Timewaster's Guide Archive
Local Authors => Brandon Sanderson => Topic started by: firstRainbowRose on February 01, 2008, 10:32:20 PM
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I was bored yesterday so I decided to do a search for EUOL in utorrent, and to my surprise I found that you can actually now torrent Elantris. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying you should in any way. I just feel like to be able to be downloaded like that in our internet-central world it says something about how famous you are...
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TWG has a strict no-tolerance policy on talking about illegal file downloading, it's caused us problems in the past with companies that send us review materials and it's illegal which is the biggest reason, and any talk of the sort can lead to permanent banning no matter how long you've been a member of the forum.
I'm not going to lock the thread but if anyone crosses the line from talking about the ethics of file sharing into talking about they do it and how to do it (even though most people already know) this thread will be locked.
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File sharing is interesting. In some cases, it has pretty much MADE the artist in question famous. Dragonforce, for example, would have never gotten any real attention in the US without their stuff being available for download, and you see them now doing tours, part of Ozzfest, etc.
Naruto also got a huge head start on the US market because of file sharing. Merchandising, etc, has also taken way off for it.
But then, for every person that goes out and buys something that they liked after downloading it, there's two (or more) people who won't.
I'm not sure if there's some magic obscurity:file sharing conversion to sales ratio out there, but I would have to theorize that it at least marginally helps those who could use more publicity more than it hurts them.
I have no idea what the magic point is, though, where it starts hurting more than helping. And that's the problem - no one does. That makes it pretty difficult to really say whether file sharing is right or wrong.
I think EUOL has the right idea with Warbreaker. If there are freely available samples of that nature - An album, or book, or whatever - then I think it achieves largely the same good that filesharing does.
Edit: Just ran a search of my own, and all I got was a book on "Macromolecular Crystallography"
Whatever that is.
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Since you brought up Naruto, which I don't think file sharing made popular--being on Cartoon Network did that, I thought I'd link to a few interviews with the US anime industry which file sharing/fansubs is killing the industry and companies are closing down.
Funmation: http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/11935.html
Gonzo: http://www.icv2.com/articles/indepth/11795.html
From and old industry insider: http://www.icv2.com/articles/indepth/11817.html
The difference between these interviews is that the interviewees are quite up front that there's more then just File sharing hurting sales, and they're trying to actually reach an internet market (I never knew Apple limited how many TV shows a company could release in a month so they can't quickly distribute that way) but I think they're being honest about it. Read the ADV one where they talk about costs involved and the time investment you can see why illegal downloads are hurting them.
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The U.S. anime industry has been hurting bigtime in the last couple months. First Geneon went under, and now even ADV is having problems. For a long time the evidence for or against filesharing was ambiguous, but now it seems to be shifting to one side.
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Since you brought up Naruto, which I don't think file sharing made popular--being on Cartoon Network did that, I thought I'd link to a few interviews with the US anime industry which file sharing/fansubs is killing the industry and companies are closing down.
Funmation: http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/11935.html
Gonzo: http://www.icv2.com/articles/indepth/11795.html
From and old industry insider: http://www.icv2.com/articles/indepth/11817.html
The difference between these interviews is that the interviewees are quite up front that there's more then just File sharing hurting sales, and they're trying to actually reach an internet market (I never knew Apple limited how many TV shows a company could release in a month so they can't quickly distribute that way) but I think they're being honest about it. Read the ADV one where they talk about costs involved and the time investment you can see why illegal downloads are hurting them.
Naruto was pretty big before it ever got licensed. I saw tons of people with the headbands, etc, at cons, and I know that it had a massive following on the internet. It had quite a bit of momentum going for it before it was ever played on CN.
The problem with those articles is that they only tell one side of the story. DVD sales are down, yes, but how different are the numbers when you take into account online sales, like the mentioned iTunes/Xbox Marketplace. The RIAA has been screaming music sales are down, but that's only if you take into account CD sales. When you factor in iTunes and all of the other online sales, it's about the same now as it was a decade ago, with some markets showing some growth, and others some loss.
I would like to see some hard numbers involving DVD sales, internet sales, and merchandising sales from several years ago, and from now. I'm not saying anime sales in general aren't down - because I don't have any problem believing that they are - just that I would like to see some real numbers involving all aspects of it, beyond simply DVD sales. I mean, if DVD sales are down 50%, but online sales have tripled to amount in the same number of episodes being sold, and merchandising has doubled...
