| yblees wrote: |
I hear you about being a collector. Here in NZ we pay $5-10 EXTRA Per Book in shipping charges so people tend to hoard like crazy. What I'm saying is, buy a cheap secondhand copy to preview, and if you like it, sell the secondhand copy and buy it new. There are secondhand copies of the more popular BL series going for as little as $3. Not sure what postage is like in the US, but I think that's cheaper than DMP or Netcomics pay to read sites. |
Well, shipping on those cheapy copies online tend to go in the $3-5 range, so I'm not really going to save much money by buying used. I have my online stores that I can get awsome discounts at (Rightsuf sales, JustManga Club 555, AKAdot sales). The issue still is, though, that I tend to buy new titles very very new, as in, on release week. I'll check all my online stores and the first one that has a title I want in stock will be the one I buy it from, sort of deal. It's a very expensive habit... =\
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Actually most scanlators DO remove licenced titles - BL scanlation sites are particularly contiencious about this. Shonen sites with long running series tend to remove licenced chapters, or only have say the 10 most recent chapters available. For series that get licence early on, English scanlations may exist for just the first couple of volumes because all the scanlation groups simply agree to stop - which is perfect for previewing a series really. And if there are series that remain unfinished because for example, CPM collapsed (eg KIZUNA), scanlation might be picked up for just the later volumes. Considering this, I don't think it's right to simply dismiss scanlations as unethical - instead, I think of them as empowering.
But there are also Distribution sites, independant from scanlation groups - and these DO receive "take down" notices every so often. Tokyopop for example will usually have all their licenced series, plus some they are planning to licence taken down. DMP tends to go for their latest releases and leave older or more obscure titles. Viz has never bothered, as far as I can tell, and they are the best performing publisher at the moment ... go figure. I bought Hiroki Endo's Tanpenshu (among other things) because I loved the scanlation. And make no mistake, Take Down orders are Always complied with. |
Well, there's the obvious ethical problem with scanlations. Once the scan is out there, regardless of whether the scanlators have ceased distribution, they will always be out there. One file sitting on one computer is all it takes to upload it for thousands of others to receive. Just because the scanlators are being "good" and removing the scans once the license is announced doesn't mean anyone else will. I still know of places to get certain already licensed (long ago) titles that were simply personally uploaded by an individual and offered on their blog, etc. Not everyone uses scans as a "preview," many simply use them instead of paying money to get the titles. Taking a firm ethical stance about scanlations is necessary to keep people from feeing entitled to getting manga for free, regardless of what is helping or hurting anyone.
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As for online previewing - I tried to preview Dramacon on Tokyopop's website a while ago and failed miserably. Not even going to talk about DMP's attempt. They'll get it right eventually, I have no doubt, just not yet - and I don't feel like waiting.
Reviews are important too of course. Amazon.com reviews are usually very well written - and it's not that easy to write a good review. Why don't you contribute a few reviews youreslf on titles you feel strongly about? You'll find it totally changes the reading experience.
I also depend on reviews for information on the translation and book quality. Del Rey for example, seems to be having printing quality problems recently so I've decided not to buy "Me and the Devil Blues" for the moment - the 10 or so pages of colour art would be totally lost printed in low res B&W. |
I actually do write reviews (quite avidly, in fact), though it is completely dependent upon my work schedule. Things get hectic and manga reviews are among the first of my hobbies to go. I actually have a list of books I read months ago waiting for me to write reviews for them right now. One of the last things I reviewed, in fact, was the Let Dai review that appeared in this column a few issues back (I can't even remember how long ago it was, the weeks have all squished together recently...). |
I've been Rickrolled at work my self, twice. Sadly enough, few people even know that song, much less Rick roll.
I am looking forward to volume 24 of Bleach, I've been collecting the Viz Media edition for quite a while. Well excellent article as usual Carlos, hopefully others beside myself share their Rick roll experiences. |
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