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Distressing news about the books on your Kindle

Superfly

Superfly

Salty, defiant, and completely non-compliant.
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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?
 
Superfly said:
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?
Click to expand...

This sucks!!!

I'm sure glad I saw this before buying one !!
 
Superfly said:
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?
Click to expand...

I recall that a year or two back, Amazon had a 'recall' on a book, and just removed it from people's kindle's without warning or refund.

Some authors also prevent lending their books out via Kindle, even after charging full price (what you would pay for a paper version) for the electronic version.

Caveat emptor.
 
Gotta read the contract. You never owned the content, just the format. With amazon this takes the format of a reader, a digital file, and access to a library. So far Ive been perfectly satisfied with the arrangement.
 
See this is the reason I like paper and print. I buy it, I own it. No one can shut off my account or prevent me from opening up the book any time I want to re-read it, or give it to a friend to read, or re-sell it, or donate it to a library. E-books are nothing... it's vapor-ware just like any other software. If Amazon tomorrow decides they no longer want to support books they can shut off their servers and all the licensed books go away. Poof!

My paper books will be here as long as I am, or as long as I choose to hold them and keep them preserved. Over the years I have grown more anti-technology because of BS like this... I've got a few e-books but rarely if ever access them and they were the .99 cent deals. Everything in the electronic world we do not own.... that's hard to get your head around especially for people who have grown up with the internet and didn't know a world without it.
 
I just assume this when I buy and store anything on an internet device. While I don't mind ebooks, I can't afford to have bookshelves lined with Kindles that have digital copies of all my books.

Superfly said:
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?
Click to expand...
 
penn1954 said:
This sucks!!!

I'm sure glad I saw this before buying one !!
Click to expand...

I still think the Kindle is worth the investment. Anything I want to keep 'forever' I buy on paper any way, I use the Kindle for entertainment reading. :)
 
I guess Im never going to have this problem since I never buy e-books, all my books are made of actual paper. There's nothing better than having your own private library in your house with shelves of books, its a sign of elegance and class.
 
Ockham said:
See this is the reason I like paper and print. I buy it, I own it. No one can shut off my account or prevent me from opening up the book any time I want to re-read it, or give it to a friend to read, or re-sell it, or donate it to a library. E-books are nothing... it's vapor-ware just like any other software. If Amazon tomorrow decides they no longer want to support books they can shut off their servers and all the licensed books go away. Poof!

My paper books will be here as long as I am, or as long as I choose to hold them and keep them preserved. Over the years I have grown more anti-technology because of BS like this... I've got a few e-books but rarely if ever access them and they were the .99 cent deals. Everything in the electronic world we do not own.... that's hard to get your head around especially for people who have grown up with the internet and didn't know a world without it.
Click to expand...

Yeah but I can carry every book ever written with me, get new books instantly, get them cheaper, get extra content, etc.
 
Nope - you don't own them, which is why charging 9.99 and such to 'rent' a book is a waste of people's money.
 
IIRC you pay the $90 Amamzon Prime subscription you have access to a vast library of books and vids you don't have to buy. and free quick shipping

But, it is $90 per year.
 
PoS said:
I guess Im never going to have this problem since I never buy e-books, all my books are made of actual paper. There's nothing better than having your own private library in your house with shelves of books, its a sign of elegance and class.
Click to expand...

This post really tempts me to give a snarky response. Dang it, can't help myself.

You could just use a public library that will get you whatever you want in a short amount of time (and free access to all their digital content, which is growing). The only benefit you don't get from a public library you'd have in a private one is the ability to impress random people with its look. Then again, if you have the money to afford a private library you could probably find something more impressive to do with a room.
 
Aunt Spiker said:
Nope - you don't own them, which is why charging 9.99 and such to 'rent' a book is a waste of people's money.
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Think of it like paying $12 to watch a movie. Except there you only get to keep your memory of the movie.
 
CycloneWanderer said:
This post really tempts me to give a snarky response. Dang it, can't help myself.

