this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2023
189 points (98.5% liked)

Technology

55715 readers
3550 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

“Most notorious” illegal shadow library sued by textbook publishers [Updated]::Previous efforts to unmask the people behind Libgen have failed.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Drinvictus@discuss.tchncs.de 76 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I'll stop using libgen when an ebook is cheaper than a hard copy.

[–] hi_its_me@lemmy.world -1 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Honest question. Why should it be? Isn’t the actual print of the book a very small fraction of the cost? The majority of the cost is the IP. If for example a book is $50 and the book costs $1 to print are you saying that it should be $49 and that’s the point that would convince you to purchase?

[–] Drinvictus@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

No production, storage, shipping... You think all of that costs $1? Also not every book is $50. A lot are way cheaper than that (around $10). So even $1 would be %10 which is not just a very small fraction (but again it's more than that). See below for a screenshot of Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone. Kindle edition is even more expensive than the paper copy ($10 vs $7). Not only that it is more expensive for no reason but it is about 40% more expensive compared to the $7 price of the physical copy (and I don't think I have to say this but I don't think that's a small fraction).

Edit: also I never said I don't purchase any ebooks. I said I'll stop using libgen when ebooks are cheaper than physical copies. Whenever I see shit like the screenshot I have attached I just pirate the book. I am not going to spend $10 on an ebook when half of that is going into Bezo's pocket for no reason.