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Amazon will allow ePub and PDF downloads for DRM-free eBooks

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Re: Amazon will allow ePub and PDF downloads for DRM-free eBooks

#91

Post by gorbachev »

nippoo wrote: post #51
icqFDR wrote: post #44

I’d advise anyone buying e-books on Amazon to think it through carefully. My account was banned recently because, years ago, I ordered two paper books that Amazon said would be split into two shipments. Both books arrived without any issues, but later Amazon refunded me for one of them, claiming that one package never arrived. This happened 4–5 years ago. Apparently, during a recent review, they decided this counted…

They failed to deliver a Pixel phone to me - they never even tried to deliver it and the status said "permanent delivery failure" so I assumed they'd automatically refund me. Fast forward a few months, I never received a refund and they claim they have no record any more. I could chargeback my credit card but I imagine I'd also be permanently banned from Amazon - so instead I accept they've just stolen $1000 from me…

Something similar happened to me. The delivery company returned two packages, two separate orders, as damaged back to Amazon. They were marked as "delivered". They automatically refunded just one item in one of the returned orders.

I had to call them to get a refund for all the items on all the orders, and even then they had a lot of difficulty figuring out what was happening. Isn't Amazon supposed to be a world leader (maybe after Walmart) in this stuff?

Re: Amazon will allow ePub and PDF downloads for DRM-free eBooks

#92

Post by ashu1461 »

icqFDR wrote: post #44

I’d advise anyone buying e-books on Amazon to think it through carefully. My account was banned recently because, years ago, I ordered two paper books that Amazon said would be split into two shipments. Both books arrived without any issues, but later Amazon refunded me for one of them, claiming that one package never arrived. This happened 4–5 years ago. Apparently, during a recent review, they decided this counted…

Amazon used to be really customer centric 5-10 years ago, I remember once I ordered a physical book which was late in delivery and I urgently needed that book, so they gave me a free kindle edition till the book got delivered.

Re: Amazon will allow ePub and PDF downloads for DRM-free eBooks

#93

Post by exe34 »

egeozcan wrote: post #60
icqFDR wrote: post #44

I’d advise anyone buying e-books on Amazon to think it through carefully. My account was banned recently because, years ago, I ordered two paper books that Amazon said would be split into two shipments. Both books arrived without any issues, but later Amazon refunded me for one of them, claiming that one package never arrived. This happened 4–5 years ago. Apparently, during a recent review, they decided this counted…

A friend of mine received a double shipment for a $300 order. Being honest, he contacted customer service to arrange a return. Everything seemed fine until a few days later when he noticed they had also refunded his original payment. He reached out again to let them know, and they said they’d just recharge his card. Apparently, that transaction failed (no clear reason why), and without any warning, they banned his ac…

I never bought any ebooks off Amazon without removing the drm at the time. I did buy a lot of shows and movies, but if they take those away, I'll just pirate them, given I've already paid.

Re: Amazon will allow ePub and PDF downloads for DRM-free eBooks

#94

Post by habosa »

strawhatdev wrote: post #18

I wonder if this is in response to Bookshop.org's DRM free e-book shop. I buy a lot of e-books and have completely switched over because of that feature.

I’m waiting for Bookshop.org to offer an integration with any hardware reader for most of their books. When they do, I’ll switch to whatever that reader is.

Re: Amazon will allow ePub and PDF downloads for DRM-free eBooks

#95

Post by delecti »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #58
wrxd wrote: post #39

This was unexpected. They lost me as a customer when they stopped allowing me to download books I bought and I'm in the Kobo (+ BookLore) side now and I am not coming back. I wonder how many books are actually DRM-free and are going to be affected by this change. I suspect relatively few, but I would be happy to be wrong

For me it appears highly genre-correlated. High percentage of science fiction books come with a small statement "this book is drm free on request of publisher / author". Zero of my photography, music, computer science or graphic novels came with such a tag.

Yeah, Tor Books publishes without DRM, and they seem to be one of the bigger SFF publishers these days. John Scalzi, George R.R. Martin (though not the ASoIaF books), Robert Jordan, Annalee Newitz, Charlie Jane Anders, and a bunch of other SFF authors I recognize. I'm sure there are others, but all the once I've noticed have been from Tor.

