Topic: For those of you with Ebooks.....

[DalPuri]

I would probably saved my money if I knew what the content was going to be

I've seen the book and would say the same as Goncalo (if i had bought it).
For any member of either forum that has cooked a few bases and curries, this book has nothing new for them. Almost everything in vol2 has been seen or can be found on the forums or youtube already.
 And i think this is the reason why there hasn't been so much as a sniff on the other site where he is a mod and regularly contributes.

But for the novice to BIR cooking, both books come highly recommended.    (except for the shami kebab burger : )

[Aussie Mick]

All i can say is that i am more than happy with the measly 3 and a half quid paid for each of Micks books. Both have been printed and bound in folders and sit happily with my other stuff for reference when needed.

Some really good recipes in vol 2. if you haven't tried, them....do it.

[Peripatetic Phil]

I can't help but grin at the fact that Phil is questioning the ethics of pdfunlock and george is asking for help on how to unlock digital rights. Suddenly I get this flashback from an old post where George lectured Phil on ethics and moral because he posted copyrighted ebooks (or links) to the forum.

To the best of my knowledge I have never posted copyright material, although I have occasionally quoted brief excerpts and given full credit to (and acknowledged the copyright of) the original author.  My concern is not that one user unlocks one of Mick's files :  that is an individual choice, and I am not going to get worked up about it.  My concern is with the ethics of posting a URL that will allow any user to unlock not only Mick's PDFs but many others as well.  I cannot speak for Mick, but I /believe/ that he distributes the PDFs in locked format not to stop printing (printing is enabled but limited in resolution) but to stop (a) bulk copying of the content, and (b) removal of his copyright notice, which would then allow unscrupulous individuals to put copies up via (say) BitTorrent, announce their existence (without any acknowledgement of Mick's copyright) and then others who download them would be completely unaware that they had just downloaded copyright material.  Mick charges an extremely reasonable price for his e-books; should we not, in return, do him the courtesy of respecting his copyright and keeping to ourselves any knowledge we may have on how such PDFs can be unlocked ?

** Phil.

[George]

SP -  having read your comment before it was removed, I went back and tried Calibre again. It states that Calibre will not remove DRM and there's a Calibre web page which explains why.

Perhaps you have an earlier version or something.

Also, I want to be able to use a book I paid for, for my own use. I'm not seeking to copy it for upload here, or anywhere else but, as Calibre explain, you don't buy these books - you sort of rent them - subject to a whole load of restrictions determined by Amazon, in my case.

[sp]

check your pm's George, I've sent you a link... 

[Unclefrank]

This is what i do http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,8178.msg72283.html#msg72283

Just scroll down.

[sp]

Maybe that went over my head but you can't print Kindle books, hence the requirement for PDF conversion

[meggeth]

Ok, I'm going to go for both if I can printout. There have been a few nice piccies recently of recipes from book 2 (Bengali bob, mostly!), so I'll give it a go, along with book 1.

Cheers guys!   

[goncalo]

I can't help but grin at the fact that Phil is questioning the ethics of pdfunlock and george is asking for help on how to unlock digital rights. Suddenly I get this flashback from an old post where George lectured Phil on ethics and moral because he posted copyrighted ebooks (or links) to the forum.

To the best of my knowledge I have never posted copyright material, although I have occasionally quoted brief excerpts and given full credit to (and acknowledged the copyright of) the original author.  My concern is not that one user unlocks one of Mick's files :  that is an individual choice, and I am not going to get worked up about it.  My concern is with the ethics of posting a URL that will allow any user to unlock not only Mick's PDFs but many others as well.  I cannot speak for Mick, but I /believe/ that he distributes the PDFs in locked format not to stop printing (printing is enabled but limited in resolution) but to stop (a) bulk copyng of the content, and (b) removal of his copyright notice, which would then allow unscrupulous individuals to put copies up via (say) BitTorrent, announce their existence (without any acknowledgement of Mick's copyright) and then others who download them would be completely unaware that they had just downloaded copyright material.  Mick charges an extremely reasonable price for his e-books; should we not, in return, do him the courtesy of respecting his copyright and keeping to ourselves any knowledge we may have on how such PDFs can be unlocked ?

Chill out Phil. I just mentioned it for irony's sake and the crack!

To answer some of your points, the reality is that no one cares about the copyright notices in the products that are being sourced from the pirate bay or some any other sharing protocol/site. It's just there for the convenience of the author. I don't support sharing his books (or anyone else's) I think he is an honest writer/contributor and has contributed plenty to us.  Although that isn't to say I won't download pirated stuff from other honest writers. I did buy both of my copies off of Mick's and made some genuine comments/improvement suggestions in this forum for vol1, which were taken in a harsh way by some members. I do think the new volume contains good information, but does bring very little substance. We could fill up 40 odd volumes with just new recipes, but as I am looking for ways to improve my cooking technique/flavours of the main dishes, this volume has been a little less interesting than its former volume.

As a buyer, one very small aspect to be picky of: the naan recipe. It is the same as in the first volume, but it's slightly enhanced in terms of instructions. Could this not have been rectified in the first volume and re-sent to everyone who already bought the book (i.e basically what Julian did with a free update)?

Anyway, I don't want to drag this on and on. I'm sure you understand where I'm coming from. Cheers!

[StoneCut]

There are plugins for Calibre that will remove most sorts of DRM such as that from Amazon, iTunes and so on, George. I'm sure you've got it via PM now. If not send me a PM and I'll help. I hate DRM and fear it will come back to haunt us eventually when the first companies fold in another 10-20 years.

I'm not going to get into the moral debate, either. My stance is: If I buy a physical book I can make photocopies of individual pages as I see fit (I know I cannot distrubte them and respect that). Now, if I want to do the same with an eBook then I certainly will.

BTW: Supplying a link to a website is usually not illegal (what someone does there eventually might, though), even removing the lock via that link isn't even illegal where I live. The alternative would be: Grab a pirated copy of whatever and have no such restrictions - I wonder what the author would prefer? I had to resort to such measures with a heavily protected Audio CD that I wanted as MP3 for my iPhone which resulted in me never buying a CD from that artist again.

What I do with my property is my decision, IMHO. It's the same with electronics devices that are artifically restricted. I'll just unlock them.