Re: Manuals on CD?

Oleg Lego wrote:

Anyone have any experience with the manuals on CD that are offered on
eBay? I am looking for a manual for my 2000 F-150, and there are
several vendors offering them.

If anyone has tried them, I'd appreciate comments.

Thanks,
Larry

I bought one from some guy who claimed it was the software used by dealers.

It was actually a bootleg copy of one of the Mitchell CD's with a warez crack to override the copyright protection, all burned onto a CDR with a paper label he printed on his home printer. It didn't even install correctly. Virtually ALL the ebay sellers selling manuals are selling stolen software and ebay does nothing about it.

You might find a PDF file for sale there too that may or may not be pirated, but is more often than not just a scan of a manual like a Claytons or Haynes. Read the seller's feedback before you buy. You can select 'view 200 on a page' at the bottom of the page in their feedback ratings. Scroll quickly through the page to find the red marks. If they mention things like stolen, bootleg, pirated or anything like that, avoid it.

Your truck is new enough that there are tons of honest resources for it at any auto parts store for a fairly low price. If it's not for sale at Kragen, Autozone or NAPA but IS all over ebay, it's probably stolen. Ebay sellers don't have 'exclusive buying rights' of anything. You don't think the big chains would turn down the chance to sell $5 or $10 CDs of complete service manuals if they were legal copies, do you? They'd make a fortune if it were legit.

When I asked the seller about what they sold me, they told me to ship it back and they'd give me a refund. I said it wasn't worth anything since it was stolen and didn't even work and they then threatened me. If you're willing to risk a virus to get pirated or stolen software for cheap (that you can download yourself from the warez newsgroups) go for it, but you might as well go to the warez groups and do it yourself and save the postage. Real software like Mitchell costs hundreds of dollars. If it's $10 software that they say is the "same software the dealer's use", it's probably cracked or stolen software copied onto a CDR. Ask the seller directly if it's Mitchell software they're offering for $5 or $10.


Good luck,
- JJ

.

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