Tolkien e-books finally legal

[davem]

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/83096-page.html

The Hobbit is priced £6.99, and the three individual Lord of the Rings titles as well as The Children of Húrin are priced £7.99. The entire Lord of the Rings trilogy can be bought for £19.99. On the decision to price the e-books on parity with their physical counterparts, Roth-Ey added: "We wanted to preserve the value of the works but also sell them at a consumer-friendly price."

HarperCollins will follow the digital publication of these titles with The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún (£18.99), The Silmarillion (£7.99) and Unfinished Tales (£7.99) on 5th May. These e-book releases are timed to coincide with the hardback of the previously unpublished The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún.

Further titles in Tolkien's back catalogue will follow later this year with the publisher aiming to release The History of Middle Earth, Tales from the Perilous Realm and Letters from Father Christmas first.

[Lush]

I saw! (via Twitter, of all places, which just proves to you that modern social life has drastically changed - or else that I just have none)

Anyone on here buying? All my hand-held technology is not up to par, unfortunately. Would be nice to be able to whip out a particularly fancy mobile device while bored in an airport, and read a chapter or two, but I need to be richer for that.

You still can't beat curling up with the murdered trees, though. Technology can be such an irritant, and I fee like with Tolkien, especially with re-reading Tolkien, you want it to be more of a soothing, jazzy experience. Particularly the longer works.

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by Lush

[/qAnyone on here buying?

I'll have to take out a membership in the party to the Luddite extreme. Absolutely not, in my case...

Of course, the "absolutely" part has more to do with poverty than principle. The simple fact is that I have plenty of paper copies, and I really can't afford buying more.

That said, though, I'm inclined to object to electronic books on principle too. Not as something inherently evil, I suppose, but as something that I really don't like. Not just the whole curling up with dead trees--though there is that--so much as, being a good Luddite, I really don't like the idea of technology invasively taking over every part of life. In fact, the more analog, mechanical parts things exist, the happier I'll be (for the most part--yes, I'm a hypocritic). I think I'm with Tolkien, though, for disliking progress for the sake of progress--and electronic books do not strike me as anything other than progress for the sake of progress.

Saruman would certainly read his books digitally. Sauron well might. The Númenoreans at the height of their arrogance might. The Hobbits would not. The Elves (post-Fëanor, anyway) would not.

I'd rather stick with the Hobbits and Elves here.

[/end rant]

[Mithalwen]

I don't know the idea of having everything on tap is attractive but I don't find reading a screen as relaxing as a murdered tree ...maybe when my eyes grow dim I will be very grateful to read it on large font. In the mean time what I really would like is an edition like parents' Collins classics - thin paper and soft leather bindings that mean even a substantial novel may slip in to a small pocket...

[davem]

And good old Harper Collins is charging exactly the same price for these e-books as for the real thing.....now, real books involve costs for materials, manufacture, shipping, storage, cut for the bookseller, whereas e-book costs involve, er, sending a string of code down the phone line....

And you have nothing physical to show - nothing to put on your shelf, nothing to sell on (if you want), & its hardly a suitable gift for someone.

Can't see this move doing away with the illegal e-books out there & I can't see them interesting collectors. Maybe of Harper Collins put them out for a couple of quid each I'd be tempted...

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Formendacil

I'll have to take out a membership in the party to the Luddite extreme. Absolutely not, in my case...

Could it be someone out there shares my disdain for the ways in which modern technology subverts personal relationships, destroys any last vestiges of privacy and solitude, and will eventually bring about the end of humanity? Well, maybe not the last bit.
I have no interest in the e-book medium, myself.

[Beregond]

I think it's about time! I've looked for a LotR e-book in the past and have been disgruntled to find they're illegal. Well, finally they're above-board. They will never ever, not for me, replace paper. It isn't the same and that isn't the point. What the e-book is good for is the ability to search within the book, copy and paste quotes, and take with on adventures with a small pack.

Of course, it will promote cheating at quiz games and general laziness, but that's beside the point.

E-books are helpful for projects; I've used them in the past few days. For instance having the Bible on the computer is the ultimate time-saver as it allows instant searching for passages.

Still, it costs too much so I probably won't buy it, no.

[davem]

Originally Posted by Beregond

What the e-book is good for is the ability to search within the book, copy and paste quotes, and take with on adventures with a small pack.

.

