Amazon being so successful at controlling the ebook medium makes me uneasy.
lord-of-shadow Send a noteboard - 20/04/2011 07:13:02 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 to Launch Library Lending for Kindle Books
- 20/04/2011 03:18:34 PM
1454 Views
Excellent news!
- 20/04/2011 06:58:09 PM
813 Views
Paper books will not die for quite some time I'm sure.
- 20/04/2011 07:44:39 PM
908 Views
I guess it depends on what you mean by "death."
- 21/04/2011 05:04:40 PM
1141 Views
Of course an online bookshop is going to sell more e-books than physical books.
- 21/04/2011 06:14:51 PM
832 Views
That's exactly right.
- 21/04/2011 06:34:28 PM
1114 Views
I'm talking about the "Amazon sold more e-books than physical books in 2010" argument.
- 21/04/2011 06:39:45 PM
954 Views
Amazon being so successful at controlling the ebook medium makes me uneasy.
- 20/04/2011 07:13:02 PM
901 Views
Also: Terrible news. Another nail in the coffin of physical books. *NM*
- 20/04/2011 07:13:32 PM
499 Views
Not so much. *NM*
- 20/04/2011 07:39:17 PM
387 Views
A bit too melodramatic? Another blow to the desirable dominance of physical books, then. *NM*
- 20/04/2011 10:24:20 PM
398 Views
No. I just don't think this spells the end of physical books at all.
- 21/04/2011 06:11:53 PM
818 Views
Assuming you're right, that will still wreck the business of physical books.
- 21/04/2011 06:47:45 PM
1105 Views
I take perverse pleasure in watching the decline of physical books. 
- 21/04/2011 05:45:59 PM
1138 Views
- 21/04/2011 05:45:59 PM
1138 Views
You are right, of course. But all the rationalizing in the world doesn't make me happy about it.
- 21/04/2011 05:57:12 PM
870 Views
Re: Amazon being so successful at controlling the ebook medium makes me uneasy.
- 20/04/2011 07:41:00 PM
899 Views
I'm not sure I understand how this works...
- 20/04/2011 07:30:51 PM
986 Views
Re: I'm not sure I understand how this works...
- 20/04/2011 07:43:19 PM
896 Views
You download them from the Internet using your library card as an ID. *NM*
- 21/04/2011 01:07:54 AM
525 Views
What Ghavrel said, but...
- 21/04/2011 03:14:07 AM
1040 Views
Obviously none of you have used Overdrive. It's horrifically bad.
- 21/04/2011 01:07:14 AM
845 Views
- 21/04/2011 01:07:14 AM
845 Views
Never heard of it. *NM*
- 21/04/2011 01:08:00 AM
407 Views
It's an already existing library ebook service, and it's terrible. *NM*
- 21/04/2011 02:19:25 AM
393 Views
What makes it terrible? *NM*
- 21/04/2011 02:20:12 AM
370 Views
The selection is awful, the interface is awkward, and it requires bizarre DRM installations.
- 21/04/2011 02:40:55 AM
897 Views
To be fair, Overdrive's problems are software issues, and not inherent to the business model.
- 21/04/2011 05:23:54 PM
1006 Views
I definitely agree; I'm just irritated they're sticking with Overdrive. Ebook libraries make sense. *NM*
- 21/04/2011 07:14:38 PM
415 Views
Will a borrowed Kindle book have "fuck" underlined when it appears?
- 22/04/2011 01:59:39 AM
890 Views