This looks bad: Amazon being Amazon?
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- DaddyHoggy
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This looks bad: Amazon being Amazon?
I didn't realise that Kindle's could be wiped remotely...
I'm guessing I need to copy the content from my Kindle to my PC and then use Calibre to strip the DRM? (I've over 100 books on my Kindle now...)
http://www.bekkelund.net/2012/10/22/out ... mazon-drm/
I'm guessing I need to copy the content from my Kindle to my PC and then use Calibre to strip the DRM? (I've over 100 books on my Kindle now...)
http://www.bekkelund.net/2012/10/22/out ... mazon-drm/
Oolite Life is now revealed hereSelezen wrote:Apparently I was having a DaddyHoggy moment.
Re: This looks bad: Amazon being Amazon?
It's been something they've been doing for a while, unfortunately - when they picked the second-worst book to do this sort of thing with, it actually made the news, though doesn't appear to have stopped them doing it again.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/10/ ... 1X20091002
http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/10/ ... 1X20091002
- Smivs
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Re: This looks bad: Amazon being Amazon?
I fear this will be a perpetual problem while these companies 'rent' you products rather than sell them outright. I believe iTunes works the same way with similar problems being reported. The only counter to this seems to be to 'vote with your feet' and not use them, which is often not a viable option. Ain't life grand?!
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Re: This looks bad: Amazon being Amazon?
Hmm ... when Amazon deleted the copies of 1984, that was because the seller (who made the sale via Amazon, and from whose sales Amazon took a slice) didn't have the copyright to sell the book. What Amazon should have done, of course, was a) admit the mistake; b) compensate the customers; c) offer the customers a replacement text of the same book, published by the copyright holders; d) apologise profusely to the copyright holders and promise to institute policies to try to make sure they didn't end up selling stolen goods again. But that's not their style.
Of course, as I work in the book trade, I naturally despise Amazon from the bottom of my heart - their real skills lie mostly in the realm of bullying and tax avoidance, not retail. But the deleting of a Kindle's entire content, and the refusal to tell the customer why it happened, is a new low; and in the runup to Christmas, too! No doubt Amazon feel they are covered by their T&Cs: and as Smivs says, you only rent your ebooks from them. But the evil just piles up: maybe one day it'll fall on them.
Of course, as I work in the book trade, I naturally despise Amazon from the bottom of my heart - their real skills lie mostly in the realm of bullying and tax avoidance, not retail. But the deleting of a Kindle's entire content, and the refusal to tell the customer why it happened, is a new low; and in the runup to Christmas, too! No doubt Amazon feel they are covered by their T&Cs: and as Smivs says, you only rent your ebooks from them. But the evil just piles up: maybe one day it'll fall on them.
- Selezen
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Re: This looks bad: Amazon being Amazon?
I rarely buy ebooks from mass market for precisely this reason. Same with music. I either buy the CD and rip it or find alternative outlets to Amazon.
This sort of thing is exactly why piracy is such a widespread phenomenon. The lady in question has a legal right under the consumer act to question why her purchases have been reclaimed, surely? This is comparable to Asda finding out that someone with the same surname as you recently stole a loaf of bread then coming round to your house and emptying your cupboards.
It's quite shocking, really...
This sort of thing is exactly why piracy is such a widespread phenomenon. The lady in question has a legal right under the consumer act to question why her purchases have been reclaimed, surely? This is comparable to Asda finding out that someone with the same surname as you recently stole a loaf of bread then coming round to your house and emptying your cupboards.
It's quite shocking, really...
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Re: This looks bad: Amazon being Amazon?
Wow! So, because I chose to buy a book electronically, rather than physically, even though it's my cash, Amazon reserve the right to nuke it from long range? I obviously haven't read their T&Cs properly...cim wrote:It's been something they've been doing for a while, unfortunately - when they picked the second-worst book to do this sort of thing with, it actually made the news, though doesn't appear to have stopped them doing it again.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/10/ ... 1X20091002
I think I will be buying my e-Books from elsewhere and converting them to the Kindle DRM free from now on...
(I still buy mostly real books and we have a good local bookshop in Hungerford which I will visit if I'm in the area - I've bought ebooks through Amazon out on convenience and because my 11yo dyslexic daughter finds some books easier to read on the Kindle than in traditional paper format).
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Re: This looks bad: Amazon being Amazon?
