Sharing unshareable Kindle books?

[Marionnette]

Give it a few years and the publishing industry will drop the DRM the same as the music industry did on iTunes. It's just too restrictive and eventually they will work out that it's hurting rather than helping them.

As a PP mentioned, stripping the DRM can very easily be done so the file can be shared, just do a quick Google search, but it is illegal. On a board where people happily brag about their scrapper Disney pin purchases (because pin trading shouldn't be so expensive, dang it!), the censure against removing the DRM from books strikes me as entertaining.

Stick around and be entertained. You would be surprised at how many people on this board actually have a moral compass.

 

[MrsPete]

Remember that e-readers are still a fairly new item, and they're still altering our buying habits. In addition, authors, publishers and bookstores haven't really settled into this new style of reading yet -- I think we'll still see changes ahead.

Personally, almost all the Kindle books I buy ARE cheaper than their DTB counterparts. Even if they aren't cheaper up-front, I personally am willing to pay slightly more for an electronic version because I much prefer to read on the lightweight Kindle than in a traditional book. Then, after the book is read, I don't have to store the book on a bookshelf (which are always in short supply), I don't have to dust it, and when I move or travel I don't have to tote heavy books. I see more value in the convenience of e-versions.

I do think the limitations on book lending need some tweeking. Some publishers don't allow it at all, which is too strict a policy. Even if you can lend the book, it can only be lent once, which is also too strict a policy. On the other hand, unlimited lending is unfair to the author (because people would lend to strangers on the internet, and it would cut into the author's sales).

 

[RitaE]

Stick around and be entertained. You would be surprised at how many people on this board actually have a moral compass.

Not me. I refuse to keep buying the same items over and over as technology changes. I don't keep the DRM on anything I buy and then I back it up and store it on my own system and don't trust the vendor "cloud systems." No moral compass I guess.

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

Ebooks were cheaper for a while, when Apple and Amazon were setting the prices. Then there was some sort of lawsuit or something with the publishing industry and now the publishers set the prices. I may not be describing that accurately, it was a few years ago and I can't remember the details any more.

Actually you can blame Apple for the increase in prices; Agency pricing didn't appear until Apple started iBooks and the iPad. Steven Jobs cooked up the whole Agency Pricing scheme with the Bog 6 publishers in order to keep Amazon from pricing their ebooks cheaper than Apple wanted to.

As for the OP, If you trust your friend, you can register her Kindle on your account long enough for her to read whatever book you want to share. With the newer Kindles, the ebook will disappear off the device as soon as she re-registers back to her account

 

[bpesch]

I've found that the Kindle books I've gotten have actually been cheaper because so far all I've gotten is free books and two $.99 sequels. There are a ton of free ebooks on Amazon. I check every day and so far have had plenty to read that interests me.

 

[vicki_c]

Actually you can blame Apple for the increase in prices; Agency pricing didn't appear until Apple started iBooks and the iPad. Steven Jobs cooked up the whole Agency Pricing scheme with the Bog 6 publishers in order to keep Amazon from pricing their ebooks cheaper than Apple wanted to.

As for the OP, If you trust your friend, you can register her Kindle on your account long enough for her to read whatever book you want to share. With the newer Kindles, the ebook will disappear off the device as soon as she re-registers back to her account

Thank you. I knew I didn't have that exactly right!

 

[dhardawa]

Not me. I refuse to keep buying the same items over and over as technology changes. I don't keep the DRM on anything I buy and then I back it up and store it on my own system and don't trust the vendor "cloud systems." No moral compass I guess.

Add me in to the "no moral compass" group too then! I do the exact same thing. All my ebooks are stripped of encryption and saved on my hard drive. And the idea of giving my Nook to my daughter to read a book. HAHAHAHAHA!!! I paid $47 for her Kindle. If she loses it or breaks it, I'm not out that much. She isn't getting my Nook. Not to mention, there are things on my Nook she has no business having access to at 12.

 

[Ginny Favers]

I get pretty upset when I see people who are willing to pay upwards of $5 for a Starbucks that will last them 30 minutes, who refuse to pay $10 for a book that will last them a heck of a lot longer than that.

People seem to think they're not hurting anyone. Well, the average advance an author receives is $5000. That's for something they worked on ALL YEAR. Only a very very small percentage of authors "make a living" at writing. They're being paid less than minimum wage already, and the only way they can get paid more is by earning out that advance and subsequently collecting royalties on books sold. I get a very small percentage of sales going toward my advance, which equals maybe a dollar per book-- so most authors never manage to earn out that $5,000 advance.

People think working around paying the price for an ebook is like taking a book out of a library. NO. Libraries pay the author for the use of the book.

Other people seem to think only a few use pirating websites, but the unfortunate thing is that I've had thousands of dollars of revenue taken out of my pocket by pirates. I've had my books shared illegally many more times over than books I've actually sold. I probably could have paid for several Disney vacations with the money that has been stolen from me.

