Is there a legal / not crazy expensive way to buy humble bundle books and get them printed on standard 8.5x11, bound in a series of binders / duotangs / twine? I'm going to buy the bundle, but greatly prefer physical pages to reading on a screen.
If you ask, some will even accept PDFs to print for you, so you can come back at a later time to pick up the finished binder/booklets.
Not sure if that's strictly legal, but many copy shops won't care and frankly, since you got the PDFs legally I don't really see the problem--in a pragmatic sense that is, going by copyright law, maybe. In some places you do have the right to transfer (copy) copyrighted stuff you have a license for (which is the case here) to another medium. But then you're not allowed to sell or give away that copy (not that anyone will check this ever, but it does make sense to have that as a rule).
That said, If you have a laser printer it is probably cheapest to print it yourself. Buy paper that already has the three holes in it for the binder.
Still probably near the price of buying the actual books.
Edit: And if you still want to have there be a bit of a charity tie-in, the Amazon smiles program smile.amazon.com has a lot of charitable organizations to choose from.
150 pages of binding at a Office Depot is $6 max if you already have the pages.
The list of charities that Amazon shows are from GuideStar USA which has compiled the information from the IRS, but this includes organizations which may not have registered and thus may never receive the donations.
See the section "Charitable Organizations that Do Not Register" here: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/chpf/pd/ref=smi_se_saas_lpd_spd
The best way appears to be to pretend you want to register that organization on Amazon's Org Central site[0] which shows which already registered. (An example search for Child's Play[1].)
As a shopper I do not believe Amazon makes this abundantly clear when you're selecting an organization. One thing to look for is the amount of information shown about the organization, specifically the incorporation year, as those that register have to fill out a profile.
According to the FAQ if a shopper selects an organization that is not registered and makes an eligible purchase they will track the donation. If the organization registers they'll get the donation, but if they have not after 2 years then Amazon will contact the shopper and give them 30 days to select a new charity. (I'm not sure if this then resets the 2 year clock or not.) If the shopper does not select a new organization then Amazon reallocates the donation across the registered organizations.
In any case the only way to be 100% sure is to inquire with the organization.
[1]: https://org.amazon.com/npo/search?q=Child%27s%20Play&p=1
I don't believe that is so clear cut. I think getting a ebook printed can be considered "format-shifting", which while somewhat gray area, leans towards the legal side.
I'm not sure if these books come with some additional licensing constraints that would trample fair-use format shifting, but based simply on copyright getting them printed might not be illegal.
IANAL etc.
The reality is, if you are not printing a lot of copies and selling them, you are probably OK.
At least in Germany, Austria and Switzerland it is completely legal (under some restrictions) if you do it for yourself. Here is the German Wikipedia article on this topic:
> https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Privatkopie&oldid...
I thought the paper felt a bit cheap and looked somewhat greyish. Although it might depend on the options you select.
But as far as the price goes, they're not expensive but for instance a 126 page book published there was $15.23 (ex. shipping) and you might want to check if the regularly available paperback is not cheaper than that.
It's absolutely great if you made something (wrote a book, or I dunno put your favourite sourcecode to PDF, whatever) with a load of pages and want to own it as a real paperback. There's something extra cool about turning something into an actual physical book :)
Looks like 450 pages, trade, 8x11 inces will run you about 20 USD with cheapest print/shipping combination (possibly with some added tax on top). (16 for printing, 4 for shipping - and this is for a single book - I assume shipping /book will be less if you order more than one book).
I haven't used them, but they were mentioned here a while back.
A quick google search turns up:
http://www.thebookpatch.com/#calculator (looks more expensive for single print runs) and of course good old: http://www.lulu.com/create/books (Appears to be somewhat cheaper).
So by pure material cost it can be done for 7 dollars (less if you have volume). But of course only if you have access to the equipment, nobody is selling it that cheap.
I read technical information slower and in shorter blocks of time, so being easy on the eyes like my Kindle isn't a requirement.