eBookNewser Readers Debate Relationship Between Piracy And Sales

Last week, we linked to a Forbes interview with Magellan Media founder Brian O’Leary who contends that piracy may help lift eBook sales. Our readers debated the issue in the comments section of the post. Here is what they had to say:

Tom Collins wrote: “I think book ‘piracy’ in the sense you’re talking about has existed since the invention of the free lending library. I would think by now the experiences of folks like Robert Scoble, Cory Doctorow, and Lawrence Lessig, writing whole books in public on their blogs and having the finished print versions go best-seller would put this debate to rest.”

Vincent Eaton wrote: “In another media, Monty Python tried for four years to ban their TV skits from UTube, and spent a fortune on lawyers.