Of course, I figure the profit margins on online sales are lower than that of physical ones, and 60000 DVD sales probably brings in more than 30000 DVD sales and 30000 online sales, but if these are about even, I don't think it's fair to claim the sales are really down.
Illegal downloading may very well be negatively effecting the industry - it wouldn't surprise me in the least - but I would just like to see some sales numbers before I sit back and say "Yeah, I agree. We need to get rid of the file sharers! "
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As a writer and musician, I follow the "do unto others..." rule. I want people to buy my books and music, but how could I expect such patronage if I hypocritically download media myself.
However, this does not mean that I am a steadfast anti-torrent zealot: I have had my own software indiscretions in times past.
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I find an anti- stolen software policy for myself, can be very hard, not so much because I'm weak, cause I really push this and so does my husband, I use open office for that reason but we have family members who this bugs and they actually give me a hard time about it sometimes.
I've always thought of it this way, if it's illegal than I shouldn't be doing it. I can't imagine going to hell over a stolen movie, if I'm gonna pave my way there I'd rather do it on something a little more.... I don't know, lasting. ;)
Not saying that you all might feel it paves your way to hell, just my personal thought on the subject.
And I really had no idea what torrent was until spriggan replied, I'm still not sure I have a full grasp of it beyond it's illegally getting licensed stuff.
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Well, torrents themselves are not illegal. It refers to a peer to peer file sharing protocol. The torrent itself just is a listing of people with the file, and then you make the connections based on the torrent information.
It's mainly used for file sharing copyright material, but it also has legitimate uses. Blizzard distributes their World of Warcraft patches using BitTorrent, and many Linux distributions use torrents. You can use BitTorrent to download OpenOffice, even.
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hmm, interesting, I just ask my brother to do it.
put programs on my computer... i mean. (since I'm likely to do it wrong and download it three times or something)
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I pretty much agree with Spriggan, what is the difference between downloading a book/movie illegally, or stealing one from a store? But a lot of people who would never walk into a store and take something will download on the internet. My stepson has in the past downloaded things and shared them with friends. It took a long time for my husband and I to get him to understand the ramifications of his actions. It seems that the internet has blurred the lines around some illegal actions by making things so easy to obtain, and packaging them in a way that makes it seem okay.
Just my personal opinion, but any kinds of illegal downloads is the same as stealing from a store or someone's house.
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Actually in a way I would have to argue it's worse than stealing a physical object because at least they're insured. I mean, when you illegally use someone's images, or download music, or whatever it is, you are in fact stealing it - in some ways to me it's a lot like plagiarising, I mean, you're denying their ownership of their own material by deciding that you will choose how it is distributed.
I guess I've got a lot more perspective of this personally now than I used to, because I'm studying as a Designer and Illustrator and it absolutely scares the nuts out of my tree.
Everything I do is just basically manifesting the ideas in my head, and in reality they may be words on a page, or compositions of form and colour. It's easy for an idea to be taken from you, and when copy-works are out there where someone has taken liberty with the fruit of your mind it really makes it thsat much harder for people to recognise you as its creator. I guess in my case I'm even more afraid of the idea of not being identified as the source of a design or idea than I am about any other aspect of this though.
The whole thing's still a rather big mess of nasty though.
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The biggest problem with illegal downloads is the culture of freedom that purveys in the Net. Basically people expect, or even demand, all content for free thus they think they're entitled to download movies, music and books for free. This train of thought is encouraged by the fact they don't have to walk into a store to steal something, there's no risk.
As for Bryant's question about Anime, well if it wasn't hurting them why would one of the most popular US anime companies--Genon who has Cowboy Beebob--close shop because no one is buying DVDs or digital versions? If people were buying legal digital copies, which would offset the drop in DVD sales, this wouldn't have happened. And as Ookla said ADV (which has a wide digital distribution reach for an anime company) havening lost of problems too? As both the articles stated Anime in the US is becoming more and more popular yet DVD sales aren't just stagnate, aren't just low like the rest of the DVD industry they're down 50% compared to 20% for other DVDs?
The worst thing about this discussion is you seam to be defending people stealing content, tens of thousands of dollars go into make a single episode and there are lots of jobs at stake, do you honestly want no more Anime over here in the US as well as less stuff made in Japan? Do you honestly see nothing wrong with this (even if the numbers weren't as staggering as they were)? You called it illegal yourself yet seam to have no problem with it.
