying music if Napster hadn't been shut down.
        Hemospectrum 15y ago
        > I doubt anyone would be buying music if Napster hadn't been shut down. Did you actually use Napster during its heyday? Of all the P2P software I've ever tried, it was probably the worst--or perhaps just the one most poorly suited to casual piracy. The search system was a joke. Even when your search turned up results, it was hit or miss whether they were actually what you were looking for. My favorite example was a file named "Beethoven's 9th symphony - by Mozart" (it was actually a Handel piece). Now it's easy to find private torrent trackers with huge, well-maintained collections in very high quality. Comments and ratings make it easy to decide which of several versions to download, and moderators will even help look for rare files if someone can't find what they want. I think the death of Napster was a big favor to pirates everywhere.
        jiggy2011 15y ago
        I'm sure bittorrent & private trackers is better for the discerning pirate, however napster was far more accessible. You simply typed in what you wanted, waited for the search to finish and clicked to download rather than found an indexing site, selected a torrent based on "seeds" and "peers" and then worried about things like magnet links. Many people who are not tech savvy and want to pirate either get their friends to do it for them or are still using kazaa and friends.
        jiggy2011 15y ago
        I also imagine that Louis C.Ks audience is of a particular demographic where this may work (think relatively Internet savvy & intelligent , middle class 21-40 year old white people with disposable income). If you were somebody creating lowest common denominator entertainment for an unemployed mother to put their kids in front of do you think you would get the same results?

by tsotha 15y ago

sp332 15y ago

Why do you assume he wouldn't get paid for it?

tsotha 15y ago
Who would pay?
- sp332 15y ago
  Anyone who thinks it's worth the money, anyone who wants to thank him for writing a book, anyone who wants to encourage him to make more books, anyone who makes an impulse buy, anyone who wants a physical copy... you know, all the same exact people who pay for it now.
  - res0nat0r 15y ago
    Except for all the people who will be happy to get it for free instead, which they couldn't do previously without breaking the (copyright) law. If you were able to walk into your local Barnes & Noble tomorrow and everything was free to take, I'm sure you wouldn't be ponying up the money for everything you walked out the door with in your arms.
    - sp332 15y ago
      Actually, the people who currently get stuff outside the bounds of copyright law ("pirates") are the ones who currently spend the most money on it. http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/04/study-pirates-buy-tons-more-music-than-average-folks.ars http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/04/study-pirates-buy-... The COO of EMI knows that pirates are their best customers. http://www.cnet.com.au/will-former-google-exec-help-save-the-music-industry-339287896.htm http://www.cnet.com.au/will-former-google-exec-help-save-the... People do business with each other because they feel like it, not because they are legally obligated to. People give money to Kickstarter projects in return for very small rewards, or even nothing at all. e.g. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/textfiles/the-jason-scott-documentary-three-pack/comments http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/textfiles/the-jason-scot... I think Louis C.K.'s statement about piracy, while not especially insightful, has exactly the right idea: Please bear in mind that I am not a company or a corporation. I’m just some guy. I paid for the production and posting of this video with my own money. I would like to be able to post more material to the fans in this way, which makes it cheaper for the buyer and more pleasant for me. So, please help me keep this being a good idea. I can’t stop you from torrenting; all I can do is politely ask you to pay your five little dollars, enjoy the video, and let other people find it in the same way. Sincerely, Louis C.K.
      - tsotha 15y ago
        Will they still pay when the novelty wears off, though? Also, it's one thing to send money to a guy who makes you laugh. How many people would voluntarily send money for a textbook or an SAT prep workbook? I doubt anyone would be buying music if Napster hadn't been shut down.
        Hemospectrum 15y ago
        > I doubt anyone would be buying music if Napster hadn't been shut down. Did you actually use Napster during its heyday? Of all the P2P software I've ever tried, it was probably the worst--or perhaps just the one most poorly suited to casual piracy. The search system was a joke. Even when your search turned up results, it was hit or miss whether they were actually what you were looking for. My favorite example was a file named "Beethoven's 9th symphony - by Mozart" (it was actually a Handel piece). Now it's easy to find private torrent trackers with huge, well-maintained collections in very high quality. Comments and ratings make it easy to decide which of several versions to download, and moderators will even help look for rare files if someone can't find what they want. I think the death of Napster was a big favor to pirates everywhere.
        jiggy2011 15y ago
        I'm sure bittorrent & private trackers is better for the discerning pirate, however napster was far more accessible. You simply typed in what you wanted, waited for the search to finish and clicked to download rather than found an indexing site, selected a torrent based on "seeds" and "peers" and then worried about things like magnet links. Many people who are not tech savvy and want to pirate either get their friends to do it for them or are still using kazaa and friends.
      - jiggy2011 15y ago
        I also imagine that Louis C.Ks audience is of a particular demographic where this may work (think relatively Internet savvy & intelligent , middle class 21-40 year old white people with disposable income). If you were somebody creating lowest common denominator entertainment for an unemployed mother to put their kids in front of do you think you would get the same results?