[Peter]

I am sooo staying awake all weekend on the 21st!

Who else?


Anyone?





Anyone?

[moonmonkey]

i'm getting married on the 20th, I don't think my wife will appreciate me reading the book on our honeymoon.

I'm convinced Harry will live, Snape is bad and that Harry's wand is the last Horocrux that needs to be destroyed.
Just guessing though.

[MrForgetable]

i need to refresh my memory on the entire series, like now.

[moonmonkey]

Audiobooks are a great way to avoid people taking the piss.
"oh look, an adult reading a children's book"

[design219]

I promised my wife that I would be at the store at midnight on the 20th to pick it up. She will read it overnight and I'll get to read it on Saturday. She didn't want to go because of the stories at the release of book 6 of people at the book store jumping to the end and yelling out "Oh my God, I can't believe ___ is ___!"

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by Peter 

I am sooo staying awake all weekend on the 21st!

I've not read any of the books yet, but I plan on getting this Adult box set (well, not this one, but the one that has all 7 books) from England. Amazon.co.uk will be selling it for £69.30, or about US $141 at current exchange rates. I figure about $175 with shipping, etc.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by MrForgetable 

i need to refresh my memory on the entire series, like now.

I started a week ago, though, due to working far too much, I’m not even through the first three yet. I need to pick up the pace!

[Chuckit]

Eh, I'm not staying up all weekend, but I'm sure I'll be able to finish it before Monday.

For the record: I'm positive Snape is good. He had the opportunity to kill Harry and instead of taking it, he told Harry to continue learning the exact things he thought Harry would need to defeat Voldemort! Oh, and Harry won't die. Way too predictable. I'm thinking Snape might pull a Darth Vader and sacrifice himself for Harry at the last minute, but I'm not sure about that one.

[TheoCryst]

Originally Posted by moonmonkey 

I'm convinced Harry will live, Snape is bad and that Harry's wand is the last Horocrux that needs to be destroyed.
Just guessing though.

Well, I'm convinced that Harry will die, Snape is good, and that Harry is the last Horocrux. But that's just me.

Oh, and Neville will have a big role somehow. Not sure how, but just wait and see...!

[mdc]

Thanks for the reminder. I just placed my order with amazon; which is guaranteeing July 21st delivery if you order by the 17th.
My wife and I are going to be busy this Saturday packing up our clothes since the movers are coming on Sunday. I'll start reading the book when we're finished packing.

[Nodnarb]

Ordered from Amazon a few months back, getting delivered on the 21st. I was planning on reading all 6 in the weeks before...but I haven't. The books usually do a pretty good job of reminding you what happened anyways. I hope.

I'm so excited!!!

[olePigeon]

Items not yet shipped:
Delivery estimate: August 1, 2007 - August 7, 2007
1 of: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows [Audiobook] [Unabridged]
Sold by: Amazon.com, LLC

Couple more weeks.

[moonmonkey]

Originally Posted by TheoCryst 

Snape is good

Its so obvious he's good that im sure (hope) he's bad.

[Doofy]

 

The butler did it.

[Peter]

Spoiler tags don't work, as I just have to see what is beneath that glossy grey!

[Peter]

gray?


Who knows!

[JMan09]

i work at Books-A-Million and I have to work 5pm to 2am. And we are having a release party from 9 to 2 or whenever its done. Then I am off all day Saturday so I'll be able to read it then.

[- - e r i k - -]

Ooh. The book has leaked. Will I resist downloading it? Hmmmm.

[moonmonkey]

The leaked book is fake, you can tell at the first chapter.

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally Posted by moonmonkey 

The leaked book is fake, you can tell at the first chapter.

While there are myriads of "leaks", there is a real leak. The one where every page has been photographed.

I'm up to chapter five. Pretty intense so far. Not-really-a-spoiler:

 

Already one "major" death.

[Peter]

Wow, terrible leak
its essentially unreadable.
Poor guy

[shifuimam]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

Eh, I'm not staying up all weekend, but I'm sure I'll be able to finish it before Monday.

For the record: I'm positive Snape is good. He had the opportunity to kill Harry and instead of taking it, he told Harry to continue learning the exact things he thought Harry would need to defeat Voldemort! Oh, and Harry won't die. Way too predictable. I'm thinking Snape might pull a Darth Vader and sacrifice himself for Harry at the last minute, but I'm not sure about that one.

