Thursday, February 04, 2010

Media Matters…

I have over 500 compact discs I bought and collected in the years before I become sick and when I still worked full time.  Along with reading again, I’ve been able to listen to music avidly again for the first time in years.  Well, I’ve spent hours tonight ripping all my CDs into MP3s.  I have about 100 left and I will be finished.  I am slowly filling up that 2 Terabyte harddrive.  It is going to be so neat today to listen to music I love and haven’t listened to in years. 

I have a complicated matter to share with you all this morning.  A conundrum of sorts.  I am almost finished with reading Interview with the Vampire.  Well, the library didn’t have the second book in the series, The Vampire Lestat.  They said it was on loan to a patron.  Well, I found an eBook copy online to read next.  Is this legal?  Am I breaking copyright law?  I love reading eBooks on my computer.  Google recently released over 500,000 classics and out of print books for download in eBook format.  With my new huge monitor, reading on my computer is pleasant and a breeze.  I settle in my comfy Lazy Boy, put my mouse in my lap to scroll, and lounge back to read. 

Update…

I looked up The Vampire Lestat eBook on Amazon.com and it was $6.39.  That was enough to make me delete it.   I will just wait until is comes back to the library.  I am so impatient though and so into this series right now.  Patience young grasshopper! lol

4 comments:

Jennifer said...

Once you finish with The Vampire series, try the Mayfair witches series, also written by Anne Rice. They are lesser know, but in my opinion, better.

Happyone :-) said...

Ask your library to put it on reserve for you. Then when it comes in they will give you a call. I do that all the time.

joyous melancholy said...

It depends on who put out the eBook copy. If it's google, then you're fine. They can't put out illegal eBooks.

I hate waiting for books at the library too. I admire you for not going the easy route and just reading illegal copies. It would be easy to rationalize - you're not paying for it at the library either, so what's the difference? But integrity is what we do when no one is watching, when we won't get caught. You're a good man.

Berryvox said...

I'd put it on reserve too. The library system I use is huge and almost always has the book I want to read (and sometimes DVDs and music) but it's rarely at the small branch library that I visit. So, I constantly have to reserve books if I want a specific one.

Logically, considering your financial and living situation, I wouldn't think the lawyers would go after you for breaking copyright laws. But they do go after young students and others who couldn't possibly afford to pay all the time so it's probably a good idea to avoid the downloading route.