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Distressing news about the books on your Kindle

You don't own your Kindle books, Amazon reminds customer - NBC News

Am I the only one that knew about this? I thought that, once you "bought" the books, you owned them. I'm a little frustrated about this. Once I bought my Kindle, I "repurchased" all my favorite books and put them on the Kindle, and then donated the books. So I have had to pay for them twice, which is bad, but now I don't own them?

I do not have an e-reader of any kind. Not for this reason, but should I decide I want one in the future this will definitely be a factor in my decision as to whether or not I get one.
 
Public libraries are for students and cheapskates. I have an office in my house in which I have my book collection, I think anybody who doesnt have at least one bookshelf in their house must be poorly educated and unintellectual.

Public libraries are for cheapskates or people who believe you should read books not let them sit on a shelf and collect dust.
 
Hes right though. A bookshelf is a status symbol to some people. Its also a symbol of waste to others.

Not necessarily. Do you collect anything? Some of us just like to collect select copies of our favorite books.
I often find myself going back to a book, just for reference, but ending up reading as much as time allows. Its comforting to me, more real than any high tech device can deliver. Its not to impress anyone, and a personal library can be as small or as vast as you wish.
I do check out E-books from our local library and sample various authors. Best of both worlds and we are lucky to live in a time and place that allows us to tickle our fancies.
 
Not necessarily. Do you collect anything? Some of us just like to collect select copies of our favorite books.
I often find myself going back to a book, just for reference, but ending up reading as much as time allows. Its comforting to me, more real than any high tech device can deliver. Its not to impress anyone, and a personal library can be as small or as vast as you wish.
I do check out E-books from our local library and sample various authors. Best of both worlds and we are lucky to live in a time and place that allows us to tickle our fancies.

Thats why I said "it depends"
 
Public libraries are for cheapskates or people who believe you should read books not let them sit on a shelf and collect dust.
I re-read most of my books every now and then or flip through them for reference. As for the dust part half my shelves have sliding glass covers and there's a feather duster in the house somewhere... ;)
 
Me too! We had a bookcase collapse and now we are down to only 11. And that's after getting rid of close to a thousand paperbacks. I'm only allowed to bring home new physical books if I donate them elsewhere when I am done with them. (And I STRONGLY recommend Books For Soldiers to anyone wanting to pass their old books along)

However the main reason we all have Kindles now is because my wife developed a rare lung disease. If you can't afford bookcases with glass fronts, books will collect a tremendous amount dust which was a problem. Then when she was in the hospital for an open lung biopsy, a new hardcover we had pre-ordered from our favorite author arrived. She was very excited because she was bored stiff, and very distressed when she discovered that she literally could not hold it up to read for more than 5 minutes.

Whatever else your issues with Kindles might be, they are much easier for someone with major medical problems to handle.

Good point. Best of luck to your wife, and welcome to the board. :2wave:
 
You don't own your Kindle books, Amazon reminds customer - NBC News

Am I the only one that knew about this? I thought that, once you "bought" the books, you owned them. I'm a little frustrated about this. Once I bought my Kindle, I "repurchased" all my favorite books and put them on the Kindle, and then donated the books. So I have had to pay for them twice, which is bad, but now I don't own them?

You "buy" a license.

That has been the computer world since the creation of the first software.

check your cell phone contract, you probably don't own that either.
 
Eh well, that's not really a Kindle. Just another android tablet. The real kindle is the paperwhite. That one is better than any other ereader.

Of course it's still a Kindle. It's just a Kindle that offers more. I was looking around for a Kindle for my husband for Christmas, so he would give me mine back, and I was going back and forth between the paperwhite and the Kindle Fire. The Kindle Fire was just far better, for the money. If you don't want to use it for anything other than an e-reader, then don't. But I'd rather have the capability and not need it, than need it and not have it.
 
Yes, thats what we need, more govt of course. God forbid you just dont use it if you dont like it.

Depends on whether or not we can expect the digital medium to be treated like traditional books in the years to come. If not, then there may be reason for concern. As of now, I use the traditional wallet strategy, but if it becomes increasingly difficult to get by without a paper copy, and digital rights have continued to remain stagnant rather than increased, I would certainly support limited intervention.
 
You don't own your Kindle books, Amazon reminds customer - NBC News

Am I the only one that knew about this? I thought that, once you "bought" the books, you owned them. I'm a little frustrated about this. Once I bought my Kindle, I "repurchased" all my favorite books and put them on the Kindle, and then donated the books. So I have had to pay for them twice, which is bad, but now I don't own them?

That's not the take-away I get from that article.

First of all, buy and book and lose it? It's gone forever. Buy a Kindle, get your account suspended for breaking their rules? Your books are gone forever. She was trying to use a new Kindle to access her books. Your Amazon Kindle account doesn't even need your IP address to send you books. If you get a new Kindle? That screws up the process. So that probably took some finagling on their end. All's well that ends well...

Edit: Where does it say in that article that you don't own your Kindle downloads?
 
Thanks Fiddy. I had to read a thousand words to find it, but, right. It's a license to use. Won't be changing my habits, but I suppose some people may elect not to download from there any more. *shrug*
I would suggest that Amazon refrain from using words like "buy" and "purchase", and begin using words like "rent" or "license" in their primary marketing pages.
 
I would suggest that Amazon refrain from using words like "buy" and "purchase", and begin using words like "rent" or "license" in their primary marketing pages.

Went to their Kindle Store, and, indeed, it says "Kindle Price" and lists it. Then "Buy." *shrug*
 
Went to their Kindle Store, and, indeed, it says "Kindle Price" and lists it. Then "Buy." *shrug*
I went and made sure before I did that post. :mrgreen:

Anyway, I'm sure someone will come along and say, "You're buying a license.". :roll: Problem is, though, that most people in general conversations and dealings equate the word "buy" with ownership. You own a pair of pants when you purchase/buy them. There's a distinction between buying a car and leasing a car, and for good reason. To fall back on the "...buying a license" spin is lying by omission... and lying by omission is still lying.
 
You don't own your Kindle books, Amazon reminds customer - NBC News

Am I the only one that knew about this? I thought that, once you "bought" the books, you owned them. I'm a little frustrated about this. Once I bought my Kindle, I "repurchased" all my favorite books and put them on the Kindle, and then donated the books. So I have had to pay for them twice, which is bad, but now I don't own them?

Download them from torrent sites and side load them with Caliber. You own them and you didn't buy them.
 
Thanks. :) My husband told me about Calibre, and I am going to look into using it. Sorry, but I think it's bull**** that you buy something then don't own it.
 
The kinda books I read on my Kindle I would not want a paper version of laying around the house.

It works out just fine for me.
 
You don't own your Kindle books, Amazon reminds customer - NBC News

Am I the only one that knew about this? I thought that, once you "bought" the books, you owned them. I'm a little frustrated about this. Once I bought my Kindle, I "repurchased" all my favorite books and put them on the Kindle, and then donated the books. So I have had to pay for them twice, which is bad, but now I don't own them?

This is why I keep telling people to get an ePub reader (Kobo is my favorite), not a Kindle, and why I don't support anyone who DRM's, and why I will never DRM any of my own content.

If I pay for it, it's mine. I will not allow a company to simply make me pay for something over and over again by selling it under false pretenses.

But if you are worried about your books, there are ways to convert them to universal ePub format. Just sayin'. ;)
 
The kinda books I read on my Kindle I would not want a paper version of laying around the house.

It works out just fine for me.

:lol: yeah I have a few that I wouldn't want to carry in to the doctor's office with me.
 
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