Re: Logical consequences of Kindle ecosystem

>     Posted by: "joseph harris" [email protected] joe9438
>     Date: Thu Apr 16, 2009 9:10 am ((PDT))
>
> When Amazon ends an account that includes the kindle!
>
> http://www.boingboing.net/2009/04/15/if-you-lose-your-ama.html
> The original post is here, if you can get to it
> http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41020

Why the exclamation point? _What would you expect?_

     Will you walk into my parlour?" said the Spider to the Fly,
     'Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy;
     The way into my parlour is up a winding stair,
     And I've a many curious things to show when you are there."
     Oh no, no," said the little Fly, "to ask me is in vain,
     For who goes up your winding stair can ne'er come down again."
         --Mary Howitt

The article Joseph Harris refers to describes an inability to buy new  
Kindle ebooks from Amazon (well, if you can't buy books from Amazon  
you can't buy books from Amazon. Duh), and to subscriptions not  
working (which actually is surprising to me, but it sounds if Amazon  
dealt with that problem acceptably).

I'd guess there's a third problem and perhaps a more serious one.  
Perhaps Kindle owners can clarify. I assume that if your Kindle  
breaks, or if you just feel like getting a newer model, that you  
can't just put your older DRM-protected books on the new device all  
by yourself. With the Rocket eBook, any such required the active  
participation of GemStar customer service, some reauthorization at  
their central servers, and a need to download all of the content again.

> Posted by: "Richard Seltzer" seltzer-LVbi7B8qMF5Wk0Htik3J/[email protected] rwseltzer2000
>
> It's extremely easy to transfer plain text (.txt) and MobiPocket  
> Reader
> (.prc) files to your Kindle.

>     Posted by: "Chris" [email protected] smithvex
>
> Using non-Amazon content is all well and good if that's what you
> planned. But considerably more of a problem if your actual plan
> was to buy ebooks from Amazon for the Kindle.

The set of books that are available as plain text is large and rich  
but, of course, includes very few published since 1923. Whereas  
_most_ of what is on the shelves at my public library, and _most_ of  
what I actually read, has been published after 1923, and is under  
copyright.

The question is, once your relationship with Amazon breaks down, how  
do you get current, commercial, in-print material onto your Kindle?  
Does it handle DRM-protected MobiPocket books? Is a reasonable  
fraction of the content available in Kindle format also available in  
MobiPocket format? I'm guessing the answer to both questions is "no."



------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------
Post a message:   ebook-community [[at]] *
Unsubscribe:      ebook-community-unsubscribe [[at]] *
Switch to digest: ebook-community-digest [[at]] *
Switch to normal: ebook-community-normal [[at]] *
Put mail on hold: ebook-community-nomail [[at]] *
Administrator:    ebook-community-owner [[at]] *

(* == yahoogroups.com)
-------------------------------------------------------Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ebook-community/

<*> Your email settings:
    Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ebook-community/join
    (Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
    mailto:[email protected] 
    mailto:ebook-community-fullfeatured-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    ebook-community-unsubscribe-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/