grumble

[piranha]

ever since powells has discontinued their free shipping to canada, i've much more seldomly shopped there except when they get in a rare book that's on my notifications list. i just bought $15 worth of books and paid $27 in total for the pleasure. i love to support independents, but not when it costs me decidedly more than anywhere else; i might as well support small book sellers in canada instead, and wait even longer for some of those rarities to pop up.

so when i found out that powells also sell ebooks now, i was happy, because hey, i rather buy them from there than from amazon and the other big guys any day. however, spot check of 10 ebooks shows that 9 out of those 10 can only be downloaded from within the US.

thanks for nothing. i know it's likely not powells who's to blame for this, but will the effing publishing industry get its effing head out of its effing arse already?

you want to know why people pirate? here's yet another reason.

Comments

[treesahquiche]

I totally agree, and I'm sorry that the publishing industry is thwarting you. If BBC would just let me watch stuff on their site, or get the shows that I want to watch on BBC America as well, I wouldn't bother torrenting. I hate import fees for books and movies that I can only find on overseas sites, too.

[seryn]

In an age of global availability, you would think it would behoove people to provide a legal pathway to obtain content.

[outlier_lynn]

What's odd about that restriction is that it only takes a proxie within the "region" to bypass that problem.

[beaq]

This doesn't fix the problem, but feel free to use me as a proxy (order and mail, download and send) if'n you need one.

[beaq]

Argh on reply indentation.

[piranha]

it might. then again, it might not -- there are a number of content providers who detect proxying now.

i would expect powells to detect the problem when charging me, since my billing address is in canada.

[piranha]

thanks for the offer, but yeah, buying through a proxy is annoying, and also illegal for the proxy in the case of ebooks (because they're "licensed", not sold; oh don't get me started).

[matthewdaly]

Of course, you wouldn't have these problems if you moved to the United States, or better yet your entire amusing "country" could join the United States and then you'd all reap the benefits. And it's not just international shipping, you'd also get the high quality Everclear, my understanding is that our television is much better, much more geocaching, and you can even watch The Daily Show over the internet. And and and you can actually try to DO something about the scoundrels in the United States government (or, if you're not in the mood, you can just threaten to move to Canada). I honestly can't see how you can resist.

[piranha]

oh, the everclear, now there's an offer i can't refuse! though wouldn't i be obliged to go back to college, and drink away my remaining brain cells instead of studying? then i would also have no need for reading books.

wait, why was i moving again?

[matthewdaly]

Perhaps I'm the only one that remembers that you regretted that you couldn't get 195-proof Everclear in Canada for your perfume-making. Sorry, I keep forgetting that not everyone collects obscure piranha trivia the way I do.

[crantz]

That's actually the cycle of my piracy.

Me: I want to read this book!
Store: I have it!
Me: Great! I will bu--
Store: US ONLY, SUCKAH
Me: I want to read this book!
Torrent site: yo
Me: Hey baby

[piranha]

not even piranha collects obscure piranha trivia the way you do! you're right, and i had totally forgotten.

[deane]

That deserves a LOL, since I really did.