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New Pirate Site Focuses on Audiobooks

When it comes to pirate ebook sites there are far more fake sites than real ones, but this next site is the exception to the rule.

A reader has tipped me to a new pirate site which focuses on audiobooks. From what I can tell, it was developed by the same guy who brought us TUEBL (which is now known as eBook.bike).

The new site is Audiobook.cafe, and it lets you both stream and download pirated audiobooks.

Both sites were developed by Travis McCrea (unless this is a fake identity created to hide the actual site operators). The sites claim to be protected by the DMCA, which is a ridiculous assertion given that one, the sites claim to be in Canada, and two, they don’t comply with the requirements of the DMCA.

There’s no obvious way to send a DMCA notice to either site, so if you find your work posted there then I’d recommend you send notices to Travis’s Twitter and LinkedIn accounts.

While you’re at it, you might also want to tell all your friends exactly who is pirating your work so they can help you yell at him.

If he can’t take the public criticism then he shouldn’t run a pirate site, IMO.

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Comments


Michael A. March 2, 2017 um 12:42 am

Its piracy when you resell the content you don’t own for personal financial gain.
It’s file sharing otherwise (aka a library).
Sad that people still don’t know the difference in 2017 and refer to the knee-jerk term of piracy.
File sharing, like in a library, is how people decide to "try-before-you-buy" with printed books (etc) and promote the industry. It’s a practice that has been around for decades, doesn’t matter if its in digital form now despite modern-day propaganda to the contrary.

Nate Hoffelder March 2, 2017 um 6:35 am

The site has ads and takes donations.

Boom! Piracy.

Anon March 2, 2017 um 11:49 am

Libraries have to pay a fee for the content they allow you to borrow, and there is typically a certain number of copies that can be Loaned out at any given time.
How much do you think Travis is paying authors for the content he copies.

Michael A. March 2, 2017 um 5:49 pm

Anon: A library user at a library pays nothing. Your argument disproves nothing.
Nate: Donations are not a forced fee to use the site. People can donate at a community library with books & money, while still being able to loan book. Exactly in the same vein that you constantly have a side banner *asking* to financially support the digital reader, while people view its content for free. Boom, not piracy.

poiboy March 2, 2017 um 5:59 pm

haha.. boom well said!

Anon March 3, 2017 um 1:18 am

Yes, I know that a library user doesn’t have to pay anything But my point was that libraries themselves have to Pay a fee for the content they receive, and some of this money goes to the authors.
You might believe that an author can make more money from file sharing In the long run, but I believe that decision should be up to each individual author, and not forced upon them by Travis McCrea.
And the last time I checked, Nate wasn’t uploading infringing content onto the digital reader.
It would be like the digital reader copying every single post from Teleread, and then asking for donations.

Bob Tudley March 3, 2017 um 10:03 am

Library users pay nothing? So what? The library does, and with electronic content, the library generally pays considerably more than an individual consumer does. And as Anon points out, in many places, there’s a public lending rights type of program that sees money go to the authors for each time an item is borrowed.

The creators of the content a library shares are compensated. That’s not the case with pirates like this.

Michael A. March 3, 2017 um 1:40 pm

Compensations mean literally nothing when you lend your book to a friend, just as equally as lending a book from a facility that your taxes paid for.
Both of your arguments are still not focus on users, or how you think pirates (users) exist in the literary realm. They’re weak stances and it appears that a rational argument cannot be gad by people blinded by their prejudices. Thats unfortunate.

Scott March 11, 2017 um 5:44 pm

Michael, it’s ethical, legal, helpful and there’s nothing wrong with it. We should all be allowed to download audiobooks with reckless abandon, for free.

Nah, just kidding. It’s none of those things.


1 March 4, 2017 um 1:33 pm

" A library user at a library pays nothing."
Yes we do. It’s called taxes.

I guess the argument that libraries are just a bad as pirate sites would almost be logical if all library books were donated (rather than purchased), and there was no secondary tax payer funded compensation (which apparently there is in many places). Even still, the scale is completely different. Each copy can only be used by one person at a time. For popular books there are massive wait lists (thus providing incentive to buy the book yourself).

“try-before-you-buy”
Undoubtedly some people do it that way, and I think that’s fine. I don’t believe that’s very common. It would be interesting to see actual statistics on this, but I’m guessing the majority of people who download a pirated copy are not going to buy it later even if they like it.


Michael A. March 4, 2017 um 9:38 pm

Okay, I’ll bite to your weak arguments..

"It’s called taxes"..
Yes, I am sure all school children, teens and homeless people who use libraries pay taxes in additoon to the adults that use them. Well thought out there.

"would almost be logical if all library books were donated"
In places other than 'Merica, a high amount of all books are donated. Libraries host book drives to promote such practices.

"massive wait lists (thus providing incentive to buy the book yourself)"
Yes I’m sure poor families just go out and buy the books themselves. Geezus.

"Undoubtedly some people do it that way"
Actually MOST people do it that way. With FILE SHARING and with libraries. How about you check those stats and get back to us "Mr. 1"?

poiboy March 4, 2017 um 10:08 pm

nicely done Michael.


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