Comments on: When will eBooks stop being a rip off? http://www.hyam.net/blog/archives/753 "truly pathetic verbiage" Sat, 03 Dec 2011 02:12:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: Neil Jacobsohn http://www.hyam.net/blog/archives/753/comment-page-1#comment-11125 Neil Jacobsohn Thu, 01 Sep 2011 11:37:37 +0000 http://www.hyam.net/blog/?p=753#comment-11125 Amazon is now advertising Stephen King's latest novel for pre-order - and the Kindle edition is MORE EXPENSIVE thant he hardcover. This defies belief. It's time we as customers stood up and said NO! Amazon is now advertising Stephen King’s latest novel for pre-order – and the Kindle edition is MORE EXPENSIVE thant he hardcover. This defies belief. It’s time we as customers stood up and said NO!

]]> By: Roger Hyam http://www.hyam.net/blog/archives/753/comment-page-1#comment-3782 Roger Hyam Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:03:32 +0000 http://www.hyam.net/blog/?p=753#comment-3782 Thanks John. My first reaction was how stupid of me not to check this and that I was probably wrong. Taking another quick look at the Kindle version however I note that not only is the text of the first few lines the same as the Gutenberg version (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2500/2500-8.txt) but the line breaks are in the same places as they are in the text version published on the Gutenberg site - i.e. Whoever prepared the Kindle version made it from the Gutenberg version but didn't even change the line breaks so the text would work correctly on an ebook reader. Furthermore the Feedbooks version available on Stanza is not only correctly formatted it also acknowledges the source of the text as being the Gutenberg project. Thanks John. My first reaction was how stupid of me not to check this and that I was probably wrong.

Taking another quick look at the Kindle version however I note that not only is the text of the first few lines the same as the Gutenberg version (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2500/2500-8.txt) but the line breaks are in the same places as they are in the text version published on the Gutenberg site – i.e. Whoever prepared the Kindle version made it from the Gutenberg version but didn’t even change the line breaks so the text would work correctly on an ebook reader. Furthermore the Feedbooks version available on Stanza is not only correctly formatted it also acknowledges the source of the text as being the Gutenberg project.

]]> By: John Mark Ockerbloom http://www.hyam.net/blog/archives/753/comment-page-1#comment-3781 John Mark Ockerbloom Sat, 16 Jan 2010 13:23:30 +0000 http://www.hyam.net/blog/?p=753#comment-3781 Which translation is used on the Kindle? While Hesse's original German was published in 1922, English translations didn't come till later, and may well still be under copyright. (If I recall correctly, the first free online translation was produced by volunteers especially for distribution by Project Gutenberg.) If the Kindle version isn't the Gutenberg translation, I wouldn't assume they got it for free. Which translation is used on the Kindle? While Hesse’s original German was published in 1922, English translations didn’t come till later, and may well still be under copyright. (If I recall correctly, the first free online translation was produced by volunteers especially for distribution by Project Gutenberg.)

If the Kindle version isn’t the Gutenberg translation, I wouldn’t assume they got it for free.

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