Copyright Schmopyright... at what shaggin point?

I own 2 of his books - I think Shots, Move, & Strategies and the 3 cushion book. Nicely bound books, decent information at the time when I paid like $30 or so for each, but I certainly wouldn't pay more than $100 for any book on pool, certainly not $200 - $500, I rarely find enough useful information in the book to justify it and am not a collector. But that's just me.

I also paid Eddie either $50 or $60 for a pre-order of what was supposed to be a new 3 cushion book in similar vein to Shots, Moves, & Strategies, where 5 - 6 top 3 cushion players would weigh in on the best shots in certain situations and why, plus systems etc. Would have been great, had it ever been finished and published. It was not, c'est la vie for my investment...

But as Blackjack said, no one is getting rich publishing pool material, so while I've certainly attained my share of music and movies through nefarious means, I think the price of pool-related books, DVDs, etc. are worth it to keep the sharing of information flowing.

Scott
 
Sigh. My suggestion would be to shop around and you may find the books available from someone at a cheaper price. Supply {few} and demand {many} are what make the prices what they are. I fortunately bought mine when they came out. That said, I bought a copy of Rags to Rifleman on Ebay for $35.00. The cost for this is high now and for the life of me I don't understand why. While it's an interesting read, it's very poorly printed and I had a hell of a time reading it. If someone sells something for a high price then others will try to do the same, no matter what you think it's worth to you.
 
Couldn't you make the same argument about high end cues?

I'd love to read these books that cost 200+ as well, but i wouldn't want to buy one. I don't know why they didn't publish more.
 
Does anyone have a definitive answer as to why the books were never reprinted? Does Eddie not own the rights?
 
Black-Balled said:
Does anyone have a definitive answer as to why the books were never reprinted? Does Eddie not own the rights?
Click to expand...

I would like to see it Kindled.
I got both mine from Grady, God rest him.

The stories alone are worth the original price.
 
It's 2014 and people still want you to pay $400 for a book? They keep a straight face when saying so.

The entire business model for American pool is epic failure, with pricing a key component.

Steal, copy, stream, replicate, file share. Do it now.
 
tommyceilings said:
We have a small library, someone did that here, and it's not funny to do that.
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I called my library today and the librarian said that there was only one library that would allow it to be sent through inter-library loan. I'm gonna assume it's because it poses a high flight risk due to its disproportionately high selling price. Libraries can't charge you more than replacement cost for "lost" items, and if the book doesn't have an established retail price it's pretty hard for them to make a case that it's worth whatever booksellers are asking for it.

So, I gave the librarian my info and told her to try to get me that one. When it comes I'm gonna just keep it and tell them I lost it, so if anybody wants a photocopy, I'm only asking....

JK
 
Sloppy Pockets said:
That's a pretty good price compared to what others on Amazon are asking for it.

Tempting, tempting...
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Amazon is a lousy place to determine prices of out of print books. Ebay is better but it takes a lot of work. The price Eddie is offering SM&S for on Ebay is close to the lowest you will see unless a seller has no idea about what they have. W1P might show up at $150 to $200.

I have extras of both books.
 
I was fortunate enough to be stationed near a One Pocket town (Seattle) when these books came out in the mid-90's. I bought them for $50.00 apiece.

Anyone who thinks these books are mediocre, I'd definitely like to see them identify a book on One Pocket that is better than either one of these books.

It would take hours and hours of lessons to equal the core concepts you learn from trying to guess the "best shot" in these books, plus there are numerous kicking systems in WOP.

Other One Pocket books I have seen show what the "generally" correct strategy is.. In these two books, the games are pro vs pro a lot of the time, and show that the game is played differently at that level. So, if you want to learn how to beat top talent, I haven't found any books better.

PLUS... The format of the diagrams beats anything else before and after. Eddie Robin basically came up with the gold standard for diagramming pool situations in an easily understandable way, IMHO.

Short Bus Russ - C Player
 
ShortBusRuss said:
I was fortunate enough to be stationed near a One Pocket town (Seattle) when these books came out in the mid-90's. I bought them for $50.00 apiece.

Anyone who thinks these books are mediocre, I'd definitely like to see them identify a book on One Pocket that is better than either one of these books.

It would take hours and hours of lessons to equal the core concepts you learn from trying to guess the "best shot" in these books, plus there are numerous kicking systems in WOP.

Other One Pocket books I have seen show what the "generally" correct strategy is.. In these two books, the games are pro vs pro a lot of the time, and show that the game is played differently at that level. So, if you want to learn how to beat top talent, I haven't found any books better.

PLUS... The format of the diagrams beats anything else before and after. Eddie Robin basically came up with the gold standard for diagramming pool situations in an easily understandable way, IMHO.

Short Bus Russ - C Player
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They are certainly better then most anything else out there on one pocket considering here is nothing else out there. His format is good and the content is not bad. People though have a mythical idea about the books that is not true. The biggest mistake with the books is the quality. The quality is just too good and the cost to produce a book like that is just too high.

It would be so much better if they were paper back and sold for like $19.95, available in every pool room. Then the books would achieve the purpose they were intended. To teach the game and spread the interest to anyone who wants to try to play one pocket. The books were self defeating from the start. It is time for him to do an updated version in a cheaper format that is affordable and available to everyone. I would like to see a Kindle book.
 
