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Books not for sale in certain countries?
- Thread starter Darren
- Start date
savage_henry
kickbox
I would be willing to bet that this is the same thing as the Region Encoding in the Home Theater World. Only, you can't make it so that people in other regions cannot read it.
Mike
Mike
I think it is because the USA and Canada have their own publishing houses that re-publish the book originally published in England. You'll notice that the same title often doesn't have the same cover in England and in the United States: different publishing houses...
The main reason is probably monetary but also sometimes they modify the title for the american readers, like "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" in UK becomes "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" in the USA (don't ask me why!). The most funny anecdote about this practice is a book by David Lodge called "How Far Can you go" (humoristic novel about young catholics wondering how far they can go with the opposite sex before marriage) that became "Souls and Bodies" in the USA: they feared that the Americans would confuse the novel with a "how to" (self-help) book...
I hope I answered your question, at least partially...
The main reason is probably monetary but also sometimes they modify the title for the american readers, like "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" in UK becomes "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" in the USA (don't ask me why!). The most funny anecdote about this practice is a book by David Lodge called "How Far Can you go" (humoristic novel about young catholics wondering how far they can go with the opposite sex before marriage) that became "Souls and Bodies" in the USA: they feared that the Americans would confuse the novel with a "how to" (self-help) book...
I hope I answered your question, at least partially...
savage_henry
kickbox
There are 5 regions to the world. North America and Europe are Regions 1 and 2 (I Think) What is available to rent or buy in one is not necesarily available in the other. In very few cases, are there worldwide releases on the same day of anything. I thnk the movie studios and distributers think they can make more money if the sell the rights to a film to different companies across the globe. I hope Darren can shed a little more light on this as well b/c he is a member of the same Home Theater Forum as I.
You are welcome for confusing you more.
Mike
You are welcome for confusing you more.
Mike
Darren
Active Member
When DVDs were introduced, they were made with the ability to encode the digital data. Hollywood insisted that different areas of the world have different regions so that they could regulate when films were introduced.
Traditionally, North America gets the release several months before Europe and Australasia. The film viewed in the European cinema has already been viewed in the USA. It is washed and then flown over to Europe for distribution in our cinemas - keeps the costs down. It would be no good if the film was on DVD in America and at the Cinemas in Europe. People would buy the film from America rather than watch it in the cinema and the film companies would lose money. So the world was carved up into regions:-
0 No Region Coding
1 United States of America, Canada
2 Europe, including France, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Arabia, Japan and South Africa
3 Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo and Indonesia
4 Australia and New Zealand, Mexico, the Carribean, and South America
5 India, Africa, Russia and former USSR countries
6 Peoples Republic of China
7 Unused
8 Airlines/Cruise Ships
If you buy a DVD player, it is supposed to only play DVDs available in your zone. However, you can buy "chipped" players capable of playing all zones. I've got a chipped player so can watch DVDs from any county in the world
Great for a film buff like me.
Thankfully, they can't do that with books (although they may try with electonic books - who knows?). Titles are often released eariler in the US than in Europe, but with the net, you can order stuff from anywhere really so it becomes less of a problem.
Marie, I've also noticed that there are different covers for books depending on the country. The US often has very different covers to the European releases. I may add some of this info to our new library reviews system which will be available soon.
And why was Harry Potter's title changed to "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" anyway?
Traditionally, North America gets the release several months before Europe and Australasia. The film viewed in the European cinema has already been viewed in the USA. It is washed and then flown over to Europe for distribution in our cinemas - keeps the costs down. It would be no good if the film was on DVD in America and at the Cinemas in Europe. People would buy the film from America rather than watch it in the cinema and the film companies would lose money. So the world was carved up into regions:-
0 No Region Coding
1 United States of America, Canada
2 Europe, including France, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Arabia, Japan and South Africa
3 Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo and Indonesia
4 Australia and New Zealand, Mexico, the Carribean, and South America
5 India, Africa, Russia and former USSR countries
6 Peoples Republic of China
7 Unused
8 Airlines/Cruise Ships
If you buy a DVD player, it is supposed to only play DVDs available in your zone. However, you can buy "chipped" players capable of playing all zones. I've got a chipped player so can watch DVDs from any county in the world
Great for a film buff like me.Thankfully, they can't do that with books (although they may try with electonic books - who knows?). Titles are often released eariler in the US than in Europe, but with the net, you can order stuff from anywhere really so it becomes less of a problem.
Marie, I've also noticed that there are different covers for books depending on the country. The US often has very different covers to the European releases. I may add some of this info to our new library reviews system which will be available soon.
And why was Harry Potter's title changed to "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" anyway?
Ell
Well-Known Member
Sorcerer's Stone/Philosopher's Stone
The HP books were released as "HP and the Philosopher's Stone" worldwide, including Europe and Canada, but as "...Sorcerer's Stone" only in the US.
From what I've read on various HP sites, the name "Sorcerer's Stone" was chosen specifically for the US because publishers didn't think American children would relate to "Philosopher's Stone". No matter that it totally changed the author's intended meaning. Another case of dumbing down to the masses.
Unfortunately, I've noticed more Canadian book stores carrying the books with the "Sorcerer's" title. Hard to help, I guess, because of the proximity to our southern neighbours and the deluge of US advertising for the movie using the title "Sorcerer's Stone".
The HP books were released as "HP and the Philosopher's Stone" worldwide, including Europe and Canada, but as "...Sorcerer's Stone" only in the US.
From what I've read on various HP sites, the name "Sorcerer's Stone" was chosen specifically for the US because publishers didn't think American children would relate to "Philosopher's Stone". No matter that it totally changed the author's intended meaning. Another case of dumbing down to the masses.
Unfortunately, I've noticed more Canadian book stores carrying the books with the "Sorcerer's" title. Hard to help, I guess, because of the proximity to our southern neighbours and the deluge of US advertising for the movie using the title "Sorcerer's Stone".
Sorcerer's Stone/ Philosopher's Stone
From what I understood, it is not only the title that changed but also part of the contents: they removed the British English words or expressions, probably for the same reason that you mentioned, Ell. I've only read the American version so I don't know exactly the extent of the changes.
English is not my mother-tongue and when I come across a word or expression that I haven't read/heard before, I learn. I expect children do the same, so this transforming the initial material into something they can "relate" to is really stupid (and they wonder why American children don't know much about the rest of the world, maybe opening up begins with putting up with British English in Harry Potter...). But that's only my opinion...
From what I understood, it is not only the title that changed but also part of the contents: they removed the British English words or expressions, probably for the same reason that you mentioned, Ell. I've only read the American version so I don't know exactly the extent of the changes.
English is not my mother-tongue and when I come across a word or expression that I haven't read/heard before, I learn. I expect children do the same, so this transforming the initial material into something they can "relate" to is really stupid (and they wonder why American children don't know much about the rest of the world, maybe opening up begins with putting up with British English in Harry Potter...). But that's only my opinion...