nenena | Pathetic, yet hilarious.

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Pathetic, yet hilarious.

Manga Pirates on the Kindle manage to create a far superior app to anything being offered by legit publishers so far.

The article is spot-on and the comments are... interesting.

A cynical part of me doubts that this app will be shut down so easily, though. Pay-for-scanslation swindlers have been bilking willing idiots of their money since Narutofan.com pioneered the racket back at the turn of the century, and that site is still going strong today.

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Wow, really, Narutofan.com is still up? Where are they physically hosting their content? I'm truly shocked that place hasn't been sniped off the 'net due to copyright infringement.

I have no idea where they're hosting their content, but yeah, they're still up. And still charging people to download fansubs and scanslations.

I'm not surprised that they're still operational, considering how little publishers have been able to do to shut down free scanslation sites such as Mangafox or Onemanga, let alone the pay-for-piracy sites.

Huh, I thought a few companies stormed through and shut places like MF and OM down.

Go me. Way to pay attention. :|

Kinda-sorta.

Onemanga vowed to take down all licensed content, but they've done a half-assed job of removing the licensed titles and licensed manga is still freely shared on their forums.

MF was also slapped by the Hand of Copyright and briefly removed their licensed series, but they were back to hosting Naruto and Bleach scanslations within about one month.

Ah hah, so that's how they manage. Sneaky sneaks.

Actually, MangaFox isn't being sneaky at all. They're not even trying to be sneaky.

Kinda sad, really.

It's like they know that the manga companies don't have the firepower to actually do anything to them. This is why I'm a little worried that manga will eventually get the same death spiral anime is in.

Mangafox dropped a few scans briefly, but now are back up fully. They've pretty much gained all of Onemanga's business now.

Haha, I remember that onemanga got shut down because of this earlier, but now they are just open again haha!

Mangafox has licensed a LOT of their series though.

You mean MangaFox has a lot of licensed series?

It's easy for so sites to get away with sharing copyrighted stuff. If their site is host in a foreign country with loose copyright laws (that why some sites get away with it)

So depressing.

I mean had they have done something about fansubs/scanlations a decade ago before they became so widespread, the industry wouldnt be in such a shitbin.

And so far, besides just closing down sites like onemanga, all ive seen them do to stop piracy is send out cease and desist letters (which is stupid, because they pick the most random series without even liscencing it) and post articles on how downloading hurts the industry. Its clear to me that none of those have helped stop piracy at all, but they seem to keep on doing it anyway :/

Ive never felt guilty for downloading stuff, because I buy my shit. And i would buy scanlations of series I enjoy, if there was a legal way to do it. But there isnt, so im not given an option besides having to download it for free.

I think animemusicvideos.org deserves a mention too, because that site has been up and running for 10 years now and the biggest legal issue theyve ever had was not being able to use certain bands on the site. Thing is, the industry is well aware of amvs, and you google the word AMV and the first thing you get is amv.org. Its not like theyre unaware of it, but theyve made absolutely no attempt to shut down the site.

I mean had they have done something about fansubs/scanlations a decade ago before they became so widespread, the industry wouldnt be in such a shitbin.

Or if they had embraced digital distribution (and taken lessons from fansubs/scanslations in terms of how to do it and what their customers want) a decade ago, then the industry wouldn't be in such a shitbin today.

I think amv.org is a very, very different beast than manga scanslations or anime fansubs, though. Yes AMVs are illegal copyright infringement, but the rightful owners of the video footage and music used in AMVs generally recognize that a) AMVs are transformative works that do not replace or compete with their real products and b) they have nothing to gain and everything to lose (PR-wise) from stifling anime music videos. AMVs are like fanfic in the sense that they're pretty harmless even if they do infringe on copyrights. Given the extremely limited resources that most publishers have to fight anti-piracy battles, I think it's fairly obvious why they would worry about scanslations and fansubs first, and leave the AMVs to run wild and free across the internet. ;)

embraced digital distribution (and taken lessons from fansubs/scanslations in terms of how to do it and what their customers want)

I've never understood why the industry hasn't sat down and analyzed what exactly people like about the scanlations and fansubs besides "lol free." The single biggest point after "lol free" is usually the quick turnaround allowing you to stay current with the story. Gosh, digital distribution allows for that...? And amateur translators can pull it off faster in their spare time than pros can when paid to do just that...? Really? Huh. It's like how leaked pirated copies of movies are so popular-- people want to see the product quickly. Many will even hand-wave imperfect quality just to know what happens. I don't get why it's taken so long for the industry to see that as a point to be cashed in on.

Random bit about goodies in translations: I miss AD Vid Notes. Watching Excel Saga with those on made it even more hilarious. I wish that kind of feature was more popular. I'd love to watch Sayonara Zetsuboy Sensei with such a feature. Some of the better fansubs have notes like that. Come to think of it, Princess Tutu would have been amazing with such pop-up notes about the ballet and fairytale references.

It is pathetic and hilarious. Industry, pay attention.

Pay-for-scanslation swindlers have been bilking willing idiots of their money since[...]
Ahaha, don't forget Ebay fansubs. Horrible, horrible Ebay fansubs.

I know basically zilch about Kindle or the mechanics of "book" distribution, but couldn't the publishers set up something through Amazon wherein there's, I dunno, a general manga subscription service with Amazon as distributor? One where you have access to titles from multiple publishers for one subscription price, probably higher than subscribing to a single publisher, but cheaper than subscribing to like five publishers for one or two titles at each publisher? It just sounds so obvious.

*throws Pokéball*
Naïve Idealism, go!

To be fair to the publishers, it's not that easy. The Kindle uses patented technology that publishers have to pay a fee to use if they want to release their books specifically for the Kindle or set up the type of service that you're describing. Apparently formatting a book for the Kindle is difficult and time-consuming, too.

On the other hand, fuck distributing through Amazon. The publishers could set up their own e-distribution using a simple universal format like PDF, and the e-readers will either adapt to import different formats or perish. The iPad and Nook have always been lovely for reading PDFs and the Kindle finally got with the program with PDF support on their newest versions.

I understand why publishers are loathe to use a universal format like PDF because, hey, universal formats are by their nature insecure. They're easy to pirate. But they're also what the consumers want. If I pay to download a book or comic book, I damn well want to be able to transfer that file between all of my digital devices so that I can read it whenever, wherever, and on whatever device I choose. I don't want my books to be tied to a specific device, a specific program, or trapped within a specific app.

Ken Akamatsu (http://www.j-comi.jp/book/) is DOIN' IT RIGHT by offering his books in PDF format and I pray pray pray that his project ends up being hugely successful, if only to show the rest of the publishing world that universal formats are nothing to be afraid of.

Your idea is better. And even more obvious.

Note to self: If I ever get the money for an e-reader, don't get a Kindle. The name sounds cute but it sounds shitty overall.

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Pathetic, yet hilarious.

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