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macguy said:
They are certainly better then most anything else out there on one pocket considering here is nothing else out there. His format is good and the content is not bad. People though have a mythical idea about the books that is not true. The biggest mistake with the books is the quality. The quality is just too good and the cost to produce a book like that is just too high.

It would be so much better if they were paper back and sold for like $19.95, available in every pool room. Then the books would achieve the purpose they were intended. To teach the game and spread the interest to anyone who wants to try to play one pocket. The books were self defeating from the start. It is time for him to do an updated version in a cheaper format that is affordable and available to everyone. I would like to see a Kindle book.
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Furthermore, there is nothing else out there because these books are so expensive. Keeping knowledge as power to be paid for by the few hurts us all in the long run.

Is there a sport is the world that is as archaic as American pool? $4k bits of wood. $1k for box-shaped leather. $400 for a book. Erm, $50 for a DVD. :o

The pool consumer is crackers and nothing will ever change whilst we still buy into this philosophy. Competition is needed desperately.
 
TheThaiger said:
Furthermore, there is nothing else out there because these books are so expensive. Keeping knowledge as power to be paid for by the few hurts us all in the long run.

Is there a sport is the world that is as archaic as American pool? $4k bits of wood. $1k for box-shaped leather. $400 for a book. Erm, $50 for a DVD. :o

The pool consumer is crackers and nothing will ever change whilst we still buy into this philosophy. Competition is needed desperately.
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Archaic?
That's a fine term coming from Merry Olde.
The land that has hand-made cues that aren't symmetrical, directional
nap that guarantees a table plays crooked, and leather pockets that
spit out balls....all ideas that were not a good idea 100 years ago...
.....and still aren't.

Methinks your view of archaic is dyslexic.
 
These books are valuable because they are rare, not so much because of the words in them but because of limited supply. A copy of the script in them on a tablet would not have much monetary value nor would it devalue the original books.

I guess before you could "pirate" the contents of them you would need to have a hard copy to copy or a willing owner of one of them to allow you to copy in which case you could just read it. There in lies the rub. Good luck with that. Kind of a silly proposition.

JC
 
pt109 said:
Archaic?
That's a fine term coming from Merry Olde.
The land that has hand-made cues that aren't symmetrical, directional
nap that guarantees a table plays crooked, and leather pockets that
spit out balls....all ideas that were not a good idea 100 years ago...
.....and still aren't.

Methinks your view of archaic is dyslexic.
Click to expand...

Snooker appears to be a modern, progressive sport to me. Popular, too. And everything you need to know to play world class snooker can be found for free on the internet/Youtube.

No 'secrets' in snooker. No hiding places in snooker.
 
TheThaiger said:
Snooker appears to be a modern, progressive sport to me. Popular, too. And everything you need to know to play world class snooker can be found for free on the internet/Youtube.

No 'secrets' in snooker. No hiding places in snooker.
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Don't get me wrong, my first billiard love was snooker.
And the modern players are the best ever.

But side-mounted rails that require expensive steel-block options...
...just so they can hit as good as a 6x12 Gold Crown?
Eight-legged tables, where the weight is resting on maybe 5 of the legs?

When I hit a few on them now, it's like going back to a 186 computer
that still uses dos.

If I was to build an ideal billiard room, there would be snooker tables
in it....but not ANY that have ever been made up to now.
A top 3-cushion table would be my model...
...and the pockets would be from Diamond.
 
pt109 said:
Don't get me wrong, my first billiard love was snooker.
And the modern players are the best ever.

But side-mounted rails that require expensive steel-block options...
...just so they can hit as good as a 6x12 Gold Crown?
Eight-legged tables, where the weight is resting on maybe 5 of the legs?

When I hit a few on them now, it's like going back to a 186 computer
that still uses dos.

If I was to build an ideal billiard room, there would be snooker tables
in it....but not ANY that have ever been made up to now.
A top 3-cushion table would be my model...
...and the pockets would be from Diamond.
Click to expand...

So you'd make it easier? The whole point of snooker is saying "I couldn't do that". That NEVER happens on a pool table.

Not saying snooker tables cannot be better made, but there's not an overwhelming need to change them AFAIK. I'd quite like to have a go on one of the new Star tables, which all the pros rave about. I think club tables should have big bags, however, otherwise people just lose interest. I used to play on the table Cliff Thorburn made his Crucible maximum on, that was not pretty at all - high break, about 12. In a moment of great genius and clarity, that table is currently residing in landfill somewhere or other. :mad:
 
Donny Lutz said:
One must first have the $200 spare cash to buy the book.

Pool is more and more becoming a sport that denies access to those with low incomes. Sad in my opinion.
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Pool is the cheapest hobby/game/pastime I have ever participated in. Go try photography, racing of any kind or damn near anything else. The best players in the world compete with less than $1000 worth of equipment and some of them half that. Shane's entire set up may cost $300 retail.

You can play almost anywhere for $5 an hour or less if you go at the right times. One cue and one case will last you a lifetime. For $1500 you can buy a table that will do the same.

The problem is not that pool is not cheap enough for low incomes its that many people who play pool are cheap.
 
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