While searching online I came across this website:
It looks legitimate but I’m a bit concerned before handing over my credit card details, and I’m not sure re the legitimacy of some of the books they’re offering for download.
Does anybody here use it and what do you think?
Thanks!
Here’s one review I’ve read of it (with an update here).
It has some very dodgy origins and there is plenty of copyrighted material put up there without permission. It seems to be getting away from that, but I wouldn’t trust they actually have the rights to sell the material they have up there.
Thanks for the answers, definitely need to give it some thought.
Scribd has $47.8 million in venture-capital financing with backing from some of the most respected investors in silicon valley like Marc Andreessen, David Sacks and YCombinator.
They are extremely legitimate.
The company itself is very legitimate, and I would not be any more afraid of giving them my CC number than giving it to any other largish e-commerce site.
That said, many of the users on scribd are, um, questionable, and yes, a lot of material gets uploaded there that is not free of copyright issues. Pretty much anybody can upload anything, and it shows.
You could think of Scribd as Youtube + Netflix, but for words.
So, like Youtube, anyone can upload anything, and that stuff is available ad-supported. And sometimes people upload things they should not.
Like Netflix, they have deals with publishers for certain works, and they collect subscription fees to access those works.