ATAR Notes: Forum
General Discussion => General Discussion Boards => Rants and Debate => Topic started by: heart on December 02, 2012, 06:49:14 pm
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Good or bad? I myself have downloaded a lot of books from organic chemistry to maths (a 8gb collection with MIT stuff) and even a medical encyclopedia. Buying all these books in real life would be very very very very costly.
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Downloading is fine for light reading and having a bit of fun, but books which you actually use day in day out - your main study texts - I would say buy them and support the authors and publishers. If everyone obtained books illegally nobody would write books!
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valid point. But, after making my parents pay like 1.5k for all my vce and umat books I felt that it would appropriate to download stuff for extra learning. Also for all those umaters out their LSAT material/tests are pro.
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I believe at the very least, people can download books and what not, but if they find them useful, then they should be paying for them. No excuses in my opinion, I think even lack of funds is not a legit excuse either, as they always say, put yourself in the publishers shoes.
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Agree with paulsterio.
I actually prefer having the book in front of me physically: it makes me want to study more.
But then again, money is always an important factor: I only buy textbooks if I have to- and having an older sibling always helps :)
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Whilst especially with things like the LSAT and UMAT it is unfair that those who have the money are able to buy better study material, I think it's unfair to download things from companies that work hard to produce material for these tests :/
Having said that, I often dl books for a preview, then buy them if I like them, and delete the downloaded file. I usually end up buying 80% of the books I download. Things like e-book stores make it easier for me to preview files, and buy them either from the e-book store itself, or from retailers. Usually I find it much more appealing to have a legit copy in front of me (ebook wise) as they're better formatted etc.
Though I understand where book 'pirates' are coming from regarding cost, I don't think it's a completely moral venture to download books illegally - it is essentially stealing.
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So the general census from a large sample space of 4 people :P is that downloading books is bad. Lets make it more complex. About torrenting shows that have played on t.v. I personally don't do this as a rarely, close to never, watch t.v.
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If I like a book I will usually buy it for the pure satisfaction of owning something physically （book collection nerd）， unless its bad at which point I would stop reading after the first few pages， kinda the same thing you would do at a book store
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I have no shame in admitting I download all my tv shows. I watch far too many and it would cost $35774 to buy them all.
Plus it's super convenient.
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So the general census from a large sample space of 4 people :P is that downloading books is bad. Lets make it more complex. About torrenting shows that have played on t.v. I personally don't do this as a rarely, close to never, watch t.v.
Pretty much exactly the same to be honest. Same with games as well. If you think it's worth it, pay. If not, just delete it. For tv shows, their main source of revenue is the sale of their shows, so I'd pay.
That's my thoughts, whether I enforce them (all the time).. ;D :P
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at the end of the day education should be free and wasting time should cost money :P
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at the end of the day education should be free and wasting time should cost money :P
TOP GEAR IS NOT A WASTE OF TIME >:(
Downvote Downvote Downvote
:P I'm kidding
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TOP GEAR IS NOT A WASTE OF TIME
My dad would probably say the same thing. Watches a lot of t.v series, formula one and movies.
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Torrenting games and books can be morally questionable, but is mostly harmless. And while I don't download TV shows, I don't see any problem at all with torrenting them, couldn't that be seen as just some form of time-shifting? They're free on TV...
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Torrenting games and books can be morally questionable, but is mostly harmless. And while I don't download TV shows, I don't see any problem at all with torrenting them, couldn't that be seen as just some form of time-shifting? They're free on TV...
But there are ads on TV, which provide revenue to the network/tv station, which in turn allows them to show all these programs.
Thug lyf.
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Torrenting games and books can be morally questionable, but is mostly harmless. And while I don't download TV shows, I don't see any problem at all with torrenting them, couldn't that be seen as just some form of time-shifting? They're free on TV...
The way I see it, it's the same as if I recorded the tv show as it aired, onto my computer. So in one way, you're paying for the special features.
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which site do you use ?
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which site do you use ?
This is a discussion on torrenting books and other files, not a discussion on sources for doing so :)
Thanks :)
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which site do you use ?
hahaha
edit: you guys can use project gutenberg for texts not under copyright laws, and Itunes U for brilliant lectures. MIT and Khan Academy are also pretty good...
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The way I see it, it's the same as if I recorded the tv show as it aired, onto my computer. So in one way, you're paying for the special features.
Exactly. Plus everything airs so much later in Australia, without torrenting it would be impossible to stay up to date with discussions about my favourite shows.
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If everyone obtained books illegally nobody would write books!
that is, if everyone was motivated solely by monetary gain
if the flipside is to not buy the books at all (1.5k is a ridiculous price), just download it. also, if this is really bothering your conscience, just email the writers, explain how you can't afford 200 bucks a book as a high school kid and ask for permission. chances are, they'd be happy that someone took time out to read their material. a guy i knew bypassed paying ridiculous fees to journal databases by asking the researchers directly. most just sent him the journals straight up
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^ Wrong name in the quote
However, no matter which way you look at it, regardless of whether book writers write books for monetary gain or not, they have put time and effort into it and that should be respected. They could have gone out and done other work in the time it took them to write the book, it's their intellectual property and we should respect that.
And either way, in high school, you won't need any books which are $200 anyways. Even in Uni, I have never bought a book that is more than $100. So it's pretty reasonable for what it gives you. I don't understand why some kids splash thousands of dollars on UMAT preparation courses, tutoring and VCE lectures but can't afford to buy a book that's like $50 (which is what an average VCE book costs). It's not that much, people pirate not because they need to, but because they can and that's what's wrong about it.
I have no issues if they actually were struggling to make ends meet and hence HAD to pirate. If they don't think sneaking into a VCE lecture is OK, they shouldn't think pirating books is OK either.