<shakes his head in disgust at the whole 'you don't own it, we do' idea>
I would advise stilts for the quagmires, and camels for the snowy hills
And any survivors, their debts I will certainly pay. There's always a way!
And any survivors, their debts I will certainly pay. There's always a way!
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Re: This looks bad: Amazon being Amazon?
@amazon and @amazonkindle are currently being nuked on Twitter - good...
I'm tweeting every high profile author I follow - to tell them I'm not going to buy their books electronically via Amazon any more (and I was buying more eBooks than physical books as it was easier) so I will invariably be buying less books...
I'm tweeting every high profile author I follow - to tell them I'm not going to buy their books electronically via Amazon any more (and I was buying more eBooks than physical books as it was easier) so I will invariably be buying less books...
Oolite Life is now revealed hereSelezen wrote:Apparently I was having a DaddyHoggy moment.
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Re: This looks bad: Amazon being Amazon?
Yup - if they're covered by Amazon's DRM, you're just renting your ebooks. You can't lend them to people, you can't give them away, you can't leave them to your descendants in your will. They don't belong to you.DaddyHoggy wrote:Wow! So, because I chose to buy a book electronically, rather than physically, even though it's my cash, Amazon reserve the right to nuke it from long range? I obviously haven't read their T&Cs properly...
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Re: This looks bad: Amazon being Amazon?
I think I will be "backing up" my local copies via Calibre tonight...Disembodied wrote:Yup - if they're covered by Amazon's DRM, you're just renting your ebooks. You can't lend them to people, you can't give them away, you can't leave them to your descendants in your will. They don't belong to you.DaddyHoggy wrote:Wow! So, because I chose to buy a book electronically, rather than physically, even though it's my cash, Amazon reserve the right to nuke it from long range? I obviously haven't read their T&Cs properly...
I'm not buying any more books for my Kindle - free promos and tasters yes - but no-more paid for content...
Oolite Life is now revealed hereSelezen wrote:Apparently I was having a DaddyHoggy moment.
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Re: This looks bad: Amazon being Amazon?
The power of the purse, to quote John Seymour (a real hero in my mind).Smivs wrote:I fear this will be a perpetual problem while these companies 'rent' you products rather than sell them outright. I believe iTunes works the same way with similar problems being reported. The only counter to this seems to be to 'vote with your feet' and not use them, which is often not a viable option. Ain't life grand?!
This is why I haven't gotten nor want to get a Kindle .
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Re: This looks bad: Amazon being Amazon?
That would be justiceDisembodied wrote:But the evil just piles up: maybe one day it'll fall on them.
"I'll laser the mark all while munching a fistful of popcorn." - Markgräf von Ededleen, Marquess, Brutal Great One, Assassins' Guild Exterminator
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At the helm of the Caduceus Omega, 'Murderous Morrígan'
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Re: This looks bad: Amazon being Amazon?
Speaking of Amazon's ongoing parade of evil, I just saw this:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/20 ... -vat-ebook
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/20 ... -vat-ebook
I've been boycotting Amazon for most of this year, now, principally because of their massive tax-avoidance (which also includes the hundreds of millions of pounds in VAT they avoided for years by selling CDs and DVDs via Jersey). I still buy a lot of books (print, not e), and I have to say it's not been a problem. There are a few occasions when I've had to pay a little bit more, but it's only a pound or two at most. Any bookseller in the country can order any in-print book: there's nothing magical about Amazon. Well, apart from the armies of winged monkeys. They're the ones who pack the books for despatch - and they don't wash their hands ...Security and Exchange Commission filings, highlighted by Bookseller magazine, show that in the past three years, Amazon generated sales of more than £7.6bn in the UK without attracting any corporation tax on the profits from those sales.
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Re: This looks bad: Amazon being Amazon?
Nobody escapes the taxman, even if there is a sniff of tax avoidance the excise people will be all over them. Looks like a big tax bill will be headed over to Amazon HQ in the very near future. Hope the government uses the money for a new hospital called Kindle Memorial
Geraldine
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Re: This looks bad: Amazon being Amazon?
The next government or alliance of governments who go down the path germany did in the 30's and 40's will simply burn the books by pushing a button. Do all of yourselves a favor: buy real books with pages from a local seller. Supports your local economy and prevents others from obtaining your credit card or account information when you purchase online. The writing is on the wall...
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