Active Users:429 Time:01/05/2025 05:18:52 PM
Back to Messageboard Post New Thread Search Help Stats Rules
Re: Amazon being so successful at controlling the ebook medium makes me uneasy. j-whitt987 Send a noteboard - 20/04/2011 07:41:00 PM
Setting aside my dislike of the ebook medium as a whole (suffice to say I don't like it or what it's doing to physical books!), the medium is too closely controlled by corporations.


Physical books will never go away. If for no other reason than it's easier to flip through books and read random passages in a bookstore.

When you buy a physical book, you own that book - or at least that copy of it. It is a physical object that enters into your complete control. You can give it away, borrow it, destroy it, break it down, preserve it, rebind it as you see fit.


You own a copy of every e-book you buy too. You can download multiple copies for backups (therefore preserving them), give your ereader away, delete your copies of the books, destroy the ereader, print them off after you figure out how. I'm sure it can be done, but I haven't tried personally.

The ebook industry, on the other hand, is a software/data driven one. And it is riddled with things like digital rights management, "purchases" that rely on continued support from the company you're licensing the text from, etc., etc.


You can remove DRM from e-books just like you can from DVDs and music CDs.

As nice as this development may seem, I view it as a corporation muscling in on local libraries under the guise of offering a nice service. It ends with a significant extra chunk of the book/publishing space under Amazon's control. And Amazon already has too much ownership over this space.


Amazon my have a huge chunk of the e-book market, but it's far from being so powerful that it'll ruin every bookstore out there.
Kirk: Spock, you want to know something? Everybody’s human.
Spock: I find that remark…insulting.
Reply to message
Amazon to Launch Library Lending for Kindle Books j-whitt987 - 20/04/2011 03:18:34 PM 1545 Views
Excellent news! Tigr - 20/04/2011 06:58:09 PM 894 Views
Paper books will not die for quite some time I'm sure. j-whitt987 - 20/04/2011 07:44:39 PM 972 Views
I guess it depends on what you mean by "death." Aemon - 21/04/2011 05:04:40 PM 1188 Views
Re: I guess it depends on what you mean by "death." j-whitt987 - 21/04/2011 05:40:28 PM 1044 Views
Re: I guess it depends on what you mean by "death." Aemon - 21/04/2011 06:04:16 PM 1359 Views
Of course an online bookshop is going to sell more e-books than physical books. Rebekah - 21/04/2011 06:14:51 PM 909 Views
That's exactly right. Aemon - 21/04/2011 06:34:28 PM 1198 Views
I'm talking about the "Amazon sold more e-books than physical books in 2010" argument. Rebekah - 21/04/2011 06:39:45 PM 1038 Views
I understand. Aemon - 21/04/2011 07:26:28 PM 1100 Views
Amazon being so successful at controlling the ebook medium makes me uneasy. lord-of-shadow - 20/04/2011 07:13:02 PM 967 Views
Also: Terrible news. Another nail in the coffin of physical books. *NM* lord-of-shadow - 20/04/2011 07:13:32 PM 533 Views
Not so much. *NM* Rebekah - 20/04/2011 07:39:17 PM 416 Views
A bit too melodramatic? Another blow to the desirable dominance of physical books, then. *NM* lord-of-shadow - 20/04/2011 10:24:20 PM 430 Views
No. I just don't think this spells the end of physical books at all. Rebekah - 21/04/2011 06:11:53 PM 883 Views
Assuming you're right, that will still wreck the business of physical books. Aemon - 21/04/2011 06:47:45 PM 1185 Views
I take perverse pleasure in watching the decline of physical books. Aemon - 21/04/2011 05:45:59 PM 1218 Views
You are right, of course. But all the rationalizing in the world doesn't make me happy about it. lord-of-shadow - 21/04/2011 05:57:12 PM 949 Views
Yeah, I hear you. Aemon - 21/04/2011 06:16:24 PM 1158 Views
Re: Amazon being so successful at controlling the ebook medium makes me uneasy. j-whitt987 - 20/04/2011 07:41:00 PM 973 Views
Considering you can print out an ebook, your argument is silly. Ghavrel - 21/04/2011 01:09:18 AM 894 Views
I'm not sure I understand how this works... A Deathwatch Guard - 20/04/2011 07:30:51 PM 1059 Views
Re: I'm not sure I understand how this works... j-whitt987 - 20/04/2011 07:43:19 PM 959 Views
You download them from the Internet using your library card as an ID. *NM* Ghavrel - 21/04/2011 01:07:54 AM 558 Views
What Ghavrel said, but... Cockatiel of Doom - 21/04/2011 03:14:07 AM 1112 Views
That's pretty cool then A Deathwatch Guard - 21/04/2011 06:25:03 AM 907 Views
Yes and no. Aemon - 21/04/2011 05:10:24 PM 1212 Views
Obviously none of you have used Overdrive. It's horrifically bad. Ghavrel - 21/04/2011 01:07:14 AM 933 Views
Never heard of it. *NM* j-whitt987 - 21/04/2011 01:08:00 AM 440 Views
It's an already existing library ebook service, and it's terrible. *NM* Ghavrel - 21/04/2011 02:19:25 AM 425 Views
What makes it terrible? *NM* j-whitt987 - 21/04/2011 02:20:12 AM 401 Views
The selection is awful, the interface is awkward, and it requires bizarre DRM installations. Ghavrel - 21/04/2011 02:40:55 AM 967 Views
I'm not a fan of the interface, either. Cockatiel of Doom - 21/04/2011 03:08:53 AM 1044 Views
I agree. *NM* everynametaken - 21/04/2011 01:35:12 AM 396 Views
To be fair, Overdrive's problems are software issues, and not inherent to the business model. Aemon - 21/04/2011 05:23:54 PM 1090 Views
I definitely agree; I'm just irritated they're sticking with Overdrive. Ebook libraries make sense. *NM* Ghavrel - 21/04/2011 07:14:38 PM 452 Views
Yeah. Aemon - 21/04/2011 07:31:24 PM 1164 Views
Will a borrowed Kindle book have "fuck" underlined when it appears? Tom - 22/04/2011 01:59:39 AM 961 Views
Better than it being written on the margins A Deathwatch Guard - 22/04/2011 05:27:12 AM 891 Views
Back to Messageboard Post New Thread Search Help Stats Rules

Reply to Message

Block Quote Paragraph Quote
Formatting
Smiley Codes