Would you download the new Harry Potter book?

Posted byDonnchaPosted inBooksTags:, , , , , ,

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Drmike says he found a site where you can download “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”.

Would you download a possibly incomplete copy of a new book? What if it’s not as polished as the finished item? Would the glaring grammatical mistakes, and unedited paragraphs ruin the experience for you?

What about the experience of lying in bed with a good book, engrossed in it and falling asleep with the light on? Is it the same with a set of printed sheets from your computer? I think not. That scene in The Devil Wears Prada does spring to mind where the kids are reading the manuscript on the train..

Meanwhile, Scott Adams has an excellent post on copyright violation which he later explained was an experiment in “cognitive dissonance”.

If you’ve read anything about experiments to produce cognitive dissonance, you know this was the perfect setup. You can produce dissonance by putting a person in a position of doing something that is clearly opposed to his self image. Then wait for his explanation. The explanation will seem absurd to anyone who doesn’t share the dissonance. In this case the model that produced it was…

1. Good people are not criminals.
2. Criminals break laws.
3. I break copyright laws.
4. But since I know I am a good person, my reason why it’s okay to violate copyright laws is (insert something absurd).

I don’t think it worked on me because I happen to agree with him that copyright violation is theft. Previous mind experiments have however worked on me so I’m as susceptable as anyone. His underpants story was particularly absurd however, even if in keeping with his sense of humour and not at all out of place on the Dilbert blog!

Reading Harry Potter at WordCamp

21st July – the book is out and I’ve seen it. I took a picture of the last page but I don’t think anyone really wants to see it, do you? There’s Michael reading his copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows!

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Published by Donncha

Donncha Ó Caoimh is a software developer at Automattic and WordPress plugin developer. He posts photos at In Photos and can also be found on Mastodon.

166 thoughts on “Would you download the new Harry Potter book?”

  1. Wouldn’t download it even if it was real and I was a Harry Potter fan. Not that I give a damn about the law, but if I enjoyed the previous books I’d want the author to get compensated for her efforts (note that is not the same thing as saying I support copyright. Legality has nothing to do with it). Now, what I WOULD do is… if I had never heard of Harry Potter and never seen any of the movies… I might download the first book to see if it was any good, then buy the others if it was.

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  4. For all of you that discredit and trash the HP 7 fake version. I have to say that u haven’t read it.

    It not only is 100000% better than JK version but also it really makes justice to the earlier HP books and the tale itself. It will keep you hook from page 1. Yes it has more love related drama but it plays nicely with the action. The first 250 pages of the HP7 JK version are boring. Ok JK makes it up at the end with a strong Hollywood end. The fake version spends approx. 70 pages in the epilog to describe HP life after Voldemort defeat against the 15 pages of JK. It just justice after killing every family member a few friends and making HP life horrible and traumatic to spend sometime describing Harry final and well deserve happiness.
    Don’t believe me go and read it at http://www.phoenixsong.net/fanfiction/story/3517/

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  6. Since the fake version became so popular the webmaster of the site now has it chapter by chapter only so you would have to download one by one or send me your rmail and I will send you the entire book.

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  7. Please remember if you download a Harry Potter book you are putting yourself in danger of prosecution, because there are no legal copies on sale. The downloads are seldom free either. It’s a lot of work OCRing a very long book (even if the person doing so is too lazy to edit out all the mis-readings) and people selling pirated books are usually after something more substantial than the mere few dollars they are asking for the pirated book: your credit card details!

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  8. I fully agree with you Laraine, people should be very careful with their personal and credit card information on the net. As to proof read and correct errors in the documents which have been digitized… I have done that myself, and it turned out to be a whole lot of work… but it’s good to have a fully working edition. Unfortunately that is NOT the one I have provided to people FREE of charge and FREE in every sense of the word. The one found through a link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDz64wJTx0A is with a bunch of errors, but nothing seriously serious. People can easily get through the errors without losing out much.

