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B&N Decides That Purchased Ebooks Are Only Yours Until Your Credit Card Expires

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Re: B&N Decides That Purchased Ebooks Are Only Yours Until Your Credit Card Expires

#11

Post by chrischen »

pilif wrote: post #8
sami36 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ...then we can't rurn around and demand that it also isn't and that we should have right to infinitely ask for additional copies - however cheap it might be to create them. oh Yes, We can. The reason we're entitled to it is the fact that DRM stands in the way of us customers backing up our purchases. If my eBook were in a format devoid of DRM & I could back it up by saving it in Droppbox or my external hard drive,…

To stay with the real world analogy: you also can't back up your book. You have that one copy and once it breaks, you are out of luck and have to buy a new one. I compare the ebook readers as a physical object with the books (also physical objects). If I can read books on that device even when my credit card has expired or other things have disabled my account, then IMHO the parity to the real world exists: I have th…

I can photocopy or scan every page. It may not be easy, but it's doable, and the publisher does not have technology that actively prevents me from doing this.

Re: B&N Decides That Purchased Ebooks Are Only Yours Until Your Credit Card Expires

#12

Post by wildranter »

sami36 wrote: post #3

I don't think it's DRM related or a publisher requirement. I think it's of B&N own initiative to keep your credit card on file in order to facilitate potentially future purchases. Either way, it's misguided & customer hostile. as long as this policy is in effect, I'll never buy an ebook from them again.

I have another word for similar policies, sleazy.

Re: B&N Decides That Purchased Ebooks Are Only Yours Until Your Credit Card Expires

#13

Post by vertis »

I would blame this on a badly designed system rather than deliberate attempt at DRM.

i.e. Product owner goes to dev: We want to make sure that customers always have a valid credit card on file so that when they go to purchase it doesn't distract them (etc, etc).

Dev makes it so that you can't do anything with the website until you've updated your expired credit card.

Re: B&N Decides That Purchased Ebooks Are Only Yours Until Your Credit Card Expires

#14

Post by pilif »

chrischen wrote: post #11
pilif wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To stay with the real world analogy: you also can't back up your book. You have that one copy and once it breaks, you are out of luck and have to buy a new one. I compare the ebook readers as a physical object with the books (also physical objects). If I can read books on that device even when my credit card has expired or other things have disabled my account, then IMHO the parity to the real world exists: I have th…

I can photocopy or scan every page. It may not be easy, but it's doable, and the publisher does not have technology that actively prevents me from doing this.

You can strip off DRM from an ebook. It's as illegal as photocopying every page, but slightly less cumbersome to do.

Re: B&N Decides That Purchased Ebooks Are Only Yours Until Your Credit Card Expires

#15

Post by curiousdannii »

chrischen wrote: post #11
pilif wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To stay with the real world analogy: you also can't back up your book. You have that one copy and once it breaks, you are out of luck and have to buy a new one. I compare the ebook readers as a physical object with the books (also physical objects). If I can read books on that device even when my credit card has expired or other things have disabled my account, then IMHO the parity to the real world exists: I have th…

I can photocopy or scan every page. It may not be easy, but it's doable, and the publisher does not have technology that actively prevents me from doing this.

@pilif, you're allowed to backup CDs and DVDs, why not books?

Re: B&N Decides That Purchased Ebooks Are Only Yours Until Your Credit Card Expires

#16

Post by jeffool »

daeken wrote: post #9
sami36 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ...then we can't rurn around and demand that it also isn't and that we should have right to infinitely ask for additional copies - however cheap it might be to create them. oh Yes, We can. The reason we're entitled to it is the fact that DRM stands in the way of us customers backing up our purchases. If my eBook were in a format devoid of DRM & I could back it up by saving it in Droppbox or my external hard drive,…

You can put the DRMed files on Dropbox and then copy them to your Nook. This isn't a DRM issue, just dumb business practices.

While I can't speak to the DRM issues here, I can say that it's definitely silly to me. Valve lets me download games and films for gigs as much as I like. The idea that I could do that with ebooks? Why, I could rack up... Megabytes of bandwidth for them! Maybe even a Gigabyte!

Okay, maybe that's a bit assholish of me to phrase it that way, but it really does seem like an odd decision to me as a user.

Re: B&N Decides That Purchased Ebooks Are Only Yours Until Your Credit Card Expires

#17

Post by batiudrami »

javajosh wrote: post #6

The simple fact is that the ebook experience sucks all the way around. I gave it a shot with the Nook Touch, and I really dislike it, even if DRM wasn't an issue. Over the years my subconcious has grown used to indexing the story according to certain physical properties of the book. "Oh yes, that happend about a cm in on the right side page, like halfway down" is something I might think- but this coordinate system do…

Your experience is with ereaders is nearly the complete opposite of mine (putting DRM aside, like you).

I love that I don't have to remember my page or use a bookmark, I love that I can change the font size, I love that I can select a word and get an instant definition for it, and I love how light it is to carry around and much more comfortable to read with. I prefer them over real books in every way (though, I'm from Australia where a hardback is $50 and a paperback is around $20-$25, so ebooks are cheaper for me).

Re: B&N Decides That Purchased Ebooks Are Only Yours Until Your Credit Card Expires

#18

Post by R_Edward »

wildranter wrote: post #12
sami36 wrote: post #3

I don't think it's DRM related or a publisher requirement. I think it's of B&N own initiative to keep your credit card on file in order to facilitate potentially future purchases. Either way, it's misguided & customer hostile. as long as this policy is in effect, I'll never buy an ebook from them again.

I have another word for similar policies, sleazy.

Occam would probably disagree with you. Absent evidence of malevolent intent, I'd chalk this up to a mediocre designer who didn't ask enough questions of himself or his subject matter experts.

Re: B&N Decides That Purchased Ebooks Are Only Yours Until Your Credit Card Expires

#19

Post by pilif »

jeffool wrote: post #16
daeken wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can put the DRMed files on Dropbox and then copy them to your Nook. This isn't a DRM issue, just dumb business practices.

While I can't speak to the DRM issues here, I can say that it's definitely silly to me. Valve lets me download games and films for gigs as much as I like. The idea that I could do that with ebooks? Why, I could rack up... Megabytes of bandwidth for them! Maybe even a Gigabyte! Okay, maybe that's a bit assholish of me to phrase it that way, but it really does seem like an odd decision to me as a user.

> Valve lets me download games and films for gigs as much as I like

only if you have a valid account with them. Which is the exact issue the original article was complaining about. Now, a Steam account stays valid even after the credit card has expired, but if you lose that account for whatever other reason, all your content is gone.

Which is worse than many ebook readers because they will allow you to continue to access your content even once the account is gone. Steam OTOH doesn't. No account? No login. No login? No content (their offline mode is too unreliable to be called that).

Re: B&N Decides That Purchased Ebooks Are Only Yours Until Your Credit Card Expires

#20

Post by ekianjo »

pilif wrote: post #14
chrischen wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can photocopy or scan every page. It may not be easy, but it's doable, and the publisher does not have technology that actively prevents me from doing this.

You can strip off DRM from an ebook. It's as illegal as photocopying every page, but slightly less cumbersome to do.

Where is it illegal to make a photocopy of your OWN book ? As far as I know, you are in your right to make a copy of something that you own for private use.
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