Re: Amazon will allow ePub and PDF downloads for DRM-free eBooks

#96

Post by deltaburnt »

nippoo wrote: post #51
icqFDR wrote: post #44

I’d advise anyone buying e-books on Amazon to think it through carefully. My account was banned recently because, years ago, I ordered two paper books that Amazon said would be split into two shipments. Both books arrived without any issues, but later Amazon refunded me for one of them, claiming that one package never arrived. This happened 4–5 years ago. Apparently, during a recent review, they decided this counted…

They failed to deliver a Pixel phone to me - they never even tried to deliver it and the status said "permanent delivery failure" so I assumed they'd automatically refund me. Fast forward a few months, I never received a refund and they claim they have no record any more. I could chargeback my credit card but I imagine I'd also be permanently banned from Amazon - so instead I accept they've just stolen $1000 from me…

Much less money lost, but Amazon is notorious for not providing free game codes that are supposed to be included with GPU purchases. The customer rep at first apologized and offered a small refund (less than the cost of the game). A later rep started implying I was trying to defraud Amazon.

Many people online share similar experiences. Wonder how much money this wide-scale fraud saves them.

Re: Amazon will allow ePub and PDF downloads for DRM-free eBooks

#97

Post by jjice »

rgegerge wrote: post #30
syntaxing wrote: post #19

Just get a kobo instead. The price difference between with ads and a new kobo is minimal. Not worth the Amazon headache with a locked down device.

There are two single line comments recommending kobo over kindle in this thread. How do I know this is a genuine recommendation and not astroturfing?

I'll chime in - the Kindle Paperwhite I believe is the superior machine from a physical feeling and aesthetic perspective. The problem (for me) is who makes it. Amazon keeps locking it down so it's harder and harder to load your own DRM free books onto it, in addition to tracking everything you do on it (like sending all your reading statistics whenever you get online).

I have a Kobo Clara BW. It's still a great machine, but the Kindle is definitely superior for feel and visuals, but I use the Kobo 95% of the time. They are way more open with the software and I have mine in "sideload" mode (an official setting), which really just means that it doesn't make me log into anything and it doesn't even attempt to connect to the internet. Also, I can purchase a DRM free ebook on the train, plug a USB cable into my phone and my Kobo, and then load it on like that. Now I own my digital book, have supported the author with a larger margin, and get to read it on my more private machine.

Definitely not a no-brainer for everyone, but I'm happy with my Kobo.

Re: Amazon will allow ePub and PDF downloads for DRM-free eBooks

#98

Post by dust-jacket »

nippoo wrote: post #51
icqFDR wrote: post #44

I’d advise anyone buying e-books on Amazon to think it through carefully. My account was banned recently because, years ago, I ordered two paper books that Amazon said would be split into two shipments. Both books arrived without any issues, but later Amazon refunded me for one of them, claiming that one package never arrived. This happened 4–5 years ago. Apparently, during a recent review, they decided this counted…

They failed to deliver a Pixel phone to me - they never even tried to deliver it and the status said "permanent delivery failure" so I assumed they'd automatically refund me. Fast forward a few months, I never received a refund and they claim they have no record any more. I could chargeback my credit card but I imagine I'd also be permanently banned from Amazon - so instead I accept they've just stolen $1000 from me…

No, this is silly. Don't do this. You absolutely keep pushing for a refund and go via you CC provider if they don't respond.

Re: Amazon will allow ePub and PDF downloads for DRM-free eBooks

#99

Post by makeitdouble »

_heimdall wrote: post #37
cwillu wrote: post #4

But only if the author/publisher explicitly go in and permit it. This isn't announcing that pdf's and epub's are now available for everything that was drm-free, this is announcing that they will _permit_ pdf's and epub's to be available.

That seems reasonable enough to me though. It should be the publisher's choice what formats of the book they are willing to sell.

Having the action prominent and potentially with the default reversed would still leave it to the publisher's choice.

We can understand why they do it this way (they only need the option to exist, and can afford to apply dark patterns to it), but we don't need to excuse Amazon. Especially when they don't give a shit about what we think in the first place.

Re: Amazon will allow ePub and PDF downloads for DRM-free eBooks

#100

Post by NoMoreNicksLeft »

IAmBroom wrote: post #80
jrm4 wrote: post #64

Haha, what a headline. The internet "allows" ePub and PDF downloads for ALL books. Adjust yourselves accordingly.

Not every person likes sailing under the Jolly Roger, matey.

Too much convenience, selection, and the prices are all too low!
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