Buying E-books

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So, ther eis this guy on E Bay selling a lot of 400 plus E-books (science fiction). I am wondering how do you make that transaction? I mean, for starters, how legal is it? (Not his books, not written by him). Then, like, what do I look for? Like, what kind of file or what? Very interested but no idea what the guy is talking about.

[Taffy]

He has probably downloaded an illegal torrent, repackaged them, and is now selling them. So, not at all legal, probably. That is of course unless these works are now in the public domain, but for science fiction that's unlikely unless we're talking Jules Verne.

[Mucha Man]

As long as the books are digitally rights protected this is no problem. He just sends you the files.

But I don't know about the legality as most ebook purchases are more like loans and the rights page will expressly forbid resale.

[StuartCa]

the chances are he downloaded them from a torrent site and is trying to make some cash. A great ploy because he can sell them multiple times without doing anything more.

It's almost certainly illegal as he's not the copyright holder, that will be the publisher (in most cases).

File format vary, Kindle uses a proprietary format (.azw), other readers will read epub and most other formats such as pdf and .mobi

If you're thinking of getting cheap e-books I would do it yourself from a torrent site. Don't pay for them

Edit - taffy beat me too it

[Mucha Man]

Don't use torrents. If you want free books, there are several sites that send you daily facebook alerts when kindle books are made free or really cheap. Many of these titles are self-published (but not all) but usually have to already be selling well before the sites will list them. Since authors use these as promotion you are doing everyone a favor by downloading.

http://www.facebook.com/EreaderNewsToday

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Wow, guys, thanks for the heads up. No idea Torrents could do books, too. Though I saw the one I was looking for -a sold out, no more printing edition- on Livid (what is that?) but I am a coward when it comes to Torrents. I still have the idea it will fill my computer with viruses, and as a computerphobic I would be devastated.

I am trying to get into electronic formats, though, as paper format is taking way too much space at home. The collection I mentioned, actually I have part of it, well, supposedly if my Mom has not tossed them out. The first 35 books, actually. So between hauling them here or electronic, I am quite keen on electronic.

I also found a magazine collection, like 32 editions. On Zinio they are like 150nts a pop. The guy wants 300 usd for the whole haul, like 10usd a piece. Obviously e-version wins again, and it's even legal.

I am mostly buying stuff I used to have and have no more. But extra books are always welcome, thanks for the link MM.

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Checking the bid again, the guy insists that the copyright has expired on these books and that they comply with all rules. All rightie then...

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Checking the bid again, the guy insists that the copyright has expired on these books and that they comply with all rules. All rightie then...

The only ones that could have copyright expired are things published before 1923.

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Checking the bid again, the guy insists that the copyright has expired on these books and that they comply with all rules. All rightie then...

The only ones that could have copyright expired are things published before 1923.

My thoughts exactly. And this ain't no Jules Verne material...

Found a bunch of the same books in paper. Pity shipping to Taiwan is so expensive. Well, actually not that bad for such a large amount. I have a creep asking 17 USD to send a magazine to Taiwan. Gee, is it hand delivered?