Forum - View topicNEWS: Publisher Libre Confirms Notices to Manga Scan Groups
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agila61
 Posts: 3213 Location: NE Ohio |
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I'd assume they just found these on the pirate sites. One of the ways that pirate sites compete for views is by cataloging, cross-indexing and giving synopses of titles to make it easier for browsers to find another series of interest, so they have become, by design, easy to use to find out that sort of thing. It really is hilarious that people would "suspect that there is a rat" when a publisher sends C&D to groups that embed advertisements who did the scanlation together with their site URL's which have then been uploaded onto manga viewer sites that have been the subject of enforcement action since mid-summer. |
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Cait
 Posts: 503 |
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Libre joined the anti-piracy coalition and they've been releasing a number of their titles digitally in English recently. There's more evidence to suggest that their recent C&Ds are related to that effort than that some phantom snitch (who would probably have to be fluent in Japanese to even contact Libre in the first place) in the fandom rolled over on the scanlation groups. And let's not forget you can also search by publisher on Manga Updates. Just about every scanlation out there is findable on Manga Updates. Once it's posted publicly on the internet anywhere, it will find its way to that site. All Libre would need is one English-speaking staffer to track them down. It's a little paranoid to think that there are "traitors" in our midst. I mean, seriously, we're all fans of the books, right? It's not "us against them." No one is ruining anything for anyone else by this. Let's not get overly excited.
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yblees
 Posts: 165 Location: New Zealand |
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Yea. One would have thought so too. But things get suspicious when, for example, only one group that's happened to be reported in a publisher's forum, say, gets a C&D 2 weeks later. And nobody else. This is a true, unrelated case that happened some time last year. So you can say I'm paranoid, but don't simply dismiss the rumor out of hand. EDIT: What I'm trying to say here is that, in the real world, things are never black & white. There are murky undercurrents going on that complicate matters more than you might think. |
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emilydastrange
 Posts: 65 |
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I wouldn't be as distraught (for lack of a better word) if Libre wasn't releasing titles digitally. I can read books digitally, but manga is a whole other issue for me. I want a book that I can flip through, and I don't want to have to zoom in and possibly move the page around to read it - it's just plain awkward. I can accept books going digital (even if it makes me incredibly sad) but I cannot accept manga going digital.
There's also the issue that I don't like buying titles completely blindly. No more previews for me decreases my ability to buy libre titles unless from mangaka that rarely release bad work. |
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agila61
Posts: 3213 Location: NE Ohio |
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That manual zoom and pan is absurd: all that is required is to embed the panel sequence and dimensions in the underlying art, and "paging" by panel could be easily done just like paging through an ebook. Of course, for those who actually have a Kindle DX, there's no need to zoom ~ on those, its just reading the page, so zoom and pan is not an issue. |
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Juhachi
 Posts: 228 |
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Here's my 2 cents everytime one of these companies send out C&D letters. If the scanlaters were translating and distributing manga that is already being released in English by Tokyopop or some other company (or will be), then I'd agree that they shouldn't be scanlating it.
But if the manga they scanned wasn't released in English (and, I might add, probably never will be), I see it as an injustice to the foreign fans who only want to read a series they are a fan of. Yes, it's illegal and a little immoral, but if the scanners were only releasing the translated chapters, then that doesn't really do anything to the Japanese market, since that very market depends heavily on domestic sales of manga, not international. So, I don't really see why the Japanese publisher is sending out the C&D letters to a foreign scanlater group. Shouldn't they be way more worried about the raw manga being distributed in their own backyard on Share/Winny/PD? They say they're trying to "protect the rights of the author", but isn't that just business code for "you're distributing my material for free, so stop it"? I really doubt the company had the author's rights in mind when they sent out that C&D. Plus, there's something else. Say you have a niche manga, or otherwise something which probably has very little chance of getting licensed. A scanlater comes around and starts scanning it, thus giving the series a wider readership and more recognition in the community. It could be due to that reason that the manga could get licensed in the future, because licensing companies usually only license series they know they're going to make money on, so the more popular the series, the better. If the series got licensed, then you'd have to thank the scanlater group for giving the manga more attention, and if it didn't get licensed, then you'd have to thank the scanlater group for giving you a series you otherwise wouldn't be able to read. |
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Paploo
Posts: 1875 |
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I think the scans-as-promotion stuff is a little too much wishful thinking. As for "probably never will be", from my understanding, there are a number of companies licensing this material digitally and in print. Manga bloggers certainly post a lot about it. Also, did you miss the whole Toboso thing? animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-08-16/black-butler-author-decries-illegal-videos-downloads " You're distributing my material for free, so stop it"? is generally pretty much what authors have to say, what the problem is, and why authors get pissed off. Yes, it is business code (but still a valid thing to say, and another aspect of why it's a shitty thing to do) when they bring up artist's rights, but it's basically a more polite way of telling fans "Stop being jerks to creators and distributing their stuff without their involvement or permission". You're trampling on the artist's rights, and the way Libre put it is a PR friendly way to do so, as they're trying to frame it in an intelligent way rather then a more confrontational one. |
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emilydastrange
Posts: 65 |
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But that's also an issue! I don't want it broken up by panel! I want the regular full page. This is a reason why I don't understand reading manga on cell phones (oh Japan) since I can't stand this. |
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CCSYueh
 Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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Understand these are businesses delivering art. Yes, it's easy to get distracted by the art, but their purpose is to SELL stuff, not to be magnanimous & give people in foreign lands where the title has not been paid to be released a free read. Not to mention, can you say for sure fans IN Japan aren't reading these things? Just as some manga readers can read Japanese, you do realize somne Japanese can read English.
