talkmagic.co.uk

I have been buying quite a few DVDs lately and I am a little concerned about the amount of DVDr's I am receiving.

I realise it is a cottage industry and some people do release magic DVDs in DVDR format but how do I know if the DVD I have bought (pre-owned) is an official release that has been burned onto a DVDr to keep costs down or if I am paying for a copy?

For example (but not an isolated incident) one that arrived in the post today was Dynamo Cutting Edge. Paid £15 for it pre-owned but I would have thought that a DVD with his name on at least would be on an original "silver bottomed" DVD - Even the quality of the inlay looks cheap.

I'm not saying that I have bought a copy, or even if I have that the seller knew he was selling me a copy - it just seems like it is wide open to abuse.

Anybody have any thoughts on this?

Pre-owned DVDs sound a bit dodgy to me in this line. There is a moral issue here with selling on DVDs. If you have learned a routine, selling on the DVD denies the originator of further income. The rules for the buying and selling section on this site are very clear on this and books and DVDs are not allowed.

The best way that you can be sure you are buying an original and thet the originator is getting their fair cut is to only buy from established, reputable dealers. There are plenty of them and whilst the new DVD or book might be more expensive you will at least know for certain that the item is not bootlegged.

Johnny Wizz wrote:Pre-owned DVDs sound a bit dodgy to me in this line. There is a moral issue here with selling on DVDs. If you have learned a routine, selling on the DVD denies the originator of further income. The rules for the buying and selling section on this site are very clear on this and books and DVDs are not allowed.

True, but the issue is not clear-cut. As has been pointed out before, what if someone learns a move from a book or DVD? Do they have to stop using it if they sell the work from which they learned it? What if you borrowed a book from a library, or watched a friend's DVD?

My personal view is pretty much the same as yours (and this site's), but I wanted to put some alternative arguments.

The best way that you can be sure you are buying an original and thet the originator is getting their fair cut is to only buy from established, reputable dealers. There are plenty of them and whilst the new DVD or book might be more expensive you will at least know for certain that the item is not bootlegged.

I absolutely agree. Of course, there can be problems with items that have gone out of print or are otherwise rare.

One way to spot a phoney seller is to watch out for other listings by them. If they seem to have multiple copies of an item, this might sound an alarm bell. It might just be that they have got some left-over stock, so be careful with accusations!

Some interesting points made and although I understand the argument of morality, regardless of whether we agree or not the fact is buying and selling of pre-owned books/dvds/effects is always going to happen in one form or another and in my opinion piracy is a completely different thing (and in my humble opinion, much worse than selling a DVD that you have bought because it is of little use to you)

Having gone through my collection of maybe 100 DVDs I probably have about 20 that are on DVDr's and I am now questioning the authenticity of them all. Many I paid good money for.

Really annoying!!

There is one distinction between books and DVDs - "real" books, as opposed to ebooks, can't be pirated. I have lots of second-hand magic books (though I've never sold one).

Barry

magicofthemind wrote:There is one distinction between books and DVDs - "real" books, as opposed to ebooks, can't be pirated. I have lots of second-hand magic books (though I've never sold one).

Barry

Real books can and are pirated Barry. Someone tried to sell me a full scan of the David Berglas book....

DrTodd wrote:

magicofthemind wrote:There is one distinction between books and DVDs - "real" books, as opposed to ebooks, can't be pirated. I have lots of second-hand magic books (though I've never sold one).

Barry

Real books can and are pirated Barry. Someone tried to sell me a full scan of the David Berglas book....

Yes, Todd - but the result is an "e-book", not a real book. A scan of a book isn't anything like the real thing! I'd be amazed if anyone offered you a printed copy that looked like the original.

Barry