07 fevereiro 2013

Robert Jordan turned me into a pirate!

Me and by Wheel of Time collection of books
A while ago I've posted about piracy, and how it is really the last stand of reason these days. The powers that be want to control you in ways never before imagined, and I'm not a conspiracy theory advocate, mind you, I'm just really fed up with all the stupidity around the "rights of the author" flag, or copyright, or how to extract the largest amount of money from us while providing the lowest level of service acceptable, and still pose as defenders of the poor writers, composers, etc.

For YEARS I've been a great fan of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. I've mourned his passing DEEPLY. When the unfinished series was continued I was so happy I couldn't put it into words. I've bought every single book on the Wheel of Time saga. When I couldn't find the physical books themselves (I live in Brazil, I can only find them if some book importer care to bring them here at reasonable prices - I'm NOT RICH to import it myself and pay 3 times the hardcover price!), enter the Kindle (for Android :-): I was able to buy the other book I couldn't find "physically" and I devoured it in a matter of days.

All that was left was the last installment, the book to end all stories, or to provide just another beginning as the Wheel of Time spins and spins and spins...

So I've waited patiently for over a year until the promised date of January, 8th of the year 2013... only to find I couldn't BUY the book at all because they wouldn't provide a Kindle/digital version of the book, only the hardcover version. 

In other words, me, a loyal fan of the series, an exemplary customer, buying everything they've put out, would not be able to read the book I've waited for so long because they want to maximize their profits and control how and when people can read a book? In other words: they are (ab)using copyright law to PREVENT the widespread of culture, which is the sole reason copyright law was created in the first place!

I don't even want to pay the "Kindle" price... (in fact the "Kindle" price is not a fair price, it is a heft price for something that don't need any printing and very little costs for distribution - none of which are the publisher's). I just want to BUY the book. When the last book of A Song of Ice and Fire hit the stores, the Kindle version was priced the same as the hardcover, and I've paid it! It is unfair, but it is their choice of pricing... I'm willing to pay so that I don't have to wait to read something I'm carving for so long...

But I JUST CAN'T WAIT once it hit the shelves...

There was only one solution. A solution I had never resorted to before. A solution that is really the only stand of reason today...

In less than 1 minute I had my own copy of the book in .mobi format, available to read on my Kindle and anywhere else I wanted. I've "pirated" it thanks to google, thanks to torrents, thanks to reason, thanks to a brave soul that scanned it, converted it and posted it in a courageous act of defiance, of rage against the machine (pun INTENDED).

If the publisher wants to take legal action against me, I'm willing to accept. Just come to Brazil, come to court, and let the battle for reason start. By the time the judgement of the case starts, I will have already bought the Kindle version (which will launch by April, 2013) and I believe you'll have a very hard time convincing any judge from Brazil that your view of copyright is right, while the "sacred" view is tainted.

Copyright does not exist for your own selfish desires, it exists to further culture everywhere, and to benefit the common good.

3 comentários:

Cassiana Teodoro disse...

Como não me solidarizar com isso. Eu estou lendo a série em inglês (estou em A Memory of Light) e embora eu nunca tenha lido WoT de forma não-oficial, acabei fazendo isso com outras séries pelas mesmas razões (e outras similares) mostradas aqui , mas acabei comprando os livros na forma legal. É uma falta de respeito o que algumas editoras fazem. Muito bom o seu artigo.

Unknown disse...

O que dizer deste texto?? - EU TE ENTENDO, MEU RAPAZ!!

Também li o AMoL em um pdf, digamos, "não-oficial". Tenho todos os livros da série, mais o New Spring, mais o "white book", mais os dois volumes em português da Caladwin, pretendo comprar a nova edição da enciclopédia e a tradução da Intrínseca, e pretendo comprar a versão atualizada do The Eye of the World, que tem um prólogo adicional (que eu já li, mas quero mesmo assim); tudo porque coleciono e faço questão de pagar pelo livros, já que isso significa que, em algum ponto, o autor (que é o único que deve ser respeitado nessa cadeia toda) vai receber algo por isso.

Mas concordo integralmente contigo. Não é justo a editora querer me impor como e quando eu devo ler o último volume. Ela sabe que a expectativa em torno do livro era enorme, que muita gente ansiava por esse livro, e aí o lança só numa versão carérrima num primeiro momento, deixando o lançamento da versão pocket book (que é a versão de toda minha coleção) só pro final do ano, como quem diz "Eu sei que você não vai aguentar de curiosidade, trouxão, então compra aí a versão de 100 e tantos reais e fica quieto". Aham, senta lá, Cláudia... Piratex, tô contigo e não abro!!

Claro que vou comprar a versão pocket book quando ela sair, né! Mas se acharam que eu ia comprar o livro duas vezes, se enganaram redondamente!!

Loudenvier disse...

Pois é, ainda bem que tenho pessoas solidárias! As editoras (e gravadoras e estúdios cinematográficos) transformam seus maiores clientes em criminosos. Para você terem uma ideia, eu comprei o Blu-way do Akira no Submarino assim que lançou. Vocês acreditam que ele veio sem o áudio em Japonês e ainda não era a versão remasterizada? Mas sim uma mera cópia do DVD para o Blu-ray? Fui na internet e baixei a versão em MP4, com 8GB, do Akira remasterizado com áudio todo em Japonês... O pior é que eu fui enganado e ainda estou riscado de ser taxado de ladrão!