unique said:

udo said:

So you see the book as a form of copyprotection?
Where can we get Per's work for the followup of the Vault?
We could add to that and make editions of e.g. 5 years each?

well the book has been out for about 8 years and no pdf copy is known to circulate, which is likely because someone who has the book wouldn't spend so much time scanning umpteen pages to let other people download it for free, particularly not if they were one of the people who spent daft money buying it second hand. some people have said they would do it, but no-one has let it out yet, so all talk and no action

I have it but I ain't gonna scan it... not out of respect for Per (which I have), not because of what I paid (cost price) but because there ain't no way in hell that I'm gonna spend my evenings scanning & uploading 717 pages when I have better things to do with my time

If someone pays me a couple of hundred bucks, I'll scan my copy in

rudedog said:

If someone pays me a couple of hundred bucks, I'll scan my copy in

Charge people $20 and I bet you will make more than a couple hundred bucks off scanning those pages.

Spinlight said:

rudedog said:

If someone pays me a couple of hundred bucks, I'll scan my copy in

Charge people $20 and I bet you will make more than a couple hundred bucks off scanning those pages.

This is happening. I'm doing it this year.

udo said:

I did not intend tot rip off Per. I am looking for inroads to continue a project like The Vault with info on the years beyond what is in the Vault. (And possibly correcting the Vault.)

Why not get busy entering what you know here : http://prince.org/wiki/Princepedia

^Yeah! Something which takes on the amazing project that was The Vault! Hell, the internet opens great possibilities for stuff like that, you're right!

Let's start an updated internet version of The Vault!

I think it should be called the Prince-Vault. Wow, that would be ace.

unique said:

it was mentioned by gav on mousequake that per wouldn't sell reprints or a pdf version out of respect for those who have recently paid a lot of money for copies of the book

personally, for the sake of a minority of people who have bought second hand copies for a lot of money, who obviously had the money and made the personal choice to splash the cash, i would have thought selling a reprint would have been a good idea. whilst a pdf copy might be easily copied and pirated online, there are small print run options that could have been used instead, where the publisher holds a pdf file and prints individual copies of the publication per order. the books obviously aren't as cheap as most regular books, but they woulid be cheaper than the going rate for second hand copies and per would make a cut from it

as time goes on we are just getting closer and closer until someone scans the book and puts a pdf file online and it defeats pers current aims

1. The Vault (and all other Uptown books) are worthless as straight images, so you'd need to OCR the text -- and then correct the text. You'd also need to basically destroy a copy of the book to scan it, and you'd need a pretty damn good scanner, considering the font size.

2. IMHO what's really missing is an INDEX to these books. I'd love to just have all the "diary entries" where one particular song is discussed, or one artist, etc, so you can see the evolution -- but then you'd need to tag everything, and be very smart about this, i.e. when I want to read everything about The Time, I'd also need to get all the entries where Time-songs were recorded, even though such entries perhaps wouldn't mention The Time.

3. I mentioned "all books" above, because IIRC older books sometimes contain more detailed reports about concerts, etc. I'm also pretty sure the first Per Nilsen book contained far more pics of posters, tickets, etc. Older books do contain a lot of incorrect information, so that should be dealt with. Moreover, perhaps also articles from Uptown magazine can be added too.

4. Once you've done all that work, why not incorporate other sources? I've got the entire run of The Prince Family newsletters, and I'd love to see the information from there also incorporated: they often contain media reviews of CDs and gigs, but also fan reports etc. Other fan mags perhaps also contain "exclusive" information and pictures.

5. Updated information would also be nice.

I've actually got multiple copies of several Uptown books (so I'd have a copy for reading and perhaps one day scanning/OCR-ing), and one to store and treasure. I wish I'd had a second copy of The Vault, though.

But my main point: even just doing #1 would be a hell of a lot of work, and you'd need someone to sacrifice their copy of The Vault.

BartVanHemelen said:

But my main point: even just doing #1 would be a hell of a lot of work, and you'd need someone to sacrifice their copy of The Vault.

Then Per should do a re-print. I didn't have the cash back when The Vault was originally released, but I do now. I'd GLADLY pay for a new copy at the original price, as is (with no additions/updates to the material). I'm sure there are others who would do the same: we want the book and are more than willing to give Per our money, just not at e-bay prices.