MSU Red Cedar Message Board

This is a pretty strong trump card. I don't, but I also don't claim any expenses from my business activities that hemmorhage money (for the love of the art, of course), so I'm overpaying if anything. I'm no hero, just an idiot.

The state of Oregon has no sales tax?

This is a ridiculous argument. You are so naive. Inconceivable!

Yeah, it was a trick question anyway. I don't believe in "volunteer taxes." If they can't legally collect it, it ain't a tax. The point is, we all have places where we decent to skirt the law (ever go 5 over the limit?), and I'll not start throwing stones when someone's personal sense of morals isn't line with mine (in a reasonable sense, of course).

Also, this isn't about whether you pay for books or not. It's whether the company has violated the law by colluding to pix pricing. I am of the, admittedly warped, opinion if you charge a reasonable rate, most people will honor that and pay it. I do a ton of personal business with Amazon. I have no issue with paying for their services. Their Prime membership is one of the steals on the planet. Not only can you borrow e-books with Amazon, you can loan your book to someone else. It's a rather novel idea--you pay for something, and you have the ability to lend it to someone. Apple simply s**ts the bed thinking about that one.

A CD or DVD costs about $1.50 to press and package. So infringement is equal to about 85% of theft. There's a difference, but not a huge one. Still, there is one.

The questionmark in my post was intentional. I thought pretty strongly that no state tax means no state tax, but I wasn't positive.

And yes, I was really worried you had backed me into a corner with the ultimate gotcha.

Well, I wouldn't say "ultimate," but it was close to 60 Minutes standards.

We find common ground, at last.

English language? You mean the one where words can have different meanings in different contexts? Where there is often gray areas and room to read between the lines?

In a court of law (where semantics are beaten to death) there is a difference. To me, in the real world, there isn't any difference. I'm not talking about this in a strictly legal parlance. To me, there is no difference in something physical, something I can hold in my hand vs. something digital. The end use of those things is the same.

Of course, fair use comes into play but IMO the vast majority of people pirating stuff are not using those works in any valid form of free use.

In that case you should thank me for warning you of your impending ripoff had you ever decided to read a iBook.