i feel like scanlations are similar to a library; one person/entity puts the money into buying the work and then distributes it to the masses for free. the only difference is that if you download the file from a scanlator then you have access to it whenever you'd like. the only positive thing i see coming from the popularity of manga aggregators is that less people are downloading and instead "streaming", in a sense, which makes it easier for a business model to flourish (unfortunately current aggregators just profit off of volunteer work ;/)

i don't understand why publishers don't have their own flash reader like some scanlation groups do so that everyone can read their titles on demand, generate money through ad revenue if they choose, and then give the option to own the title digitally or physically? or set up something like crunchyroll and work with japanese publishers to have chapters released in both languages simultaneously? i really like free but if something is available easily for a small nominal fee then i might take that route.

tl;dr: no i don't feel bad. get with the times publishers.

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Well, technically everyone pays for their local library through taxes, so in that sense it's not free. Also, the fact you can only keep books temporarily isn't just out of necessity (although obviously the government can't personally buy every single citizen an individual copy of every book) -- it's because if you have it permanently for free... why would you buy it? (some countries [Canada, UK] recoup pay a certain fee to authors to recoup losses from sales that might occur due to people being able to check out their books at the library anyways.)

If only one person makes a purchase one time and copies it for free and distributes it to everyone else than whose paying the author/artist? Nobody could make a living doing art. That's why I think piracy is a very situational thing. Pirating Miley Cyrus' latest album might not affect her much... or at all... but there are a lot of artists all over the world who are struggling to get by and me or you spending a couple of dollars could make the difference as to whether they can afford to continue to produce art. I think its important to look at the individual circumstances when pirating, that's true for manga or anything else.

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"We can not resort to simplistic or extreme solutions which substitute myths for common sense." ― Jimmy Carter

I think I'd really feel bad if it was licensed in my country, it's like, go buy it if that's the case. As for buying something from outside of my country, I've done it. But now it's something frowned upon here, so there are a lot of laws to reduce the number of adquisitions from outside so it's kinda difficult (not impossible) to buy something. So yeah, most of the time I don't feel guilty.

I agree, imercenary, that this is a strange poll. If what I read was available in my country, I would buy it used. Thus, the author would still not be getting money from that sale.

Sometimes I feel a bit bad when there's that "thank you for buying this tank" page.