Er, no - if you check out the small print on the Harper Collins e-book site http://uk.perfectbound.ret.overdrive.com/38A9AEE9-10F3-4756-AD02-7244B7138B3D/10/134/en/EBookDetails.htm?ID={4875ED44-FCF6-4414-B518-F3323152E3DF} you find (bottom of the page)

E-book Usage Information
Adobe EPUB eBook
Adobe EPUB eBook
Copy: allowed, but limited to 34 selections
Print: allowed, but limited to 34 pages

May be ok for searching, but be careful what you copy & paste - cos you ain't got many chances of doing it.

[Beregond]

Oh. Should have known they'd limit practicality.

[Kent2010]

My Macroeconomics book was only available on-line and I absolutely hated it. Mainly not because of principle, or what have you, but currently all I have for my computer desk is a stool - and trying to read for hours a computer screen on a stool is not the most comfortable thing I can think of. I'd much rather have a book, to lay on my very comfy couch or a beanbag chair - whether I'm trying to read Macro (and stay awake) or a good book.

And besides staring at a computer screen for hours is not good foor your eyes.

[davem]

Well, if you go to the HC site now you'll see they're offering them at 20% off (shame for those who've already bought them) - still not tempted meself tho....

[Leyrana Silumiel]

I bought them from ereader.com for my BlackBerry. Mainly because I visit this site from my 'Berry because I don't have an actual computer and figured it would be handy to have a version with me to read when I'm bored and forget my book.

I paid $22 total for the entire trilogy, The Hobbit, and the Children of Hurin. Ereader.com has them on sale, half off, with an extra 15% with a coupon code, then another 10% for registering with their site. And you earn back a percentage of the books you buy to put towards other book purchases.

I didn't think $22 was terribly bad for all that.

[Lush]

E-book Usage Information
Adobe EPUB eBook
Adobe EPUB eBook
Copy: allowed, but limited to 34 selections
Print: allowed, but limited to 34 pages

Ugh. Pure electronic fascism, that.

[Alfirin]

On this thread there has been a great deal of talk out against the concept of e-books in thier very principle, and I feel that there is some need for arguments in favor of them. Yes the feel of dead tree (or even better dead linen-cotton) has a certain confort to it and there is an inherent tactile pleasure in a physical book that an electronic one cannot match. But electronic does have its advantages too, one of the main ones of which is that, since it can be made cheaper than a physical book (I know it currently isn't but that's more of a factor of coroprate greed than anything inherent in an e-book), it increses the number of people who can have acess to the work. Some people have complained the don't want the e-books to exist becuse they've already invested so much money in the physical ones. What about a new person to tolkein who would like to read and posess the works but doens have the hundreds of dollars needed to get a complete set? Pubic libraries are nice but they can only get you so far. Ultimately I feel that a knee jerk condemmantion of e-books will lead, not to a resurgance of printed books but a situation in which Tolkein's stories are simply not acessible to most people. The life of the paper book, however lamented the fact is, is likey in it's waning decades, if the cost of priting doesn't destroy it, questions about the environmental inpact will (after environmetal concerns cause everyone to swith over to electroinc sources for their newspapers, magazines bill payments and correspondence, what do you think the next paper thing people are going to start decrying is?). I can sort of sypathize with the anti-tech Luddite desire for things to stay as they are (or go back to a simpler time) but the sad fact is that when a new idea comes along, it's supression doesn't usally result in a re-discovery of the old way (at least not by the general public) but a null state where neither form is available. The fact is that with every new tecnological advancement somthing good and fine is irretrevalbe lost, but that if you shun the change, that fairly quicky you get into a state where the old way become impracticable to preform and eveything is lost.

For example imagine someone decided they were going to produce an ultimate Tolkein volume of the most incredible quality, hand limned in iron-gall ink on finest vellum, fully illuminated with mineral pigments and gilt, bound in finest Morroco leather etc. I'n not saying that such an item would not be intensely beautiful and desirable but it would also be beyond most people budget. Now imagine if that was the only way Tolkien came, or better yet if there were only a few copies made and if you wanted one, you had to hand copy it (as I understand was common practice before cheap mass market printing). For the vast majority this would basically end up workiong out to more effort than they could bear for the story, and they would never read it. utimately If tolkein survived at all it would remain in the hands of a small elite cadre to which few, if any would be admitted over time. I could say more but my wrist tire.

[CSteefel]

How do they enforce a 34 cut and paste limit? For me, this would be the reason to own a digital version--sure make participating in this Board easier, since when you wanted a quote, you could copy and paste it directly, instead of typing it mistakes and all...