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The biggest problem with illegal downloads is the culture of freedom that purveys in the Net. Basically people expect, or even demand, all content for free thus they think they're entitled to download movies, music and books for free. This train of thought is encouraged by the fact they don't have to walk into a store to steal something, there's no risk.
As for Bryant's question about Anime, well if it wasn't hurting them why would one of the most popular US anime companies--Genon who has Cowboy Beebob--close shop because no one is buying DVDs or digital versions? If people were buying legal digital copies, which would offset the drop in DVD sales, this wouldn't have happened. And as Ookla said ADV (which has a wide digital distribution reach for an anime company) havening lost of problems too? As both the articles stated Anime in the US is becoming more and more popular yet DVD sales aren't just stagnate, aren't just low like the rest of the DVD industry they're down 50% compared to 20% for other DVDs?
The worst thing about this discussion is you seam to be defending people stealing content, tens of thousands of dollars go into make a single episode and there are lots of jobs at stake, do you honestly want no more Anime over here in the US as well as less stuff made in Japan? Do you honestly see nothing wrong with this (even if the numbers weren't as staggering as they were)? You called it illegal yourself yet seam to have no problem with it.
I would appreciate it if you wouldn't jump to conclusions and put words in my mouth. I stated fairly clearly in my first post in this thread that I am neither for nor against file sharing, as there are some stories out there that point to file sharing having a positive impact.
Tech N9ne, a rapper from the midwest, is fairly well known for his decision to release his album Absolute Power on the internet. Sales for this album are by far the highest out of any of his work, even including albums which have multiple tracks featured in motion pictures, etc. Yet, quite obviously, people will aways choose to take something for free, when faced with the choice of getting it for free vs. having to pay for it. One aspect is positive, and the other is negative.
And my question wasn't about DVD sales, but rather overall sales. I realize their DVD sales are going down. The thing is, that doesn't tell the whole story. Even anime dropping a larger percentage than regular movies makes quite a bit of sense, concerning the digital medium, for several reasons. One is the audience: Anime fans are largely a geeky population my nature. The average anime fan is far more likely to be interested in computers, etc, which places them in the market that digital download services cater to. You then also have to consider the fact that anime DVDs cost significantly more than, say, an equal number of TV series episodes. I recently bought the 3rd Tenchi Muyo OAV. It cost me $35, for 7 episodes and 300 minutes of play time. Comparatively, House Season 1, 22 episodes and 970 minutes, only cost me $40. More than three times the length, and only 5 dollars more in price. Prices on the online stores are not quite as disparate, from my understanding.
Say I release a book. It is originally sold in hardcover format. Later, a trade paperback version is released. If I put out an article saying that hardcover sales have plummeted, I would probably be telling the truth. But that doesn't mean that filesharing caused it.
As for ADV's digital distribution, there are quite a few issues with it. $5 per episode is quite a price, with the average anime episode being ~20 minutes long. For an hour's worth of entertainment, that's $15! I can grab a regular TV show off of iTunes for $2. It also only works on Windows because of the DRM system, which eliminates Mac and Linux users from the equation. Again, while these are much smaller pieces of the market than windows users, due to the nature of the type of person who is a fan of anime, they are hardly market shares that you wish to ignore. By requiring Windows, they are definitely losing sales.
I also disagree with the downloading = stealing sentiment. You have to realize that a significant portion of those who download things off the internet are teenagers, etc, with no jobs, and very little disposable income. Some 15 year old who's only source of income is a weekly allowance might have downloaded 17,000 MP3s, 600 movies, and 74 anime series, but it is quite obvious he never would have been able to buy all of that. You can't lose sales that you never had. Am I saying that it's fair, or even right that this kid has these, when he didn't pay for them? Far from it - I buy my things, and so should he. But the RIAA in particular has left a bad taste in my mouth on this subject, where they make wild claims saying that a single person who has thousands of MP3s has cost the industry hundreds of thousands of dollars - quite obviously, these people would not have actually bought all of this music, even if it was not available for download.
