Pirated Copies of Harry Potter
July 22, 2005 by Lei
Filed under Children's Books (11 to 14 yrs)
This past weekend, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released to much fanfare. Both American and British versions were being sold in Singapore for about $30 USD a copy. My mom e-mailed me to ask if I wanted her to get a copy for me from Costco for $16 USD. Even though I’ve read all the Harry Potter books
Maybe I don’t have to wait until the paperback is released to find out what Harry and his cronies are up to. Wired reports that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has been scanned and put online at various websites. The pirates claim that they’re doing this to retaliate against JK Rowling’s decision not to release an official e-book version, but I think they would have done it regardless.
Counterfeit books (along with DVD’s, handbags, clothes, and other knock-offs) have been available in China and other countries for years. The main problem with copies is that they usually don’t have the highest fidelity. I wouldn’t be surprised if the scanned copies available online have illegible sections or missing pages.
JK Rowling says,
You should NEVER trust any Harry Potter e-books offered for download from the internet or on P2P/file-trading networks. Setting aside the fact that these books are illegal (there are no authorised HP e-books to date), they may infect your computer with viruses, leave you vulnerable to the dangers of hacking and/or credit card fraud and may also contain content that has nothing to do with Harry Potter, to say the least.
I may still cave in and buy a hard cover copy before the paperback is available. But I’m definitely not so desperate that I’d want to download one.
Would you be tempted to download a pirated copy?
No, I wouldn’t be tempted to download ANY electronic versions of the book as good books are worth having in a nice print format. I made the mistake of starting Half-Blood Prince in the wee hours of the morning and I’m nearly finished with it (but at the expense of no sleep) =)
I also bought the Canadian version from Costco – around $23.50 CAD including taxes. My fiance bought the American version for $15.99 + taxes USD from a Costco in California. Makes out to be around the same price with the conversion.
Thanks for the comment, echomyst! I’ve read about people being unhappy because JK Rowling didn’t agree to release the book in eBook format but I can’t imagine too many people really preferring eBooks over traditional books in print. If they ever develop a good reading device with a universal format and other nifty features, I might consider it. But, thus far, I haven’t been impressed.
I would have to be desparate and without print books to really seriously consider buying eBooks. I’ve taken advantage of a few of the free Public Domain eBooks, but really don’t like reading on my PDA. And if I’m home where the computer is with the bigger screen, I’m also where there are print books.
I certainly wouldn’t buy a pirated copy though- I wouldn’t trust the integrity of the copy to be an exact copy of the original. er, moral issues aside that is
Qadira, I can’t imagine reading on my PDA. It’s so tiny. And I already spend way too much time in front of the computer. Books a nice break for my eyes and everything else.
I’ve already downloaded books 1-5
I have downloaded all the books(1 to 7) as PDF and made their java version for portable device.
They are available online now
Ha ha