Anybody else got Bentley guilt?

[stx133]

whit, in Oz the manual costs significantly more than a tank of gas, around $200, part of the reason i want to look after it.

[Paul in NZ]

i bought mine of a forum member,they arent hard to get at one time there was alink at the top of the page..you can get them from amazon for about 50 us plus postage.....

[e34it]

If anyone wants one I still have a bentley manual for e34 in pristine condition for 40 dollars shipped

[Bimmerman]

Ordered my bentley last year off amazon, got it shipped to sydney for around aus$70 all up. looking pretty scruffy these days. much preferred to an electronic copy (which i dont have) personally, for the problems i've had .info searches are my best and most accurate source of repair info, although i dont contribute much myself, i have alot of gratitude to those who do.

[dacoyote]

I agree with Whit on this, if you don't have a hard copy of the manual, then you don't have the rights to the electric version. (I think that’s what Whit is saying)

That said, I am uploading the latest copy of the manual now, if you want a copy you can pm / email me for it and I will provide you the username and password. Now.. some of you may ask... "why does Charles do that?"... it's because I have found that if it takes more then a click to steal something... then most lazy bastards prop aren’t going to do it..

I already ruined my first one working on the car before I got an electric copy... In fact I will prop buy at least one more hard copy next year.

Anyway.. that’s my 2cents on the entire thing.

-Charles

[SRR2]

Well said.

You can find the Bentley books for less than you might expect if you shop carefully. I just bought the E39 set (and have the bulging biceps to show for it) from Buy.com (I'm not necessarily recommending them, just citing them as an example) on a double-markdown deal. Occasionally they'll send out $-off or %-off coupon codes. Sometimes they'll post discount codes publicly to drum up new business. More often than not these can be stacked. The $170 list price E39 manuals cost me $78 with no tax and free shipping by the lucky confluence of a couple of these coupons.

Right now, BTW, the E34 book is $80 +ship at Amazon and $63 shipped at Buy.com

[bahnstormer]

i'm not 100% sure that they are even printing the e34 manual still
i think they've made thier run and most people are just selling off
thier lots...

they are making money on the newer books i'm pretty sure e46 etc...

[GAM]

I just got to add some things about this as food for thought. So if a person buys a book, cd, dvd, or whatever and resells it what's that? How about if he gives it to someone? How about borrowing it from the library? How about if he loans it to someone (in this case by posting it he's loaning it to everyone on the internet)? Aren't all of these actions robbing the author of potential extra revenue? The only difference between some of these actions is that the person who it's being loaned to is also making a copy for his future use. Putting it in a place where he can do a quick look at it verses having to go back to owner to look at it again. So is it really stealing?????????

Gayle was very nice about it, now I'll be the jerk.

First, let me explain that I believe that once you've bought it - ie., paid the royalties to the author/publisher - you own it and are entitled to use the information in it for personal endeavor. I own a copy of the Bentley E34 manual, for which I chucked up $51.95 shipped from Alldirect.com via Amazon about a year ago. Yes, I thought it was a lot of money to spend on an automotive book at the time. The book has paid for itself in saved time and knowledge acquisition 100x over. In my judgement, having a digital copy of a purchased book is within the limits of the copyright -- after all, even Microsoft will let software "owners" keep a backup copy of original CDs.

Second, given the amount of time and effort I'm putting into writing this message, you should assimilate that I'm disturbed by the blatantly offensive intellectual piracy occuring under our very noses. I don't know Charles Burke, editor extraordinare of aforementioned manual, but I know he spent years writing it. I know that there's a limited market for Bentley manuals, and that new ones only get written because buyers within a limited market hand over cash for them.

When people stop buying and start stealing this kind of information, the quality of future tomes is arguably worse. Case in point: The known BMW author/expert who was asked to write the E39 book declined because the commission didn't offset the large amount of work that went into writing the TWO volume manual. As a result, it took Bentley much more time to publish anything usable, and the quality of that text is for your own judgement. And we're not even talking about profits here...

If people actually paid for the book, they might've propagated better information in future publications. The consequence is that we generally get worse information. Who ultimately loses for your selfish, cheap ass ways? I do. You do. Learn that lesson now and you'll save a lot of money in maintaining and upgrading your E34 in the long run.

In observing the patterns of Bentley stealers, I've noticed a few trends: 1) they're generally newer members or members who don't often post, 2) they may not have a comprehensive understanding of the kind of community that .info nurtures. Although I do not purport to offer anything more than babblings myself, this -- meaning .info -- is one of the only opportunities in existence that I know of for individuals to acquire professional, knowledgeable, and honest answers from an industry that commonly charges $100 to listen to an owner cry, moan, and bitch. Furthermore, this is a forum that strives for excellence -- if something is wrong, it gets corrected. I challenge you to unearth another open online community on par with this.

The bottom line: support the authors and BUY THE DAMN BOOK! It costs less than a tank of gas, for christsakes.

The really bottom line: if you were foolish enough to admit pirating a bentley manual on this public forum, especially for a particularly stupid reason like "it costs too much!!!!1", the longtime members of this forum should consider why they're taking the time to respond to your posts.

best, whit

[JonE]

"My 2 Cents", hmmmmm, seems pretty cheap for such a nice wealth of information. Good idea, drive a bit less for awhile, save the tank of gas, and buy the Bentley. Only get the Bentley if you need it, though. "Borrowing" the information just doesn't seem fair, but, people have to do what their conscious' allow them to do.
Most of the best tips/tricks and furthermores I've actually been able to obtain right here on this forum.
JonE

[632 Regal]

it is not copywrite infringement if you have a paper copy, same thing with music, if you have bought the music and have it to play, an electronic copy is not illegal to have on your computer...however uploading it to whoever doesnt have an original IS illegal...something like that.

torrents are cool too.

lol