By no means am I saying that file sharing is correct, nor defending file sharers. I would agree, even, that for products that are already popular, it is a bad thing. However, there is proof out there that it can help people gain recognition and popularity. That, coupled with the ridiculous strong arm tactics of several organizations, such as the RIAA (Who has been lobbying for the penalty limit to be increased - they're saying that every single shared MP3 file is $150,000 in damagers. More than a million dollars for a shared CD!) makes me believe that the issue is hardly black and white. There are multiple sides to every story, and to make an informed decision, you need to know all of the sides. And, at this time, I do not know all of the sides, so I can not comfortably make a judgment one way or another. This does not mean that I am for, or defending, filesharers. All it means is that I'm not ready to roast them on a spit, either.
Edit: I didn't even consider economic issues, either. With the US likely in a recession, the higher priced luxuries are going to go away faster. I don't believe this is a major contributor to lost sales, but it could be one of many minor ones. Thousands of untreated small cuts will bleed you to death just as surely as several big ones.
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I'd like to point out something that a lot of musical artist are considering. With the last Radio Head album (I think that was the band) they offered their cd for download, and you got to chose the price you paid for the album. So if you said "Hey, I don't want to pay a penny for this thing" you could put in 0 into the "what would you like to pay" option and not pay anything. I guess they had quite a few sales that way, and a lot of other bands are considering doing it as well. I guess my point behind that is not all of the artist feel that paying nothing is really bad -- otherwise, they would have programmed into the purchase a minimum amount.
I've tried to find the ratios (this % pay nothing, this % paid 1-5, this % paid 5-10 type ting) but I haven't been able to. I'm willing to bet though that most of the download were lower than what you would usually pay through itunes (or any other pay-for-download program) or buying the physical cd (if they paid anything.)
Just a bit of food for thought.
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there are several issues being muddled here.
The mention of musicians, artists, authors, etc. releasing their own material for download is fundamentally different from other torrent downloads. When, say, and author releases his/her stuff online, it is with consent. They are making it available for people to read to help influence their future sales. They rarely release EVERYTHING they have ever done. The Super Bowl reminded me of this last night when, before the game (and every game for that matter), they say that any rebroadcast WITHOUT THE CONSENT OF THE NFL is illegal. There is no doubt that authors like Brandon, musicians like Smashing Pumpkins, Fallout Boy, and that rapper dude have benefited by having their stuff downloaded. However, that stuff is being downloaded with the artist's consent and approval.
That is a COMPLETELY different issue from other torrents that are being done without the consent of the original artist. It's not just the companies that suffer, the artists do as well. In the book industry for example, it's not like authors get a ton of money per book that is sold. not to mention authors get double taxed. Can you see why an author would get a little upset for each book of theirs that is downloaded rather than purchased. For anime, where do you think a majority of their profit comes from? Manga sell a ton, sure - and the margins are way lower. Merchandise, i imagine, is a much smaller part of business. DVDs are probably a huge part. Overall sales dont mean shizz if the biggest contributor to your bottom line is f'ed by things such as downloads. Business 101. For an Anime company to have its DVD profit cut in half is like Microsoft having its profit from software/hardware cut in half. It would bankrupt them.
So, because they are young and cant afford it means its ok to download? I old and cant afford everything I like, so according to your logic I should legally download anything I want for free too. In fact, all those young kids downloading 17000 mp3s should be able to go into BestBuy and take any CD for free since they cant afford it. You know, lets make all bookstores libraries with free copies to "borrow" for everyone. Im sure all the artists would work for free. Downloading without the artists consent = stealing. Period. claims to the contrary are ridiculous.
The comment about the show House vs Tenchi Muyo doesnt seem to be taking into account the fact that it is way more expensive for the anime to be released than House. The translation costs alone make that price go way up, and also the quantity of released. They sell the anime at a higher price to account for smaller release numbers and higher costs. That is an apples vs oranges comparison and really isnt valid.
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there are several issues being muddled here.
The mention of musicians, artists, authors, etc. releasing their own material for download is fundamentally different from other torrent downloads. When, say, and author releases his/her stuff online, it is with consent. They are making it available for people to read to help influence their future sales. They rarely release EVERYTHING they have ever done. The Super Bowl reminded me of this last night when, before the game (and every game for that matter), they say that any rebroadcast WITHOUT THE CONSENT OF THE NFL is illegal. There is no doubt that authors like Brandon, musicians like Smashing Pumpkins, Fallout Boy, and that rapper dude have benefited by having their stuff downloaded. However, that stuff is being downloaded with the artist's consent and approval.
