Free Manual SitesRalph David Miller, AA4DFVendors aXXXXXXXXa and mXXXXXXXXXXs sure have huge inventories, don't they?(per eBay rules, vendor names are censored in this public communication.)(Links to the free download sites where unscrupulous vendors acquire "their" manuals are below the next three paragraphs.)Please be advised that "their" manuals were acquired from and are available for downloading free of charge from K4XL's BAMA, the manufacturer's web sites, and the LOGSA military manuals distribution site. We would not normally even consider selling free internet downloads, but over a thousand freely downloadable PDF and DJVU manuals are being sold by the "CD mills" 'mXXXXXXXXXXs' (for $1.49 to 9.99 EACH with an additional $1.49 to 9.99 'shipping and handling' for EACH), and by 'aXXXXXXXXa', who takes a few moments to renumber the pages, do a little bookmarking, and then write an extremely effective advertisement claiming "very high resolution". If you look at individual pages you will see that aXXXXXXXXa is providing only the same free internet downloaded material, blatantly lying about specifications and charging entirely unjustifiable fees for such material. The folks who originally created these manuals meant them to be distributed at no cost, or at most only for distribution costs.As original PDF producers ourselves, many of which we sell on CD and/or by FTP from our web sites (see www.aa4df.com), Jill and I have an understanding and appreciation of the amount of effort involved in creating electronic manuals. We believe the wishes of the fellows creating these PDFs for free or at most cost-based distribution should be respected. Therefore, as we find the various sites where mXXXXXXXXXXs and aXXXXXXXXa download the material they sell, we obtain the material and add it to the one-cent listings (note added 03/10/08: eBay upped it to $1 listings) of what we call our 'leech response division'. We do this not because we consider ourselves qualified to sit in judgement over mXXXXXXXXXXs, aXXXXXXXXa, or anyone else, but the simple fact is that mXXXXXXXXXXs and aXXXXXXXXa are also reselling and claiming as their own product many things that Jill and I created. As long as they do that, we will very actively undersell their entire inventory. If mXXXXXXXXXXs and aXXXXXXXXa ever attain the wisdom to stop distributing our original products then Jill and I will go back to selling only what we've created ourselves, and mXXXXXXXXXXs and aXXXXXXXXa will be able to go back to charging unknowing buyers whatever they want to for free internet downloaded material... therefore, we sincerely recommend you become familiar with some of the free manual distribution sites instead of paying anyone (including us) for such material. A few of the free distribution sites where mXXXXXXXXXXs and aXXXXXXXXa download the material they claim they produce themselves are: Our own free downloads area: Here's a relatively new one that deserves your support: A very large part of mXXXXXXXXXXs' and aXXXXXXXXa's "leeched" inventories are items they downloaded from the Agilent/HP factory support site: Another very large part of mXXXXXXXXXXs' and aXXXXXXXXa's "leeched" inventories are items they downloaded from the Tektronix factory support site: ICOM Manuals are available for free right from ICOM: All those military manuals that "leech" and "marketing" vendors like aXXXXXXXXa and mXXXXXXXXXXs use to trick up their 'volume counts' came from: Here are a number of test equiment manuals, though most items are for computer equipment: Fluke and Wavetek free manuals that the "leeches" download and charge big bucks for are at: And of course there's the BAMA mirror at: And K4XL's BAMA: More download sites: http://www.zen22142.zen.co.uk/schematics.htm We would gladly tell buyers about this in eBay item descriptions of our 'leech response division', but unfortunately eBay does not allow vendors to mention sources of free material in the item descriptions. I imagine this is to prevent lawsuits that would undoubtably appear if any copyrighted material were to be transferred from such sites because of a URL in an eBay description. I feel they can't be blamed for protecting themselves, although it's unfortunate because it does permit unscrupulous vendors such as mXXXXXXXXXXs, aXXXXXXXXa and other such "CD mills" to rip off other vendors, their buyers, and original document producers who are providing the material at no charge or at cost. Thanks for taking the time to read this and become aware of some of the dirty dealing going on in the world of scanned manuals, where any sharp operator with a CD burner cuts themselves in for a 'piece of the pie', at great cost to everyone else involved, including buyers. Buyers take their biggest loss in the fact that original document producers leaving the field entirely because of the activities of mXXXXXXXXXXs, aXXXXXXXXa and other such "leeches" are the main reason there are so many pieces of equipment you can't find documentation for at any price. If you'd like to be a part of solving this problem, just talk about it to your friends and associates. The parasites that erode the scanned manuals field depend on buyers being unaware of the facts... so if someone mentions the word "documentation" or "manual", please jump on in and let them know "what's up", and please pass the list of free manuals sources around... post it at your club, put it on your web site, mention it at meetings. If you know of a URL that should be on the free sources list, let us know and we'll post it. Thanks again for your time! -Dave Miller, AA4DF, and |