Monday 15 February 2010

"I want my e-books free"

It's rare for this blogger to draw on the materials provided by other bloggers, but this is an exceptional case. In the first place, I have been either invited or provoked to do so by fellow blogger, legal scholar and gentleman C. E. Petit of Scrivener's Error. Secondly, what follows is truly amusing. Let C.E. take up the story from here:

"At many of the local bars in Campustown, Thursday is karaoke night. With special thanks to cyclobenzaprine, I offer the following commentary on the public reaction to the Amazon/Macmillan kerfluffle, aka AmazonFail 3.21 [see eg here, here and here] — and in particular, to those who took Amazon's side because e-books should never cost more than $9.99:

Karaoke -- sung, slightly off-key, to the tune of Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing"

[sotto voce] I want my, I want my e-books free
I want my, I want my e-books free
I want my, I want my e-books free

[air-guitar solo]

Now look at them yoyos
That's the way they do it
They read my novel on their Kindles — free!
That ain't stealin'?
That's the way they do it
Info ain't for nothin' and e-books are free
Now that ain't stealin'?
That's the way they do it
Lemme tell ya them guys ain't dumb
Maybe get a blister on a mouse-wheel finger
Maybe get papercuts on a thumb

They gotta work in Microsoft Windows
Custom software deliveries
They wanna upload your bestsellers
They wanna download e-books free

That little hacker
With the file-share startup
No buddy his school don't care
That little hacker
Got his own jet airplane
That little hacker
He's a millionaire

They gotta work in Microsoft Windows
Custom software deliveries
They wanna upload your bestsellers
They wanna download e-books free

I shoulda learned to burn some software
I gotta learn to like them bums
Look at that mama!
She got it stickin' in the scanner, man
She'll share some fun
And he's searchin',
What's that? Indexin' noises?
Bangin' on the keyboard like a chimpanzee
That ain't stealin'?
That's the way they do it
Info for nothin' and e-books for free

They gotta work in Microsoft Windows
Custom software deliveries
They wanna upload your bestsellers
They wanna download e-books free

[air-guitar solo]

I want my e-books free
I want my e-books free
I want my e-books free

That ain't stealin'?
That's the way they do it
Info ain't for nothin'; e-books for free

[sotto voce] I want my, I want my e-books free
I want my, I want my e-books free
I want my, I want my e-books free

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