Until some executive at Amazon decides to terminate Kindle services. Or change data formats,.
And then, you have nothing.
Kindle lets you rent access.
Physical books you own.
They’d be in a world of legal trouble if they did. I don’t foresee Amazon denying customers access to ebooks they’ve purchased unless Amazon itself goes under. Which is not impossible; but neither is it impossible that I could lose all my physical books to fire, flood, theft, etc.
I’m not worried about Amazon denying me access to content I’ve purchased from them, but if I were, I’d just make sure I kept copies on my computer or an external hard drive (and look for a way to break the DRM on those that had it).
All that aside, one undeniably nice thing about ebooks and ereaders is that they’ve made older, public-domain material (and some not-so-old) far more accessible than ever before. There’s a significant amount of stuff I’ve gotten free that I wouldn’t have gotten free, and maybe not had access to at all, if I insisted that all the books I read be in print.
And they were hear the screeching from all around the globe, face a huge public relations brouhaha, and have lawyers lining up to sue.
As far as renting, I paid once, I have the book. I don’t have to pay again next month to keep it available.
I strongly believe that you are correct and I also think that Kindles are a wonderful marketing strategy. They can sell one Kindle at a loss but know that for the most part, they have locked the buyer into buying e-books from them forever.
I did say “for the most part”. The only times I pay money for a book is when I want to support the writer or need another reference book that I have found useful. All other books come from the free public library.
Worst haiku ever.
Um…you have no idea what you’re talking about do you?
Every time you DL a book from Kindle, DL it to your Kindle for PC app on your desktop.
Then go to your /documents directory, look at the /my kindle content directory and there’s all your books. Copy them to some other source and nobody can ever take them away from you.
Not that they will, of course. The “taking them away from you” thing happened exactly one (1) time. Someone uploaded a pirated copy of 1984 and someone at Amazon freaked out and deleted it. The firestorm of hatemail Amazon got from it has dissuaded them from ever trying it again.
Please try to learn the very minimal basics about something before you start spreading ignorance.
Well, Amazon already did this once with 1984*. Yes, there was a lawsuit and Amazon pinky swore it wouldn’t do it again. But if you read further down in this article, you’ll see there several “exceptions” that allows Amazon to erase an ebook on your device (and not just Kindles but anything that uses the Kindle ereader program).
While Amazon isn’t going away anytime soon (unlike other online digital media “buying” systems like Walmart’s and others), they will eventually stop supporting old formats. So a DRMed ebook you buy today might not be readable on any new device in 20 years or so.
There is also the issue of passing on an ebook. Say giving it to a relative when you die or even just selling it when you longer want it. Many DRM systems tie the ebook to you.
You have to think in terms of “renting” an ebook rather than “buying” it.
- Of course 1984 would be the first big example of Amazon doing this. It had to.
Those exceptions all seem pretty common-sense to me.
And if I bought a physical book that was actually stolen property, couldn’t a court or regulatory body theoretically order me to give it up or have it taken away?
I’m betting that, if this happens, I’ll have enough warning that I can do something about it.
These are legitimate points about the value of ebooks vs. print books. IMHO they make ebooks worth less and should be reflected in the price. But there’s nothing underhanded or draconian about them.
No. As ivylass said, “I don’t have to pay again next month to keep it available.”
Buying digital content isn’t the same as buying a physical object, true. But as long as we’re not just getting access for a specific, limited period of time, it’s a lot more similar to other things we talk about buying—buying tickets to a show or concert or museum or amusement park, or buying membership to a club—than to things we talk about renting.
Until someone steals your book or your house burns down along with all that flammable material or come down with a nasty case of bookworms or you drop your book in your noodle soup.
I mean, if we’re playing the “make up worst case scenarios” game, it’s far more likely that your hard copy book will succumb to human error than that Amazon executives will randomly destroy their priceless Kindle ecosystem.
Truly, one of the greatest things about e-books is that you don’t have to figure out what to do with a hard copy of every book that might come into your possession. I mean sure the latest John Grisham might be a fun read, but you don’t have to keep it as an heirloom.