"Why are you pulling me over, Officer?! Why aren't you busting prostitutes on the Boulevard?! Go catch some murderers!"
Do you somehow imagine these guys WANT you to not pay them for their work? Do you ever read the author notes? The ones where they talk about the stress of deadlines, etc? |
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agila61
Posts: 3213 Location: NE Ohio |
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That needs a big enough display to be able to read a full page. As I said, a Kindle DX is already there, even for old fogeys with failing eyesight (indeed, Kindle goes for the old fogey market already with some of their font size choices) ... a cheap chinese Android tablet would work, they are around $100~$150 on ebay. Heck, if it was an open format, then a 7" netbook would work, as soon as someone made a reader that reversed the image 90 degrees. But for a 2.4" or 4" mobile phone screen or a netbook in ordinary landscape mode, which the manual zoom and pan seems to be made for, an option to simply page forward panel by panel would be a tremendous upgrade in user interface. And the audience to view manga on cellphones was a big part of the sizzle on the steak in the explosion of the bootleg manga viewing sites. |
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jukebox_csi
Posts: 6 |
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I don't mind viewing them on the PC using the free Kindle4PC program from Amazon. My main concern is the price. $2.99 or more for a single chapter is a bit steep, in my opinion. If a typical BL manga has 5-6 chapters, at $2.99 {or more} a chap, then by the time you've purchased all the chapters in the book, you have spent greater than $15. That's more than the printed edition! And that doesn't make sense to me, seeing as 'digital' doesn't have print costs involved in the production.
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Farix
 Posts: 152 |
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I don't think that is such a bad deal. You are paying more for convenience and being "up-to-date" while the rest of us wait for the collected volume releases. Also, isn't $3 the going prices for most comic book issues today? A comic issue is the equivalent of a manga chapter, so you are not really paying above average. |
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Paploo
Posts: 1875 |
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For the record, if you search manga in Amazon's kindle, it's primarily 5.95 to 9.95 listings from DMP, 3.50 to 7.50 listings from Seven Seas [3.50 for single vols, 7.50 for a few of their omnibus releases like It Takes a Wizard] and most of Animate USA's releases are 8.95. Curious if we'll see more diversity as the japanese Digital Comics Association [the big list of publishers involved in the anti-piracy coalition] rolls out it's business plans.
There's also some 1.00-1.99 chapter length stories from NTT Solmare [NTT= A japanese mobile firm]. |
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jukebox_csi
Posts: 6 |
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Actually it is, in my opinion. Yes, Marvel comics are around the same price, but they are also full color and printed. Marvel's online {digital} comics are very reasonable - $4.99 a month to access all they have available on site (with a 1 year subscription) or $9.99 month-to-month (again for all that they have available on the site). If the company indicates they will have the tank available digitally for a set price, then I'll wait for the tank. However, there's no guarantee they're going to release the compiled chapters as a tank. |
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agila61
Posts: 3213 Location: NE Ohio |
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That seems more like the Japanese DVD strategy ~ single volumes early then sets, soaking the niche buyers both times ~ than the conventional manga strategy of a large number of different chapters in fairly cheap serial and then the popular series get tankobon that give the mangaka the rest of their income. A digital strategy more like the conventional manga strategy would be a subscription to a site that has current chapters for a variety of series, taken down after a period of time has elapsed, and then collected tankobon appear in eBook format for individual sale. If they want to sell individual chapters rather than subscription access to a selection, $3 a chapter seems the wrong price point ... $0.50 to $1 a chapter would seem more likely to fly. But OTOH they may be thinking its a niche market, so slashing the price will not result in a big increase in number of volumes sold. |
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