this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2023
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So yesterday, I bought a copy of Breakfast at Tiffany’s on apple books to read at work on my lunch break. It was okay, but when I went to find the page count to record it in my reading journal, I noticed that the text is completely different from my penguin classics edition. The Apple Books version is shortened, and is just a crappy abridgement of the original. Now I’m pissed off, because I paid for the digital version and it didn’t say anywhere that it wasn’t the original text. It even used the penguin paperback edition cover art! Is there any way to report this kind of stuff?

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[–] rah 2 points 11 months ago
[–] The-Rog@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Ripped off by Apple

You should've just stopped there.

[–] SheepFucker4Life@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Sounds like it could be AI generated to me. This stuff is starting to get out of hand, I'd be passed if I was in your position.

[–] PandaNoTrash@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Wow TIL, this is really good info to know. This sounds like the same thing that's been happening on Amazon's site. Authors names aren't copyrighted so you can call yourself Truman Capote if you want. They shouldn't be able to use original artwork though (not that it would matter much). I thought this was going to be fairly easy to avoid but without reviews how would you know this book was a fake? I really dislike this timeline in so many ways.

[–] ToMorrowsEnd@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

report it and demand a refund. they will give you your money back.

[–] blifflesplick@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

And take it from the "author"

Found this out from an author who had people buy her digital book on Amazon, reading it, apparently loving it, leaving a positive review, and returning it - it ended up costing more than you'd think if there are any fees

[–] mechanical_animal_@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

First, Truman Capote is dead. Second, even if he had been alive, he wouldn’t have submitted a butchered version of his own work just to fool people.

[–] FrankReynoldsToupee@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

This is sadly very common. It happened to me when I tried buying a 99 cent kindle ebook of Henry James' Turn of the Screw. I thought I just sucked at early century English but then I realized the writing was a little too indecipherable. When I looked up another version I realized it was completely different, as though it was run through a translator and then back into English. I'm afraid it's a very common scam.

[–] FrankReynoldsToupee@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

This is sadly very common. It happened to me when I tried buying a 99 cent kindle ebook of Henry James' Turn of the Screw. I thought I just sucked at 19th century English but then I realized the writing was a little too indecipherable. When I looked up another version I realized it was completely different, as though it was run through a translator and then back into English. I'm afraid it's a very common scam.

[–] zzzlibrary@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Just so you know, you should be able to read Henry James from Project Gutenberg since it’s out of copyright by now. Project Gutenberg provides free ebooks of out of copyright classics.

[–] FrankReynoldsToupee@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

I always appreciate the PG plugs, great art should be free for everyone. I usually choose to pay a little bit extra for the Penguin/Oxford versions of classic books simply because the notes and essays included make a lot of difference in understanding the important contextual details. It's completely up to the reader though.

[–] JustOneSexQuestion@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Oh my god. Imagine the people that never checked.

[–] VictoriousReader21@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

n an amusing twist, an attempt to distill "The Old Man and the Sea" into a more concise version backfired spectacularly, resulting in the accidental addition of ten pages. This endeavor, aimed at simplicity, ironically expanded Hemingway's laconic masterpiece, adding a new layer of complexity to an already profound narrative.