Nothing funny about feldspar

We’re planning a drive cross-country this summer, and I’m getting ready by ripping CD books onto my laptop. I got these books from the Library.

Now, on a morality scale, this seems pretty bad. I mean, I didn’t pay (other than the library millage) for this book, and I’m taking the data with me when I give the book back to the library.

I rationalize this to being able to listen to the book at my pace, instead of being only part way finished with it when it’s due to be returned. In addition, the library’s property will be safer in my house (or the library, after being quickly returned) than in a van full of people and stuff going to the west coast and back. Plus, it’s likely I won’t ever listen to the book again. I’m not a big rereader, even of paper-based books.

So how bad is bad? The books I rip are usually ones I’d never read otherwise. Isn’t it preferable for the author to be read at all?