You could just use a public library that will get you whatever you want in a short amount of time (and free access to all their digital content, which is growing). The only benefit you don't get from a public library you'd have in a private one is the ability to impress random people with its look. Then again, if you have the money to afford a private library you could probably find something more impressive to do with a room.
Click to expand...

Hes right though. A bookshelf is a status symbol to some people. Its also a symbol of waste to others.
 
jonny5 said:
Yeah but I can carry every book ever written with me, get new books instantly, get them cheaper, get extra content, etc.
Click to expand...

True - there's a down side but then again, why would I want to carry every book ever written with me... I would rarely if ever require such a thing.
 
CycloneWanderer said:
This post really tempts me to give a snarky response. Dang it, can't help myself.

You could just use a public library that will get you whatever you want in a short amount of time (and free access to all their digital content, which is growing). The only benefit you don't get from a public library you'd have in a private one is the ability to impress random people with its look. Then again, if you have the money to afford a private library you could probably find something more impressive to do with a room.
Click to expand...
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.
 
Not sure if this against the rules to say, but you should Google how to remove the DRM from kindle books.
 
Yeah, no thanks. I'm not going to rent a book or mp3. I'm also not renting Microsoft Office.

This kind of stuff is why I don't like cloud storage, too. I want the files on my computer, not somewhere out in the ether where they are subject to corporate whim or government perusal.
 
Yeah, no thanks. I'm not going to rent a book or an mp3. I'm also not renting Microsoft Office.

This kind of stuff is why I don't like cloud storage, too. I want the files on my computer, not somewhere out in the ether where they are subject to corporate whim or government perusal.
 
PoS said:
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.
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Wow. I have a kindle and two overstuffed bookshelves and still use the library. I'm not an elitist snob though.
 
GottaGo said:
I still think the Kindle is worth the investment. Anything I want to keep 'forever' I buy on paper any way, I use the Kindle for entertainment reading. :)
Click to expand...

The kindle is actually a pretty crappy device. The battery life is pretty ****ty, the memory is pretty much non-existent, the Silk Browser is spyware, you don't actually own anything you buy, you can't uninstall any of the apps that come with it, it doesn't have any ports except the mini usb port, it doesn't work with any wired devices, you can't customize what will display in the carousel and therefore if you want to keep it clean of everything you use you have to continually remove certain things to keep them off the carousel, the amazon app store is extremely limited compared to apple app store, you can't access the root without voiding the warranty, etc. In short, the kindle sucks.
 
americanwoman said:
Wow. I have a kindle and two overstuffed bookshelves and still use the library. I'm not an elitist snob though.
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Don't feel bad, I have 4 packed to the gills and my wife got me a kindle and has prohibited me from bringing any more physical books in the house due to simply storage space.
 
americanwoman said:
Wow. I have a kindle and two overstuffed bookshelves and still use the library. I'm not an elitist snob though.
Click to expand...

PoS had an odd way of expressing it, but I too like the feel and look of books - I like the look of a wall of books, or a room of books. I don't, however, think they make you any more classy and elegant than any other consumer product you acquire, be it a fancy car, an expensive watch, etc. Classy and elegant is a state of being, not something you acquire at a store.
 
Henrin said:
The kindle is actually a pretty crappy device. The battery life is pretty ****ty, the memory is pretty much non-existent, the Silk Browser is spyware, you don't actually own anything you buy, you can't uninstall any of the apps that come with it, it doesn't have any ports except the mini usb port, it doesn't work with any wired devices, you can't customize what will display in the carousel and therefore if you want to keep it clean of everything you use you have to continually remove certain things to keep them off the carousel, the amazon app store is extremely limited compared to apple app store, you can't access the root without voiding the warranty, etc. In short, the kindle sucks.
Click to expand...

*shrugs* I use it to download and read books from either my library or Amazon. Works just fine for that.

Perhaps you'd be better off with a tablet or pad.
 
I use the kindle app on an Asus nexus. But also I to get books from google books as it tends to be cheaper and I can keep an ePub version offline for any reader
 
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