It's not just that he didn't kill Harry. It's that if Dumbledore was the only wizard that Voldemort ever feared, he's got to be pretty damn smart - and I doubt that he would be naive enough to bring Snape to Hogwarts without making explicitly certain that Snape was no longer affiliated with Voldemort - and then continuing to run periodic checks on Snape to make sure he's not gone back to the dark side.

Rowling might kill off Harry just to guarantee no possibility of a sequel. But I'm guessing he stays alive, and Neville or McGonagall dies. Ron and Hermione are totally going to hook up by the end of the book.

Looking forward to getting the book. I'll probably end up reading the last chapter before I read the rest of the book. I'm like that.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by shifuimam 

It's not just that he didn't kill Harry. It's that if Dumbledore was the only wizard that Voldemort ever feared, he's got to be pretty damn smart - and I doubt that he would be naive enough to bring Snape to Hogwarts without making explicitly certain that Snape was no longer affiliated with Voldemort - and then continuing to run periodic checks on Snape to make sure he's not gone back to the dark side.

Well, I'm not so sure about that. Snape is obviously fooling either Dumbledore or Voldemort, neither of which seems like it would be be an easy task. I think Voldemort is actually supposed to be the better legilimens.

[design219]

I wonder if the actors are anxiously awaiting the book to see if they bit it?

[Chuckit]

I wonder if the Luna girl is going to be at the midnight release event again. That would be awesome to be in the Harry Potter line behind Luna Lovegood.

[shifuimam]

Well, I found the leaked digital pics of the pages...

That was fun. o.O

I'm actually more excited about seeing the movie in IMAX.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by shifuimam 

Well, I found the leaked digital pics of the pages...

That was fun. o.O

I'm actually more excited about seeing the movie in IMAX.

I went to see that this weekend. Big screen was kind of cool, but the 3D bit had these weird ghost images and it gave me a headache for the rest of the day.

[moonmonkey]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - - 

While there are myriads of "leaks", there is a real leak. The one where every page has been photographed.

Damn! you're right.
The web is covered in spoilers now, and it appears most of them are true.

[- - e r i k - -]

Hence why I am reading it now. I got spoilt the last time - this time I want to be ahead of stupid spoilers.

[ghporter]

I'm picking up the book on Saturday (NOT staying up Friday night for it!). And when my semester ends in early August, I'm going to read it. I may not spend much time doing anything else until I finish it, but I AM going to read it. I waited a long, long time to read Half Blood Prince due to school, so this time, the timing is right.

[wallinbl]

Originally Posted by shifuimam 

It's not just that he didn't kill Harry. It's that if Dumbledore was the only wizard that Voldemort ever feared, he's got to be pretty damn smart - and I doubt that he would be naive enough to bring Snape to Hogwarts without making explicitly certain that Snape was no longer affiliated with Voldemort - and then continuing to run periodic checks on Snape to make sure he's not gone back to the dark side.

Weren't many of the enemies people that were hired to teach at Hogwart's? I've never read the books, just the movies, but it seems like one of the teachers is always bad.

[mduell]

I wonder if Scholastic will get any legal revenge for the leak (yea, the leak is real, even if the quality isn't the best).

[Chuckit]

I'm just refusing to read anything that might have spoilers until next Monday. I don't want to read the last book of the series in crappy JPEGs.

[torsoboy]

I think harry will live, but Ron or Hermione (my bet) will be killed. No idea about Snape, he's a tricky guy.

[- - e r i k - -]

I haven't read that far yet - but Rowling has indicated that Ron, Hermione and Harry would all live:

Asked which five of her characters she would like to invite to dinner, she chose Harry, Hermione and Ron, but then hesitated before choosing her last characters, saying "See... I know who's actually dead," unsure whether she was permitted to invite those who are 'dead'.[51]

Of course, that's pretty vague, so anything could happen

[mduell]

Would there be any forum administrative backlash if I were to post a clearly labeled link to a page containing the major character-related events including fair-use excerpts in this or another thread?

[- - e r i k - -]

I would personally report you if you posted any spoiler information

[torsoboy]

Originally Posted by mduell 

Would there be any forum administrative backlash if I were to post a clearly labeled link to a page containing the major character-related events including fair-use excerpts in this or another thread?

There are no "fair use excerpts" for this unreleased book. Only pirated excerpts, which seem to be illegal since the publisher has been sending cease and desist letters to the sites putting up the spoilers.