The underlying concept is the same, though. The freely released material was sold in stores as well. In the case of the rapper, that album - the one he released free, online - has the highest sales out of any of his. I don't think it's his best work (Though, I'm not much of a rap fan, so my judgment on that might be off), yet it has the most sales, arguably because it has the most exposure. I don't see why the underlying fact - that the album is available for free - would effect sales differently depending on if the artist put it out there, or if it had just been widespread over p2p networks. People who were fans who buy music would have bought it regardless, and people who are only out for free things wouldn't have bought it either. This means that there has to be a faction out there that learned of him because it was available for free, and then bought it later.
Let's look at radio broadcasting. There is no subscription to listen to radio, and it is legal (Or was, before the DMCA. I'm not so sure how things stand now. I believe it still is, as things like DVRs for TV are legal) for me to record things from the radio. I received this music for free, at no cost.
The point of radio is publicity. The point of music videos is publicity. The point of releasing things for free on the internet is publicity. Illegal filesharing, at the very least, does give them some publicity.
Overall music sales are up. CD sales are down, but with iTunes and other paid download services, music sales are increasing. Quite simply, the facts are saying that illegal downloading is not hurting the music industry anywhere near as much as the RIAA would have you believe. A lot of this, I'm sure, is because iTunes and other downloading services such as Napster's paid models allow people to get their music more cheaply than before, and select what songs they do want, and what songs they don't. I am not in any way arguing that filesharing is behind increased overall music sales. I just believe that it is likely contributing to them.
That is a COMPLETELY different issue from other torrents that are being done without the consent of the original artist. It's not just the companies that suffer, the artists do as well. In the book industry for example, it's not like authors get a ton of money per book that is sold. not to mention authors get double taxed. Can you see why an author would get a little upset for each book of theirs that is downloaded rather than purchased. For anime, where do you think a majority of their profit comes from? Manga sell a ton, sure - and the margins are way lower. Merchandise, i imagine, is a much smaller part of business. DVDs are probably a huge part. Overall sales dont mean shizz if the biggest contributor to your bottom line is f'ed by things such as downloads. Business 101. For an Anime company to have its DVD profit cut in half is like Microsoft having its profit from software/hardware cut in half. It would bankrupt them.
You're missing my point. With the music industry, CD sales are down. Less people are going to the store and buying CDs than they used to. But when you factor in sales over iTunes, etc, there is more music being sold today total, combining CD sales and online sales, than there was in CD sales before the advent of illegal downloading. Concert sales are up as well - which is the big thing for the artists. Concerts are where they have the opportunity to actually make significant portions of money for themselves. The industry takes a huge portion out of actual sales for themselves.
Now, obviously, anime doesn't have concerts. But it does have online sales. How well are they doing? DVD sales are down, but they're only part of the story. Are online sales up? I'm not saying they are - but I refuse to condemn any party, on either side, until the entire truth is known.
So, because they are young and cant afford it means its ok to download? I old and cant afford everything I like, so according to your logic I should legally download anything I want for free too. In fact, all those young kids downloading 17000 mp3s should be able to go into BestBuy and take any CD for free since they cant afford it. You know, lets make all bookstores libraries with free copies to "borrow" for everyone. Im sure all the artists would work for free. Downloading without the artists consent = stealing. Period. claims to the contrary are ridiculous.
Again, you're missing the point. You cannot lose a sale you never had.
Let's take an expensive piece of software like 3DS Max and use it as an example. It's retail price is 3500 dollars. I would never, ever, for any reason, buy 3DS Max. I am not a 3D Modeler. I do not do Animation for a living. There is absolutely no reason for me to have it. Yet, I could, on a whim, download it.
But I never would have bought it. Autodesk is not out $3500 they would have otherwise received if I didn't download it.
Does that make it right? No. In this example, I have my hands on software that I did not pay for, and should not have. But ultimately, it does not hurt the company.
The comment about the show House vs Tenchi Muyo doesnt seem to be taking into account the fact that it is way more expensive for the anime to be released than House. The translation costs alone make that price go way up, and also the quantity of released. They sell the anime at a higher price to account for smaller release numbers and higher costs. That is an apples vs oranges comparison and really isnt valid.