    I don’t ask people for anything, nor do I bombard them with popup ads or other crappy spam. I decided to help people who are in a situation where they could not get a hardcopy due to their placement in the world (non-english speaking countries), and since “HELP” is just that, I would never try to get anything for helping others out. I have been bothered by lawyers from the publishing company, but they can eat their own crap for all that I care. Rowling sure as heck doesn’t need the pennies and cents for this latest book… already being a billionaire, she is safe from financial worries. But of course the publishers want more, and the lawyers want more and I am not about to give them what they want.

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  9. If I were interested in Harry Potter I’d rather buy it, if for no other reason than I hate reading things off the screen, so I’d want to print it out anyway. By the time I did that, I may as well have bought it.

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  10. I don’t know if anybody of you guys read a book on the screen. Thats not working – believe me. If you code, your eyes won’t stare at the screen concentrating on the words and the story.

    You look around, smoke a cigarette, make a phone call, look out of the window – thats not working reading a book – am i wrong?

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  11. I’m from Ukraine and i got here while trying to find a free downloading copy here:-)
    In my country we’ll have new books only in nowember so I’m desperate:(

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  18. yes please send me a copy ghost_jb_1@______.com, i´ve already read 3 fakes and have not like them at all but long time ago looking for the 5th book I found the hp trilogy (the times of good intenti the best one ) which are the best books I have read on my life,I really recomment it, just finding that diamond make worth all the trash fanfics I have read so far

    Reply

  19. Hi, I’m from Latvia and I would like read a new Harry Potter book. I like this story about that enchanter. Please, please send me that book copy, I will be happy for that.
    🙂

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  20. As for me first I’ve found the book on the net and downloaded. (shame on me!:)
    Then bought nice paper one and have read it once more.
    I am 25 but I will read it once more be sure!)

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  21. yessssssss!!!!!! i hawe allready read all 6 books. i need the last one. Please send me a copy of this book to my E-mail ____

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  22. please send me the book, I have read the one that I bought at Wal-Mart, and I want to compare the two

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  26. heiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii every body, can you tell my how get “Harry Potter” story 0f part 7, or send a copy in my e-mail. Plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. I’am very very very glad about it.thankss so muachhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

    Reply

  28. hi…..i want to download any of the harry potter book series even just one coz honestly i havent read any but i know some of the contents.what im doing is always dropping in a bookstore to scan the book coz i really dont have enough money to buy but even if i have the money my mother wont allow me coz she always said that i better buy the money for my clothes.im really craving the book so pls give me a copy this is my email add june_cedric@yahoo.com.thanx

    Reply

  31. PLEASE SEND ME A COPY OF THE BOOK. I DON’T KNOW HOW OLD THIS AREA IS, BUT IF YOU COULD PLEASE SEND ME A COPY!!!

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  33. pls pls pls download me the harry potter book seven… i’ll die!!!! thanx in advance anyways…

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  34. There’s a new Canadian book of humour you may enjoy, called “Wilubi’s Wizdum” at lulu dot com.

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  41. SEE HARRY POTTER IS THE BEST BOOK IM WOULD LIKE TO REED . SO JUST SEND ME A E COPY OF HARRY POTTER TO MY MAIL ADDRESS

    Reply

  42. IF ANYBODY GIVES ME THE SITE FOR DOWNLAODING HARRYPOTTER BOOKS…I WOULD APPRECIATE IT VERYMUCH….ND THAT PERSON WOULD BE LIK AN ANGEL…..HE WOULD BE SOO GUD!! THAT I WILL PRAY FOOR HIM……MY ID IS .. ….

    Reply

  43. I have downloaded all Harry Potter books except for half blood prince.

    I do not feel like a criminal. Everything that is on the net is bound to be pirated at some point that the bargain people like JKR will take in order to sell her books.

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  46. Hi Friends can any1 can send me all the orginal Harry potter books via E-Mail…..I would be very thankfull

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  47. I can’t for the life of me believe how anyone could want to read the derivative work of someone stealing someone else’s creativity and think its better? Give me a break. I don’t care of the Beatles cover band writes a song in the style of the Beatles, it’s still going to be, guess what? complete shit. Same of the fan fiction. Get a friggin life and go read someone’s original work, or write your own damn original work instead of shadow copies from someone’s original creativity. I’m sure JKR was proud originally, but this fan fiction crap is out of control.

    Reply

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