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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.
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Amazon to Launch Library Lending for Kindle Books j-whitt987 - 20/04/2011 03:18:34 PM 1454 Views
Excellent news! Tigr - 20/04/2011 06:58:09 PM 813 Views
Paper books will not die for quite some time I'm sure. j-whitt987 - 20/04/2011 07:44:39 PM 908 Views
I guess it depends on what you mean by "death." Aemon - 21/04/2011 05:04:40 PM 1141 Views
Re: I guess it depends on what you mean by "death." j-whitt987 - 21/04/2011 05:40:28 PM 969 Views
Re: I guess it depends on what you mean by "death." Aemon - 21/04/2011 06:04:16 PM 1270 Views
Of course an online bookshop is going to sell more e-books than physical books. Rebekah - 21/04/2011 06:14:51 PM 832 Views
That's exactly right. Aemon - 21/04/2011 06:34:28 PM 1115 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 955 Views
I understand. Aemon - 21/04/2011 07:26:28 PM 1048 Views
Amazon being so successful at controlling the ebook medium makes me uneasy. lord-of-shadow - 20/04/2011 07:13:02 PM 901 Views
Also: Terrible news. Another nail in the coffin of physical books. *NM* lord-of-shadow - 20/04/2011 07:13:32 PM 499 Views
Not so much. *NM* Rebekah - 20/04/2011 07:39:17 PM 387 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 398 Views
No. I just don't think this spells the end of physical books at all. Rebekah - 21/04/2011 06:11:53 PM 818 Views
Assuming you're right, that will still wreck the business of physical books. Aemon - 21/04/2011 06:47:45 PM 1106 Views
I take perverse pleasure in watching the decline of physical books. Aemon - 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. lord-of-shadow - 21/04/2011 05:57:12 PM 871 Views
Yeah, I hear you. Aemon - 21/04/2011 06:16:24 PM 1096 Views
Re: Amazon being so successful at controlling the ebook medium makes me uneasy. j-whitt987 - 20/04/2011 07:41:00 PM 900 Views
Considering you can print out an ebook, your argument is silly. Ghavrel - 21/04/2011 01:09:18 AM 830 Views
I'm not sure I understand how this works... A Deathwatch Guard - 20/04/2011 07:30:51 PM 987 Views
Re: I'm not sure I understand how this works... j-whitt987 - 20/04/2011 07:43:19 PM 896 Views
You download them from the Internet using your library card as an ID. *NM* Ghavrel - 21/04/2011 01:07:54 AM 526 Views
What Ghavrel said, but... Cockatiel of Doom - 21/04/2011 03:14:07 AM 1040 Views
That's pretty cool then A Deathwatch Guard - 21/04/2011 06:25:03 AM 839 Views
Yes and no. Aemon - 21/04/2011 05:10:24 PM 1132 Views
Obviously none of you have used Overdrive. It's horrifically bad. Ghavrel - 21/04/2011 01:07:14 AM 845 Views
Never heard of it. *NM* j-whitt987 - 21/04/2011 01:08:00 AM 407 Views
It's an already existing library ebook service, and it's terrible. *NM* Ghavrel - 21/04/2011 02:19:25 AM 393 Views
What makes it terrible? *NM* j-whitt987 - 21/04/2011 02:20:12 AM 370 Views
The selection is awful, the interface is awkward, and it requires bizarre DRM installations. Ghavrel - 21/04/2011 02:40:55 AM 898 Views
I'm not a fan of the interface, either. Cockatiel of Doom - 21/04/2011 03:08:53 AM 977 Views
I agree. *NM* everynametaken - 21/04/2011 01:35:12 AM 368 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 1007 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 416 Views
Yeah. Aemon - 21/04/2011 07:31:24 PM 1084 Views
Will a borrowed Kindle book have "fuck" underlined when it appears? Tom - 22/04/2011 01:59:39 AM 891 Views
Better than it being written on the margins A Deathwatch Guard - 22/04/2011 05:27:12 AM 822 Views
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