Safari Books Online (I think recently rebranded as O'Reilly Online) is a pretty decent value -- about $49 USD a month for access to most O'Reilly, PragProg, Manning, and quite a few other non-programmer focused publishing houses like Academic Press. Between that subscription, my scribd subscription (which has plenty of unauthorized titles in addition to its authorized titles), and PDFs I'm able to find elsewhere, I'm pretty set. (not affiliated with either OReilly or Scribd, just a happy user)
Despite this, I strongly prefer a physical copy. Except for some of the books on Safari which I use as a quick reference, I mostly use PDF copies as a sort of extended preview before purchasing (or not!) a physical copy
But the interviewee is spot on when he argues that a pirated download != a lost sale. The idea that it is is just pure silliness. Before I got into tech, if I couldn't find a PDF of a $70-120 book I simply wouldn't read it. Period.
Despite this, I strongly prefer a physical copy. Except for some of the books on Safari which I use as a quick reference, I mostly use PDF copies as a sort of extended preview before purchasing (or not!) a physical copy
But the interviewee is spot on when he argues that a pirated download != a lost sale. The idea that it is is just pure silliness. Before I got into tech, if I couldn't find a PDF of a $70-120 book I simply wouldn't read it. Period.