Note that there is a fundamental distinction here. You need to compare apples to apples.
It’s not comparing what if Amazon did X vs. event Y. It’s what if Amazon did X to make your ebook unreadable vs. what if Random House did Y to make your physical book unreadable.
Except that you have to factor in what motivation Amazon would have for doing so. If you can’t come up with one, then the random fire/flood/tornado/etc. has to be considered more likely to happen.
The identity of the agent of Event X is beside the point. The point is that physical items are not permanent object that you buy one time and own forever. It makes no difference to the user if the book is wiped out because Amazon Executives decide to trash their company or because your toddler spilled fruit juice on it. Either way - the result is the same.
Both solid books and ebooks have vulnerabilities to which the other is immune - and each has its own attractions. Ebooks are vulnerable to Executives. Solid books are vulnerable to insects. The unique vulnerabilities of one type doesn’t make the other type superior for every case.
Thinking that physical books are permanent objects that you just own forever is irrational. All physical objects are impermanent. Impermanence is not a quality that is unique to ebooks.
Acting like ebooks are vulnerable and solid books aren’t, simply because ebooks have this particular vulnerability, while overlooking the many unique vulnerabilities of physical objects, is a very unconvincing argument.
DRM is child’s play to remove. Despite it being legal to remove it (I believe), I won’t go into detail here about how to, but a simple google search will tell you how to deDRM your entire collection. So even if Amazon goes out of business, you can take your deDRM’d books and convert them to a new format.
Back to the OP, I read in an iPad, but I share your pain–mine is also my precioussssss (love that line 
)
There are online sites that allow you to convert e-books from one format to another so assuming a worst case scenario, that Amazon goes under and there’s no longer access to the Kindle app and they remove the Kindle app from every device they can find it on–just go to one of a gazillion sites, convert them to EPUB or whatever (or PDF, good luck trying to fuck THAT over!) and go on just as though nothing ever happened.
As for ganking books off your devices, every one of the (literally thousands) of e-books I own is backed up in a folder that no bot will recognize as being a place to look for e-books (and the folder is on several different computers, a couple of which don’t even have online access any more because the displays are shot and I mostly leave them powered off unless I turn them on specifically to sync folders) AND I back that folder up regularly on a USB drive. Good luck trying to take MY library!
On the other hand, I lost quite a few paper books irretrievably when my laundry room plumbing cut loose and flooded the house. Ironically, I lost NO e-books during this catastrophe. Advantage–clearly e-book.
I already mentioned one very important concern about an eBook becoming unreadable in the future: Format support.
Who says Amazon is going to continue to support an old format for 20-50 years?
And removing DRM and making copies is another category of “solutions”. The apples to apples comparison here is like bringing up photocopying a book to have a backup.
But not a valid method if you want to keep things proper.
Random House is not going to send insects after my book, set it on fire, etc.
There’s what can happen to something you own due to acts of nature, carelessness, etc. And then there’s what the company can (or might not) do. Comparisons across these categories is not logical and makes a very silly argument.
The program Calibre is able to convert formats pretty much instantly. I read books on my iPad and the Kindle app is the pits, so I converted all my Amazon books from .azw to .epub. Presumably if .epubs stop being supported, there will be a way to translate to a new version. 60 or so books that were DRM/Kindle books took me about 12 mouse clicks and about 3 minutes to set up and run the conversion to completion, so time isn’t a factor either.
Incorrect. Photocopying a book to have a backup leaves you a stack of unbound papers. Breaking DRM and making a copy is an exact one-to-one duplicate of the original. The two files as an end-product are indistinguishable.
My mind is blown away to see people thinking ebooks aren’t as permanent as physical books. Books can be torn, water-damages, burned, but I still like them. I could lose an ebook file, the company could shut down, etc.
Stuff happens. I think both are equally “permanent”, so to speak.
Yeah, but what if some dictator decides that the English language is going be abandoned. I don’t want to have to relearn reading in another language, I’ll have my English copies of books stored behind the walls for my own personal enjoyment. Ray Bradbury be damned!!!
You are awesome. Thanks for letting me know.