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Eric Kleefeld
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 21 December 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 4422
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| Posted: 31 December 2012 at 10:27pm | IP Logged | 1
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The new MacBook Pro with the ultra-high resolution Retina screen seems like the perfect comic book e-reader. Both models, the 13-inch and the 15-inch, have wide screens to show two pages at once, and the pixel density makes it practically the same as paper.
I took a look in a store at some of my old DVD-ROM digital comics on the thing, and it was just stunning.
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Thom Price
Byrne Robotics Member
L’Homme Diabolique
Joined: 29 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 7593
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| Posted: 31 December 2012 at 10:33pm | IP Logged | 2
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Double page spreads are not ideal on a tablet, but flipping the device to landscape is no great hardship.
Both of my tablets have been 7-inch, but I think I'll have a 10-inch Nexus join its smaller brother in the next few months. I suspect comics will be much better on that 10-inch screen, even though I have no real complaints about them now.
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Eric Kleefeld
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 21 December 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 4422
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| Posted: 31 December 2012 at 10:43pm | IP Logged | 3
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The problem with flipping an iPad when you get to a spread is that the double-page spread is now made to take up the same general area as a single page was before in portrait mode.
Thus, the images are shrunk down — precisely the opposite effect that a double spread should have.
I'll probably get a 13-inch MacBook Pro with the Retina screen some time in 2013, maybe later in the year when my old faithful white MacBook has run its course. And when I do, reading comics will be the thing I use the Retina screen's features for the most.
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Brad Krawchuk
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 June 2006
Location: Canada
Posts: 5819
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| Posted: 31 December 2012 at 11:39pm | IP Logged | 4
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I beg to differ. I've already stated that I have no qualms about removing DRM. I have copies of every comic book, book, song and video I have ever purchased. The companies can EULA-doublespeak about these transactions being "licenses" all they want; if I am paying the same (or darn close to the same) price as I would for a physical item, I will have that item in my library and not at the whim of the company.
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But by removing the DRM, you're committing an act of illegal software piracy. I'm not saying I disagree with your idea that buying something should give you some ownership rights over your "copy" of that something, but I am saying that your way around it is currently against the law. As opposed to say, me taking in the single issues of the Valiant series' I've been collecting and trading them in for cash, other comics, or the trades of the same series'.
I own my copy of John Byrne's Fantastic Four Omnibus volume 1. I can sell it, get it signed, burn it, use it to level out a lopsided piece of furniture, gift it to a friend, lend it to a friend, hand it down to my progeny, donate it to the library... I can do whatever I want with it. A digital copy of the same is governed by a radically different set of rules and unless I break those rules, I've no more right to keep a digital copy of it than I do to take a book out from the library and keep it.
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Thom Price
Byrne Robotics Member
L’Homme Diabolique
Joined: 29 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 7593
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| Posted: 01 January 2013 at 12:09am | IP Logged | 5
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But by removing the DRM, you're committing an act of illegal software piracy.
***
If there was a single example of it being enforced -- or even attempted to be enforced -- I might be concerned. There are simply too many instances of companies turning a blind eye to consumers making copies for personal use for me to consider it a something they are looking to enforce. Artists selling commissions of copyrighted characters is also against the letter of the law, but is likewise not enforced.
The new digital age copyright laws cast a wide net, but I have seen nothing to suggest they were intended for anything other than preventing file sharing. I think a more likely outcome would be companies enforcing their user agreements, and severing our relationship. But that would basically be saying they no longer want my money -- which is rather a case of biting off their nose to spite their face.
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Thom Price
Byrne Robotics Member
L’Homme Diabolique
Joined: 29 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 7593
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| Posted: 01 January 2013 at 12:18am | IP Logged | 6
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I should also note that I am just cynical enough to believe DRM has little to do with preventing piracy, and whole lot to do with 'gating' customers to a particular retailer. Which is all well and good until Amazon inevitably decides they're going to 'upgrade' their system, rendering all previous files obsolete and in need of repurchasing.
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Nathan Greno
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 20 April 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 9154
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| Posted: 01 January 2013 at 2:30pm | IP Logged | 7
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Eric: The problem with flipping an iPad when you get to a spread is that the double-page spread is now made to take up the same general area as a single page was before in portrait mode.
Thus, the images are shrunk down — precisely the opposite effect that a double spread should have.
---
Reminds me of the debate in that "wasted double page spreads thread.
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Nathan Greno
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 20 April 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 9154
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| Posted: 01 January 2013 at 2:36pm | IP Logged | 8
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I haven't started buying digital comics yet. I have many friends that do buy them and encourage me to give it a shot.
I hardly buy many comics these days... and I treat them more like magazines. I throw a lot of them away after I read them. I don't feel the need to "collect" everything. I don't keep every magazine I read... I don't need to own every movie I see.
Digital comics might be good for me because there would be less waste created. Hmm...
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Brian Lewis
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 13 August 2012
Posts: 476
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| Posted: 01 January 2013 at 3:41pm | IP Logged | 9
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Thom wrote:
| If there was a single example of it being enforced -- or even attempted to be enforced -- I might be concerned. |
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So that makes it okay to break the law and steal?
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Clifford Boudreaux
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 July 2012
Posts: 443
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| Posted: 01 January 2013 at 3:54pm | IP Logged | 10
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So that makes it okay to break the law and steal?
He's not talking about stealing, he's talking about making a copy of something he legally bought for personal use.
Back when I was a kid, I used to record songs off the radio. Was that stealing? I traced pictures out of comic books. Was that stealing?
Is busting the DRM on an e-book I bought from Amazon so I can alter the book title so all my Discworld books are in chronological order instead of alphabetical stealing? Is making a copy of a DVD I bought so I can play it on my Fire stealing?
Copyright law casts a pretty wide net, but they're clearly not interested in prosecuting anything not related to piracy. The Supreme Court has even upheld the right to do things like record TV for future viewing, when there was an attempt to outlaw video recorders on piracy grounds. They upheld the rights of customers to make copies for personal use.
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Thom Price
Byrne Robotics Member
L’Homme Diabolique
Joined: 29 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 7593
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| Posted: 01 January 2013 at 4:31pm | IP Logged | 11
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So that makes it okay to break the law and steal?
***
About as okay as artists making a profit selling works featuring characters they don't own, I would imagine. Regardless of what copyright law may state, it is up to the copyright holder to determine which violations they will pursue. Since there is not a single example of any company suing a person for making backups for personal use, that effectively renders the law inapplicable. If and when companies decide take action, I suppose I'll reevaluate my stance.
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Brian Lewis
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 13 August 2012
Posts: 476
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| Posted: 01 January 2013 at 6:20pm | IP Logged | 12
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Clifford wrote:
| He's not talking about stealing, he's talking about making a copy of something he legally bought for personal use. |
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No...it is piracy and illegal.
Clifford wrote:
| Back when I was a kid, I used to record songs off the radio. Was that stealing? I traced pictures out of comic books. Was that stealing? |
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Nope.
Clifford wrote:
| Is busting the DRM on an e-book I bought from Amazon so I can...[insert any reason]...stealing |
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Yes...it is. Since the 1998 Digital Millenium Copyright Act.
Clifford wrote:
| Copyright law casts a pretty wide net, but they're clearly not interested in prosecuting anything not related to piracy. |
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So that still makes it okay to break the law and steal?
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Topic Closed)
