I am Frustrated with KINDLE!

[NotUrsula]

Unfortunately that isn't the case, though I am not surprised. What they really failed to learn is that offering a legitimate alternative to piracy will cut down on it. Yes, there are people who will never buy your book and will just pirate it, but that isn't a lost sale anyway. As of right now, I can guarantee you I can find a text version of any of the books you are looking for that can be ported to the Kindle for free. Instead of offering the book for sale it either gets pirated or not purchased at all.

This is the main lesson that the music industry learned and I would have hoped the movie, game, and publishing industry would have learned from the music industry. I guess they will just make the same mistakes all over again.

There's one other issue, though. So far, all of the hardware platforms being offered for leisure reading are proprietary. That adds another layer that isn't present in the music industry (though it is in the video game industry.)

Libraries are very natural partners for the publishers when it comes to eBooks, but the makers of the hardware are attempting to either box us on a single platform, or keep us out of the loop altogether (heads up, company named after a river.) We are willing to pay more for circulation rights, but they won't give us a platform that our patrons can universally use, which puts us at an impasse.

Having worked with it in science journals for years now, I can tell you that the best universal format for eBooks from a consumer POV is DRM-free PDF. Are you going to get hardware mfrs to go for that, especially now that Apple has skin in the game? Not bloodly likely.

The REAL problem is that publishers AND hardware mfrs. are enraptured with the idea that they FINALLY can stamp out the legal loophole that has been the bane of their existence since Gutenberg: the First-Sale Doctrine. This golden apple of commerce has been gleaming in the distance since Edison patented the wire recording, but patent law gets in the way. While the content itself is protected for 70 years past the death of the creator, the exclusive market rights to the device that accesses the content expires in 20 years from patent filing. Therefore, the magic golden apple is the hardware, because if you make absolutely sure that the format becomes obsolete within 20 years, then the copyright holder gets to sell the content all over again. This makes the publishers completely beholden to the hardware mfrs. in a way that they never were with books, which require no device other than the human eye to read.

 

[FireDancer]

There's one other issue, though. So far, all of the hardware platforms being offered for leisure reading are proprietary. That adds another layer that isn't present in the music industry (though it is in the video game industry.)

Libraries are very natural partners for the publishers when it comes to eBooks, but the makers of the hardware are attempting to either box us on a single platform, or keep us out of the loop altogether (heads up, company named after a river.) We are willing to pay more for circulation rights, but they won't give us a platform that our patrons can universally use, which puts us at an impasse.

Having worked with it in science journals for years now, I can tell you that the best universal format for eBooks from a consumer POV is DRM-free PDF. Are you going to get hardware mfrs to go for that, especially now that Apple has skin in the game? Not bloodly likely.

The REAL problem is that publishers AND hardware mfrs. are enraptured with the idea that they FINALLY can stamp out the legal loophole that has been the bane of their existence since Gutenberg: the First-Sale Doctrine. This golden apple of commerce has been gleaming in the distance since Edison patented the wire recording, but patent law gets in the way. While the content itself is protected for 70 years past the death of the creator, the exclusive market rights to the device that accesses the content expires in 20 years from patent filing. Therefore, the magic golden apple is the hardware, because if you make absolutely sure that the format becomes obsolete within 20 years, then the copyright holder gets to sell the content all over again. This makes the publishers completely beholden to the hardware mfrs. in a way that they never were with books, which require no device other than the human eye to read.

While all of that may be true to the consumer who doesn't know any better there are converters out there that will allow anyone to take a .txt file (of which you can find almost any book if you know where to look ), convert them to a a mobi file, and load them on the reader. I don't know of anyone who enjoys the way PDFs look on the Kindle but I've seen converted .txt files and they look pretty darn good.

It takes away the whispernet convenience in some cases but the more the manufacturers lock down the devices the more people out there make it a point to find workarounds for us.

I completely agree that the devices are pretty anti-consumer but the tech-savvy consumer can take some of the control back if they are willing to put in a little time. As they continue to find new formats software engineers will find ways of making converters.

 

[daisax]

I figure even if the formats change completely in the next 10 years, at that point I'll be ready to buy the product of whoever "wins" for probably less money than I paid for my kindle, and in the meantime, I get books in a couple of minutes for $9 that I would have had to pay $20-$30 for (or wait 8 months for the paperback).

Works for me! (And there's tons of free and really cheap content, so with some amazon gift cards I got from Santa, I was able to really go on a shopping spree, and still have $ on account to spare)

I also continue to use my local library and pick up impulse books at the book store and used book store. And my library's book sale is coming up in a few weeks, and I just can't resist the lure of $1 books!

 

[MsDisney23]

Dawn, books on tape!

 

[Octoberbride03]

This is one of the many reasons I prefer real books.

Darling do you know how much room you and Roarke are taking up in my bedroom As much as I love reading your exploits from cover to cover, when I finally have the extra money it is off to the kindle i go I still promise to read you all the time though.

 

[EveDallas]

Darling do you know how much room you and Roarke are taking up in my bedroom As much as I love reading your exploits from cover to cover, when I finally have the extra money it is off to the kindle i go I still promise to read you all the time though.

LOL I always get a kick out of it when someone gets my screen name