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When Microsoft's eBook store closes, your books disappear too

bbc.co.uk

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Re: When Microsoft's eBook store closes, your books disappear too

#141

Post by tzs »

redwall_hp wrote: post #30
jammygit wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it technically a crime though? That's the kicker: the legislative backing to the schemes. Its a matter of time until this GS are so locked down that circumvention becomes impractical, even if its several years in the future. The 'it doesn't work' argument is temporary unless there is enough pushback (as happened with music, thankfully)

DRM is technically a crime, too. It's infringing upon First Sale Doctrine. You, as someone buying media, actually have rights to what you purchase. The general public has just accepted the industry trampling on those rights and lobbying for laws that conflict with them.

> DRM is technically a crime, too. It's infringing upon First Sale Doctrine.

First sale doctrine says that you aren't violating copyright by selling any lawfully made particular copy that you own. I don't see anything in it that says the publisher can't use means other than copyright to try and stop you from doing that.

Re: When Microsoft's eBook store closes, your books disappear too

#142

Post by rootlocus »

benj111 wrote: post #86
tren wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're a small independent ebook retailer and we're pushing for DRM-free content with publishers. We've added a DRM-free section to the site: https://www.ebooks.com/drm-free and any search that run you can filter by DRM-free content. We also offer DRM-free PDFs that are correctly formatted, unlike what you'd get from the Google Bookstore (they convert from ePub). This is particularly important for publishers like O'Re…

"We're a small independent ebook retailer" How does that work? Independent in a physical sense, generally translates to 1 or very few outlets. Online is only ever going to be 1 outlet. Plus none of the independent bookstore features seem amenable to translating to the internet. So is it ownership structure? 'vibe'?

I don't understand the question. All online shops have one outlet. That doesn't mean the distinction between small and large doesn't exist anymore.

Re: When Microsoft's eBook store closes, your books disappear too

#143

Post by mrmondo »

calcifer wrote: post #139
mrmondo wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, thanks for your reply, I appreciate it. I’ve used deDRM a lot in the past, but it doesn’t work with the latest DRM on (I think AWZ3 files) - but perhaps it’s been updated since I last checked about 6 months ago or so.

I use it with AWZ3 just fine, but then I also haven't allowed my Kindle to update its software in years, so maybe Amazon is giving me files with older DRM.

Now that is interesting, I have a kindle oasis and mix between reading on that (which is glorious I must be honest) and on my iPhone.

If I can download a “legacy” file format - I might try that.

Thanks again for your input!

Re: When Microsoft's eBook store closes, your books disappear too

#144

Post by tzs »

bubblethink wrote: post #39
jammygit wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it technically a crime though? That's the kicker: the legislative backing to the schemes. Its a matter of time until this GS are so locked down that circumvention becomes impractical, even if its several years in the future. The 'it doesn't work' argument is temporary unless there is enough pushback (as happened with music, thankfully)

>(as happened with music, thankfully) The main reason it didn't happen with (sold) music was that audio cds were already unencumbered. So it made even less sense than usual to tack on additional DRM. And finally, the most popular form of consuming music now is streaming, which does have DRM generally.

It did happen with sold music. Most downloadable music sold in the early to mid 2000s had DRM. It wasn't until Steve Jobs wrote an open letter in early 2007 calling for the music industry to drop this did it start to change widely [1].

One label, EMI, then agreed to go DRM-free on iTunes. Another, Warner, said that Jobs was an idiot and they would never go DRM free. Within a year or so most labels came to agree with Jobs, and when Amazon Music launched in early 2008 it was DRM-free, including music from Warner.

It took something like another year for iTunes to go fully DRM-free, because Warner was holding out there.

[1] http://macdailynews.com/2007/02/06/apple_ceo_steve_jobs_post...

Re: When Microsoft's eBook store closes, your books disappear too

#145

Post by wdages »

miki123211 wrote: post #92

That's why I love the way we get ebooks in Poland. When we buy an ebook, we usually get a pack of files (epub/pdf/mobi), without any DRM, but with watermarks, some visible, some hidden. Same for audiobooks. There's no DRM, there's some piracy, as always, but the system works and it works pretty damn well. I wish american ebook and audiobook stores were like this.

What do you use for DRM-free audiobooks in Poland?

Re: When Microsoft's eBook store closes, your books disappear too

#147

Post by throwitallaway8 »

ninjin wrote: post #109
throwitallaway8 wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By the way, if anyone's interested in buying Japanese eBooks, my current go-to store is Kobo (owned by Rakuten): https://books.rakuten.co.jp/e-book/ The biggest differentiator for them is they don't compress their images to oblivion like Amazon and Google Play does, which is really nice for light novels and manga where image quality makes a huge difference. Being Kobo, they also happen to be the only eBook store othe…

I was happily surprised to find at least some of the manga (my Japanese is not good enough for light novels just yet) series that I read (or have read) on Kobo. My previous impression was that every publisher was pushing their own application and/or online store with DRM from hell. Unfortunately they seem to price digital editions the same as new physical copies (about JPY 600, which is ~USD 5.50), even for volumes t…

Literally the only thing I miss from Bookwalker is their sales. They frequently have sales of 50% off + 30%+ cashback (mostly on Kadokawa published books, but sometimes from other publishers as well), which fueled a lot of my past impulse purchases that I've now come to regret.

The best I've seen so far on Kobo has been a 30% off coupon that requires a 10k yen minimum purchase. If you're price sensitive then used physical books is probably still the way to go. I couldn't recommend Bookwalker in good faith to anyone until their DRM becomes trivial to break, because if they pull what Microsoft pulled here all of your purchased eBooks would disappear without any possibility for recourse.

Re: When Microsoft's eBook store closes, your books disappear too

#148

Post by Tharkun »

flukus wrote: post #78
Tharkun wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the usual marketing nonsense. But unless mobile carriers start offering very cheap plans for IOT devices (which is in itself unlikely), I don't see this happening any time soon. WiFi is pretty much here to stay, and is much more reliable indoors than 4/5/6/7/..G

> But unless mobile carriers start offering very cheap plans for IOT devices (which is in itself unlikely) I would have thought there was something equivalent of the electricity duck curve for *G and they've got plenty of bandwidth to sell at certain times of day.

For me it's not a matter of bandwidth, just the cost of the number of SIMs needed. I have hundreds of devices in the field, many in locations with no wifi or wired internet available. They all have sim slots, but the cost (in Belgium) makes it an impossible venture.

Re: When Microsoft's eBook store closes, your books disappear too

#149

Post by Crinus »

dnate wrote: post #136
thaumasiotes wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume "humble indie bundle".

aren't those still mainly activated on steam?

Some yes, others no. Sadly HIB has a lot of games that are available DRM-free outside of Steam, but they only provide Steam keys.

Re: When Microsoft's eBook store closes, your books disappear too

#150

Post by mikro2nd »

nil-sec wrote: post #67
cf498 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People bought these ebooks for a reason. Refunding solves nothing if you want the ebook. If someone replaced my bookcase with a check i would be rather pissed too.

Yes and they enjoyed them and probably forgot about them already. If someone would buy my old books I'd be thrilled for most of them. For some selected others devastated, but these I would copy. If they wanted to chip in with another 25$ to pay for my sweet annotations I probably wouldn't even accept it.

Others of us re-read books over and over and over again and would prefer to keep doing so.
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