The reasons are irrelevant. My point had nothing to do about Anime being unfairly priced - it had to do with economics. Most people want entertainment. Many enjoy anime. But if they also enjoy regular TV, they get far less bang for their buck buying an anime series. The US economy has been steadily declining, unemployment is up, and the value of the dollar is falling. People are defaulting on loans, and houses are being foreclosed on. Leisure related industries losing sales is hardly surprising, and the more expensive things are the first to go.
If the amount of money I feel safe in spending on entertainment each month is only $200, and I'm only out to spend half of that DVDs, am I going to buy two different seasons of a TV series, where I get nearly 2000 minutes of entertainment, or three sets of anime DVDs, where I get barely half that? This has absolutely nothing to do with why either season is priced as it is, but entirely with me trying to stretch my budget as far as I can.
Most anime fans are (And I'm generalizing here, and I could be off - though I don't think I am) younger. The majority are of the high school/college age, and that demographic does not have a whole lot of income. For many of them, most of the income they have goes towards tuition and cost of living. Without much spending power, the budgeting problem is even greater.
The reason for the cost disparity is apples and oranges. But I'm not looking at the reason for the cost disparity. I'm looking at the basic fact that there is one.
Again, I am not saying file sharing is right. I am not defending it. I am not supporting it. It is getting something that you did not earn, and is quite obviously morally wrong, if nothing else. I am, however, saying that it is not a black and white issue. There are hundreds of factors at work, and all I am trying to do is point out that there is more to the issue, and explaining other factors that are quite likely having an impact. That is all I am doing.
Preaching that file sharing is the root of all problems means that the other problems get ignored and go unresolved. When they go unresolved, the entertainment industries hurt. And I don't want them to go out of business any more than you do - they are where I find my entertainment as well.
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I would like to state "for the record" that I'm against filesharing. I can however admit that I'm not certain that filesharing can in some few cases help in some degree or another. One thing I read on a website a month or so ago was fairly interesting. I actually had to laugh and shake my head incredulously (is that right? I'm Norwegian) when I read through the letter. Here it is:
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I received a very pleasant mail today. My inbox is usually full of stupid cease & desist messages from various antipiracy organizations, but it’s mails like this one which make you happy. It’s good to see that some people realize that internet piracy isn’t just evil…
(I won't mention which site this is from, because I fear the wrath of the moderators :) -rtm1981)
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Eric D. Wilkinson and I am the producer of a small independent film called “Jerome Bixby’s The Man From Earth” (our review)[supposed to be a link. -rtm1981].
I am sending you this email after realizing that our website has had nearly 23,000 hits in the last 12 days, much of it coming from your website. In addition, our trailer, both on the www.manfromearth.com site and other sites like YouTube, MySpace and AOL has been watched nearly 20,000 times AND what’s most impressive is our ranking on IMDb went from being the 11,235th most popular movie, to the 5th most popular movie in 2 weeks (we are also the #1 independent film on IMDb & the #1 science fiction film on IMDb). How did this all happen? Two words: Torrent / File Sharing sites (well, four words and a slash).
More specifically, XXXXXX.net [Apologies. -rtm1981]. Our independent movie had next to no advertising budget and very little going for it until somebody ripped one of the DVD screeners and put the movie online for all to download. After that happened, people were watching it and started posting mostly all positive reviews on IMDb, Amazon and other places. Most of the feedback from everyone who has downloaded “The Man From Earth” has been overwhelmingly positive. People like our movie and are talking about it, all thanks to piracy on the net!
Am I upset… surprisingly no. Thanks to everyone who has downloaded this torrrent and watched the film, our awareness level is through the roof. For that I say, “THANK YOU”!
What you guys have done here is nothing short of amazing. In the future, I will not complain about file sharing. YOU HAVE HELPED PUT THIS LITTLE MOVIE ON THE MAP!!!! When I make my next picture, I just may upload the movie on the net myself!
This guy really deserves support from the file sharing community! You can support producers of The Man From Earth by buying the retail DVD, which should be available in the US stores from tomorrow.
-Admin of XXXXXX.net
I found the letter quite entertaining. The producer of a movie actually wrote a filesharing site (a HUGE one btw) and thanked the filesharing community :) Apparantly lots of people shared my humourous reaction, because this was definately the biggest source of debate on a geekforum I frequent...
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It looks like for now, you can download the Mistborn eBook free from Tor.
Link to /. article (http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/10/213221&from=rss)
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Yup. I'll be blogging this on Monday.