Cd or soft copy of books about gramophones

[Sherazhyder]

Hello!

Is there an e-copy or CD of Christopher Proudfoot‘s book ‘collecting phonographs..’ and ‘His Master’s Voice’ or Eric Reiss‘a book ‘The Compleat Talking Machine’ available for sale anywhere ? Please inform me since even the used hard copy of any of these books with courier cost to Pakistan is a very expensive option for me. Thanks

regards
sheraz

[Dulcetto]

Hello!

Is there an e-copy or CD of Christopher Proudfoot‘s book ‘collecting phonographs..’ and ‘His Master’s Voice’ or Eric Reiss‘a book ‘The Compleat Talking Machine’ available for sale anywhere ? Please inform me since even the used hard copy of any of these books with courier cost to Pakistan is a very expensive option for me. Thanks

regards
sheraz

The Compleat Talking Machine is available on abebooks.com listed by several book sellers at modest cost. Neither book has ever been produced as a CD or e-copy.

[Marco Gilardetti]

I believe that the question was asked in order to avoid prohibitive shipping costs, aggravated by duties and alike, topped with the risk of the goods being scratched/ripped/bended or lost/stolen altogether, and not with the intention of infringing copyrights etc.

I also have similar issues with the book series by Fabrizio and Paul, which are no longer imported in continental Europe after the brexit craze. I know that I shall order them before they're out of print, but the unacceptable cost of duties constantly refrain me from doing so.

There's no day that God sends on earth that I don't wonder how is it possible that after two decades of the so called "globalisation", medieval stuff like the duty may still exist. I acknowledge that it may remotely have some sense with stock commercial trades, but when it comes to the single private citizen buying a book (or old used goods even more so) it has no reason to exist at all any longer, if it ever did.

[Orchorsol]

I believe that the question was asked in order to avoid prohibitive shipping costs, aggravated by duties and alike, topped with the risk of the goods being scratched/ripped/bended or lost/stolen altogether, and not with the intention of infringing copyrights etc.

I also have similar issues with the book series by Fabrizio and Paul, which are no longer imported in continetal Europe after the brexit craze. I know that I shall order them before they're out of print, but the unacceptable cost of duties constantly refrain me from doing so.

There's no day that God sends on earth that I don't wonder how is it possible that after two decades of the so called "globalisation", medieval stuff like the duty may still exist. I acknowledge that it may remotely have some sense with stock commercial trades, but when it comes to the single private citizen buying a book (or old used goods even more so) it has no reason to exist at all any longer, if it ever did.

Well put Marco. And to "add insult to injury", here in the UK we ALSO have to pay an administration charge of about $10 for the privilege of being charged import duty!

[Sherazhyder]

Pals ! You rightly read my mind. Yes, it’s not just the cost of book but the other costs which discourage us to import books. Digital books are therefore a better option for us. The author will also get a wider and diverse readership, which is what an author wants. I hope someone will convey this to the authors.
Regards
Sheraz

[Marco Gilardetti]

Well put Marco. And to "add insult to injury", here in the UK we ALSO have to pay an administration charge of about $10 for the privilege of being charged import duty!

Same here, mate... Same here.

And should they decide to contact you in advance and ask information about the goods and their respective value (it happens completely at random, even in case the duty form was perfectly filled by the sender) they also charge you an additional 7€ for registered mail!

[shoshani]

There's no day that God sends on earth that I don't wonder how is it possible that after two decades of the so called "globalisation", medieval stuff like the duty may still exist. I acknowledge that it may remotely have some sense with stock commercial trades, but when it comes to the single private citizen buying a book (or old used goods even more so) it has no reason to exist at all any longer, if it ever did.

Indeed, while import duty was originally devised to protect local manufacturers, it makes no sense when the product being imported is not manufactured in the destination country. (Books may indeed be printed in the destination country, but not the particular books being imported, so it's not like local trade is going to be hurt by someone bringing in what isn't produced there.)

Imagine having to pay import duty on an acoustic gramophone manufactured a century ago by a company that no longer exists, in a country where nothing of the sort has been manufactured in decades - and yet it happens. Fie.

[OrthoFan]

Do you pay import duties, etc., on gifts such as book sent to you from overseas? Just a thought....

OrthoFan

[Sterling]

"I also have similar issues with the book series by Fabrizio and Paul, which are no longer imported in continental Europe after the brexit craze. I know that I shall order them before they're out of print, but the unacceptable cost of duties constantly refrain me from doing so."


It's not my intention to get boringly political - but I need to point out the obvious, that both the EU and EU are hugely protectionist and selfish trading blocs - to the exclusion and sufferance of poorer, weaker nations. Unfortunately Brexit was both symptom and victim of this protectionism...

[Marco Gilardetti]

Do you pay import duties, etc., on gifts such as book sent to you from overseas? Just a thought....

As I understand things, tagging "gift" will not exempt anyone from paying VAT and eventually duties over the value of the goods, it only exempts the sender and the receiver from producing all the documents that are usually required in international commercial trades. There is a threshold (it was 22€, not sure if it was changed lately) below wich VAT/duties are generally not charged, but officers can anytime open the packet and evaluate the value of the contents at their own will, and charge accordingly if the declared value is reputed to be incorrect.

It's not my intention to get boringly political - but I need to point out the obvious, that both the EU and EU are hugely protectionist and selfish trading blocs - to the exclusion and sufferance of poorer, weaker nations. Unfortunately Brexit was both symptom and victim of this protectionism...

All countries of the world have duties as far as I know, they were not invented by EU and are not EU specific. The brexit had perhaps some reasons to occurr, but I'm afraid none of them was even remotely linked to the desire of being more generous and caring of "poorer" populations, "weaker" foreigners, "suffering" immigrants, refugees and alike.