eBook Prices - Is it just me…

[numtini]

I wonder if they bother justifying moves like this to the consumer. Do they try to spin it as a positive somehow, or do they just do it quietly and hope folks don't bother them about it?

Transferring it to your PC was never meant to be a backup. It was so you could then transfer the book to your own kindle and was a relic from the early years of Kindle when wifi was not ubiquitous as it is today. (The same reason early kindles all had cellular built in.) The downloaded copy had DRM on it and could only be read on an Amazon device licensed for the book. However, it was trivial to remove that DRM because it was based on a very old version. A few years ago Amazon moved to a type of DRM that was not trivial to remove and they were closing remaining loopholes.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Because they’ve only paid for the rights to x amount of copies, I imagine.

Couldn't they just buy the digital book and make as many copies as they want?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Yep. In the early days, libraries could get perpetual licenses. Now, the big vendors only give them subscriptions that include weekly or monthly usage counts. This allows them to enforce scarcity on non-scarce resource.

How utterly depressing!

 

[Micah Sweet]

Transferring it to your PC was never meant to be a backup. It was so you could then transfer the book to your own kindle and was a relic from the early years of Kindle when wifi was not ubiquitous as it is today. (The same reason early kindles all had cellular built in.) The downloaded copy had DRM on it and could only be read on an Amazon device licensed for the book. However, it was trivial to remove that DRM because it was based on a very old version. A few years ago Amazon moved to a type of DRM that was not trivial to remove and they were closing remaining loopholes.

So option 2 then?

 

[trappedslider]

Transferring it to your PC was never meant to be a backup. It was so you could then transfer the book to your own kindle and was a relic from the early years of Kindle when wifi was not ubiquitous as it is today. (The same reason early kindles all had cellular built in.) The downloaded copy had DRM on it and could only be read on an Amazon device licensed for the book. However, it was trivial to remove that DRM because it was based on a very old version. A few years ago Amazon moved to a type of DRM that was not trivial to remove and they were closing remaining loopholes.

And now a number of ebooks are being sold without DRM on the kindle store

 

[numtini]

And now a number of ebooks are being sold without DRM on the kindle store

Ah, but it doesn't matter. It still comes in the new format and can't be converted easily. Effectively, they took away the authors ability to sell drm-free books.

 

[trappedslider]

Ah, but it doesn't matter. It still comes in the new format and can't be converted easily. Effectively, they took away the authors ability to sell drm-free books.

Not so much as the author but the publisher
"At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management)."

 

[Nikosandros]

So option 2 then?

Yes, exactly. And I'll go out on a limb and suggest that the huge majority of users didn't notice or didn't care.

 

[Spectral Anomaly]

Couldn't they just buy the digital book and make as many copies as they want?

Stop and think about what you're suggesting for just a moment.

 

[Morrus]

Couldn't they just buy the digital book and make as many copies as they want?

You’re suggest that a library engage in piracy?

Libraries are great. But they’re not known for breaking the law. That’s how libraries stop being “great” and become. “closed”.