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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

#171

Post by ellius »

wlll wrote: post #165

I don't buy ebooks, and this is just one reason. This is the complete list: 1. For some reason they cost a similar amount to print books Sometimes a bit less, sometimes the same, sometimes more. Distributing a physical book means you have to print, handle, store, transport, store again, handle again and transport again (using a simplified model of the journey a book takes to the end user). That costs money, and it co…

I mix eBooks and physical copies, and I agree with your list, but here are a couple advantages of eBooks:

1. Space -- I have an entire closet full of books. Every time I buy another physical book, I am slowly crowding myself out of a little more space in my apartment. Electronic copies take up no physical space.

2. Can read anywhere (using my phone). I don't like this for every book, but some books are good for reading in little bite-sized chunks. I read a page here and a page there while I'm taking a break at work, waiting at the post office, whatever. The constant availability makes it a lot easier to increase my reading bandwidth vs. trying to always have a physical book on me. Plus variety--I have hundreds of books in my pocket at any given moment, and can choose whatever I'm in the mood for.

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

#173

Post by MarkusAllen »

I use the Seth Godin model of ebook selling...

I sell my ebook on Amazon AND I give away the same ebook on my website FREE.

I give people the choice. Most buy the book.

To see one of the examples, Google:

Compiled: 713 Tai Lopez best quotes and quips revealed!

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

#174

Post by wlll »

ellius wrote: post #171
wlll wrote: post #165

I don't buy ebooks, and this is just one reason. This is the complete list: 1. For some reason they cost a similar amount to print books Sometimes a bit less, sometimes the same, sometimes more. Distributing a physical book means you have to print, handle, store, transport, store again, handle again and transport again (using a simplified model of the journey a book takes to the end user). That costs money, and it co…

I mix eBooks and physical copies, and I agree with your list, but here are a couple advantages of eBooks: 1. Space -- I have an entire closet full of books. Every time I buy another physical book, I am slowly crowding myself out of a little more space in my apartment. Electronic copies take up no physical space. 2. Can read anywhere (using my phone). I don't like this for every book, but some books are good for readi…

Regarding space, totally, and I realise I am fortunate that I live in a reasonably sized suburban house (at least in terms of space). If I lived in a house share, in SF or in Tokyo I might feel differently.

The one thing I would say is that I do have to dump books sometimes due to space. That's no bad thing, there's not a hell of a lot of books that I actually want to keep forever.

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

#175

Post by wolco »

wlll wrote: post #165

I don't buy ebooks, and this is just one reason. This is the complete list: 1. For some reason they cost a similar amount to print books Sometimes a bit less, sometimes the same, sometimes more. Distributing a physical book means you have to print, handle, store, transport, store again, handle again and transport again (using a simplified model of the journey a book takes to the end user). That costs money, and it co…

Piracy is a good option for popular titles and for more smaller titles usually you can get an epub version outside of the amazon store so buying is still a good option.

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

#176

Post by mark_l_watson »

I like to write using the Leanpub.com platform because book purchasers get PDF/Kindle/ePub formats. I also like to use other publishers who provide DRM free files, I don’t mind watermarks. (I also sell using a Creative Commons share for no commercial gain license so people who buy my books can give away copies to their friends.)

That said, Kindle books are very convenient and I like the ability to hilite text and add notes.

In any case, as long as Microsoft refunds their eBooks purchase price to customers, I don’t see their decision to get out of the business as a bad thing. Actually it seems like a classy move on their part making refunds.

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

#177

Post by wolco »

alpaca128 wrote: post #132
feanaro wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By making the owned copy ugly and harder to read yet still trivially copyable? Something does not compute here.

These watermarks only appear a few times in places like beside the page number. You'll have to provide a darn good explanation to convince me it makes the book harder to read. And yes, it's still trivially copyable, but that makes it better in any way than DRM: it can be traced back to the original owner but doesn't make it unnecessarily hard to read it on multiple devices.

Might be the next revenge vector. Share an ebook with faked watermarks.

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

#178

Post by bubblethink »

tzs wrote: post #144
bubblethink wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>(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…

I'm aware of that, but the crucial bit is that CDs existed (and still do for the most part) as it is pointed out in the letter. So even if it weren't for apple, sooner or later things would have taken a similar turn. And that's also why this didn't extend to any other form of media.

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

#179

Post by ocdtrekkie »

reitanqild wrote: post #116
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's actually quite a few eBook stores out there with DRM-free options, you just have to know where to look, and they're usually publisher-specific. Humble Bundle does a weekly Book Bundle. Wiley, O'Reilly, No Starch, and several other publishers all regularly participate with tech books, geek books, comic books, and manga. No Starch itself deserves a separate mention just because they're awesome. On their own sit…

Didn't O'Reilly stop selling ebooks and now only sell paper books and online (Safari)?

Yup. Hence why I only mention them as contributors to Humble Book Bundles. Their site only has what you mention, but Humble Bundle (and other sites like ebooks.com) still sell DRM-free O'Reilly titles outright.

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

#180

Post by wolco »

gambiting wrote: post #122
novaRom wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mean even books from Kindle store are without DRM?

There is no Kindle in Poland. In fact, there is no Amazon in Poland either(which is almost ironic considering that there are a couple huge Amazon warehouses in Poland - they serve customers of Amazon.de, as they are both very close to the German border - I suspect the labour costs are lower in Poland hence it makes more sense to have the warehouses there. Incidentally, going to Amazon.pl redirects you to Amazon.de in…

Without amazon many smaller publishers would fill the market.
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