[JMan09]

Where I work, we would lose our job if we tore the wrapping and packaging around the books, or tried to look at the books before 12:01am Sat.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by torsoboy 

There are no "fair use excerpts" for this unreleased book. Only pirated excerpts, which seem to be illegal since the publisher has been sending cease and desist letters to the sites putting up the spoilers.

Perhaps you understand copyright law better than I do, but as far as I know the fair use exemption applies regardless of the method by which the material was obtained. The Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107 says:

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include—

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

1. The reproduction is transformative, not merely derivative.
2. There's no dispute here to whether or not the work should be in the public domain; it clearly still falls under copyright. And the final sentence of the law makes it clear that the not-yet-released status of the work doesn't prohibit fair use from applying.
3. The excerpts total perhaps a page in total, out of ~800.
4. The only sales this could impact are the first-night sales; after that everyone can read the reviews and find out what happens. And I really don't see the hordes of fans staying up until midnight saying "well I already know the major character events, so I guess I'll skip the book entirely." The burden of proof here falls upon the copyright owner, and I don't see how they'd show that a handful of excerpts acts as a direct market substitute for the original work.

Care to elucidate on why you feel fair use should not/does not apply?

Just because they're sending out C&D letters doesn't mean they have the law on their side. C&D letters are also used as an intimidation tactic against legitimate publishing (see Apple v. various blogs, among others).

[wallinbl]

I don' t think Fair Use would be the question. Someone is distributing information that they know is not legally available. You have no legal right to be in possession of any portion of the book, so therefore you can't distribute any portion of it.

[Oversoul]

This is quite a set. But why do we have to wait until September 18?

[- - e r i k - -]

That's hot.

[moonmonkey]

Finished the book Erik?

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally Posted by moonmonkey 

Finished the book Erik?

Half-way through chapter eight. A good mix of action and relaxed wry humour so far. Much more cheery than the last two books which were very gloomy overall. I've actually laughed out loud at several parts already.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - - 

Half-way through chapter eight. A good mix of action and relaxed wry humour so far. Much more cheery than the last two books which were very gloomy overall. I've actually laughed out loud at several parts already.

Huh, I would've expected the last book to be even more gloomy, what with how Harry's still basically reeling from the deaths in the last two volumes and, from how Rowling makes it sound, pretty much everybody in the entire world bites it in this one. (And I mean, gloomy wouldn't really be a bad thing — I loved book five.)

[- - e r i k - -]

She's probably just giving us some breathing space. The calm before the storm

[torsoboy]

Originally Posted by mduell 

Perhaps you understand copyright law better than I do, but as far as I know the fair use exemption applies regardless of the method by which the material was obtained. The Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107 says:

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include—

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

1. The reproduction is transformative, not merely derivative.
2. There's no dispute here to whether or not the work should be in the public domain; it clearly still falls under copyright. And the final sentence of the law makes it clear that the not-yet-released status of the work doesn't prohibit fair use from applying.
3. The excerpts total perhaps a page in total, out of ~800.
4. The only sales this could impact are the first-night sales; after that everyone can read the reviews and find out what happens. And I really don't see the hordes of fans staying up until midnight saying "well I already know the major character events, so I guess I'll skip the book entirely." The burden of proof here falls upon the copyright owner, and I don't see how they'd show that a handful of excerpts acts as a direct market substitute for the original work.

Care to elucidate on why you feel fair use should not/does not apply?

Just because they're sending out C&D letters doesn't mean they have the law on their side. C&D letters are also used as an intimidation tactic against legitimate publishing (see Apple v. various blogs, among others).

Originally Posted by wallinbl 

I don' t think Fair Use would be the question. Someone is distributing information that they know is not legally available. You have no legal right to be in possession of any portion of the book, so therefore you can't distribute any portion of it.

That's what I was trying to say.

[skittles_122]

How can I ut up the "spoiler" block? Because Ive read the book. Good stuff.

[Cipher13]

Originally Posted by Peter 

Wow, terrible leak
its essentially unreadable.
Poor guy

Unreadable? I read the whole thing in a day and a half.

I give it a thumbs up. Still gonna buy it, of course. Reading the leaked version was for the safety of the general public, for had somebody spoiled it for me blood would have been shed.

 

Unfortunately, I found most of the "twists" predictable, but that's been the way through the whole series... it isn't a book aimed at my demographic. It just gets frustrating knowing exactly what's going on, then reading 50 pages of deliberation before the characters say "ALAS, I HAVE THE ANSWER!"