[rafram]

I think you’re overstating its importance. The internet already makes it possible to order almost any book in existence and have it arrive at your doorstep within a week or so, or often on your ebook reader instantly. And your local library probably participates in an interlibrary loan system that lets you request any book held by any library in the country for free.

LibGen gives you access to a much smaller body of works than either of those. It’s a little more convenient. But the big difference is that it doesn’t compensate the author at all.

Just go to a real library.

[intotheabyss]

And what about the other billions of people on the planet that don't even have a library, let alone a doorstep to receive a first world delivery service.

[Cyph0n]

1. We are not talking about physical books.

2. DRM is built in to most purchased ebooks, which means you can’t consume the book on any device. “Illegal” tools exist to circumvent this.

3. Large ebook stores - like other digital stores - essentially lend you a copy of the book. So when they are forced to pull a book, they’ll pull your access too.

Of course, now that the big players have consumed/archived the entire book dump, they can go ahead and kill it to prevent others from doing the same thing.

[ALittleLight]

It is *much* more convenient. When a research path takes me to an article or book - I could buy or order or go to a physical library, that would take hours or days. I could also open it as a PDF in seconds. If you need to read a chapter from a book, or an article, or skim such checking to see if it's worthwhile, 20-30 times to figure something out, then libgen is the difference between finishing in a day or a month.

[thfuran]

There are a whole lot of books that are out of print, and if a book went out of print before ebooks were a thing, it probably doesn't have a legal digital edition either.

[xtracto]

This. Few people here would remember ebooksclub/gigapedia/smiley/library.nu [1] which predated LibGen by several years. But that online library had a lot of books that are not availble nowadays. There were lots of scanned books (djvu) that people uploaded. So much lost knowledge.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library.nu

[mik1998]

No one sells scans of older books, which are often sparsely available in obscure (often private) libraries.

[rafram]

Sure, but I have a strong feeling that scans of out-of-print books only constitute a small portion of LibGen’s traffic.

It’s like the idea that most BitTorrent users are just using it to share free software and Creative Commons media. (See the screenshots on every BitTorrent client’s website.) It would definitely be helpful if it were true, but everyone knows it’s just wishful thinking.

[crazygringo]

Why does the proportion matter?

Academics are huge users of LibGen for academic books from the entire past century and beyond. It's infinitely more convenient to instantly get a PDF you can highlight, than wait weeks for some interlibrary loan from an institution three states away.

Just because the majority of people might be downloading Harry Potter is irrelevant.

[sva_]

Libraries can burn down (see Library of Alexandria), civilizations end (see various). LibGen makes it possible for an individual to backup a snapshot of cumulative human knowledge, and I think that's commendable.

[greenavocado]

> LibGen gives you access to a much smaller body of works than either of those.

> Just go to a real library.

The thrill of waiting a week for a book to arrive or navigating the labyrinthine interlibrary loan system is truly a privilege that many can afford. And who needs instant access to knowledge when you can have the pleasure of paying for shipping or commuting to a physical library?

It's also fascinating that you mention compensating authors, as if the current publishing model is a paragon of fairness and equity. I'm sure the authors are just thrilled to receive their meager royalties while the rest of the industry reaps the benefits.

LibGen, on the other hand, is a quaint little website that only offers access to a vast, sprawling library of texts, completely free of charge and accessible to anyone with an internet connection. I'm sure it's totally insignificant compared to the robust and equitable systems you mentioned.

Your suggestion to "just go to a real library" is also a brilliant solution, assuming that everyone has the luxury of living near a well-stocked library, having the time and resources to visit it, and not having any other obligations or responsibilities. I'm sure it's not at all a tone-deaf, out-of-touch recommendation.

[rafram]

Yes, publishers don’t pay authors as much as they deserve, but LibGen pays them literally nothing. Authors tend to love libraries but hate piracy. Why? Because earning something is better than earning nothing.

Have you ever submitted an ILL request? It’s extremely simple. Many library systems even integrate with WorldCat, so submitting a request for any book just takes a few clicks.

I’m mostly speaking about people in the US. Every single county in the entire country has a public library. Almost all of them have ILL.

I think equity is a fair argument for the existence of services like LibGen in many parts of the world, but the reality is that almost everyone using a book piracy sites in a first-world country is using it to pirate an in-print book that they just don’t want to go to the trouble of borrowing or buying.

[JambalayaJimbo]

Your library almost definitely offers digital loans as well.

[crtasm]

Seeing the high prices they are charged for a digital licence which expires after a fairly small number of loans, I feel it'd be better for my library if I pirate when possible. Save those limited loans for someone who prefers/needs them.