And so even the idea of doing anything other than either using the library, or paying for the book, really irks me.

 

[Disneefun]

I think that most people know that piracy is wrong and most people on this thread aren't engaging in it in the sense that they aren't paying for the book at all, and/or are posting/getting copies from pirate sites.

What I, and many people, take issue with is the DRM on a book I paid for that locks me into a certain retailers format. I deeply resent the fact that I will pay $15 for a book and then, if one day I switch from Kindle to Sony or BN, I'll have to rebuy that book -- unless I'm willing to crack the DRM.

When I buy a paper book, I can read it anywhere, any time. Thirty years from now I can still read that book. If you stick with DRM'd books, that's not the case. You'll have to rebuy that book every time you change formats. That, or resort to having "no moral compass" and cracking the DRM.

Publisher's Weekly had an interesting article on this this week. Apparently TOR has decided to do away with DRM b/c they found that it was hurting them more than helping. Lo and behold, their ebook sales are more robust now than when they had the DRM. Turns out, customers appreciate a publisher that isn't bent on restricting their use of the books they paid for (who'da thunk, right?) and are willing to pay for books that they can use in any format. Other publishers are slowly coming to that realization, as well.

They mentioned that publishers are discovering that DRM doesn't stop piracy (who'da thunk that, either) and that people who are bent on pirating and stealing will do it no matter what (even if they have to resort to scanning or retyping books). But if you give paying customers the freedom to do what they want with the books they paid for, they're much more likely to buy the books rather than stealing them, or making it easier for others to steal them.

Big news: When people don't feel like they're getting screwed, they are more likely to do the right thing.

Piracy is one thing, navigating around excessive and unfair restrictions imposed by DRM is another. I won't advocate piracy, but if someone has paid for a book, I will advocate that they should be allowed to read it on/in any format and lend it to others, just as they might a paper book.

 

[arthuruscg]

In other words, I bought it, I own it, I will do what ever I want with it.

DRM is a PIA, if I buy anything with DRM, the first thing i do is strip it off.

I do agree with DRM but the implication of it is causing people to hate everyone associated with it. This is including the LABEL and the AUTHOR.

Disney is just as bad. The "digital" movie copy doesn't play on (vanilla) Androids. I am forced to strip it off and recode it so i can watch it on my Android.
It takes only 2 seconds to figure out that it is easier for people to grab a file that someone else has already done the work.

 

[arthuruscg]

Oh, The first thing I would do with a Kindle is unlock, root and load a stock (vanilla) Android OS. But if anyone is looking to get a Kindle, get a Google Nexus7 instead. The product is far superior.

 

[jgates]

Ok - since I seem to have created quite a controversy here - all I wanted to do was loan one friend my Harlequin Intrigues like I have always done in paperback - my next question is -

What is an easy way for her to link her kindle to my account to read some of my books once she has completed the one she is trying to read that she downloaded to her own account. I am intelligent & I am sure I can find it, but I would rather hear it from someone who has done it 'hands on' - in other words 'Changing your Kindles e-mail address for Dummies' or something like that.

Do I go to the 'my account' on her kindle & deregister it and then register it to another e-mail address (being my e-mail address)?

Will it then keep the same 'name' such as mine being Jenny & hers being Jane so I can then go into my Amazon account & tell it to send one of my books to 'Jane's Kindle' vs. 'Jennys Kindle'??

And would it then stay on her kindle until she unregisters it from my e-mail & back to her e-mail?

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

I'm not sure what Kindle model your friend has but these instructions should work for them all.

To register her Kindle to your account you would go to Menu>Settings>Registration and then type in your Amazon information.

Like I said in a PP, you have to trust her in order to do this because she will have the ability to purchase books using your account.

After you register her Kindle to your account and go to "Manage Your Kindle" on Amazon it will say something like "jgates 2nd Kindle" next to it. You can then send books to her.

If she has a newer Kindle (the $79 one, Touch model or Fire) any of her books that she has on her Kindle when she registers to your account will disappear from her device. They will still be available in her account so she can get them back when she re-registers to her account. The same thing will happen to your books once she de-registers from your account (any of your books will disappear).

If she has a Kindle3/Kindle Keyboard or older model then the books will not disappear when you do this.

Either way I would have her manually send your books back to archive when she is done reading them. Some books can only be on 6 devices at a time and I am not sure you would get the reading rights back for that device if she just de-registers from your account. You probably would but just to be on a safe side it would be better for her to delete them off her device before changing accounts.

 

[jgates]

Thank you - that should work. She is my bff & about the most honest person you could ever meet in your life. So I trust her to do this - in fact I think I'm the one that has to pull her plug if something happens to her too lol!! If she accidentally buys something on mine, she will let me know.

I know she is reading a book right now that she purchased, so when she gets done with that we can try it out. I don't need any of these back - I only ever read them one time. And if she wants to just order under my ID she can & she will just pay me for them vs. changing registration periodically.

Both of these are Fires.