eBook Prices - Is it just me…

[Staffan]

What does "root your tablet" mean?

Phones and tablets usually come with an operating system that's fairly limited in what it lets you do. Part of that is to make sure people don't screw their electronics up because they don't know what they're doing, but another part is to control what you can do with it. For example, the iPad doesn't let you install software on your own, you need to get it from the App Store. And the App Store (a) makes sure that software won't brick your tablet, and (b) gives Apple a 30% cut of what you pay for things in the App Store or on things you buy via apps.

"Rooting" is short for "give you root access", with "root" denoting a user in Unix/Linux systems (on which I believe iOS is based) who can do whatever the heck they want with the system. This would allow you to access the actual file system on the device (as opposed to the filtered version you normally can, where any data is locked off to a certain app), which is what you'd need to extract said data.

For example, on my computer I have a Documents folder in which I can organize my data pretty much as I please. I can have a DnD folder there, with maybe an Eberron subfolder. In this subfolder I can put pretty much anything I want – I can have PDFs of old sourcebooks, I can have my own notes about an adventure in Word or Open Office Document format, I can have maps in PNG or JPG format, or whatever else strikes my fancy. If I double-click on elaydenbrev.doc, my computer will open that document in OpenOffice Writer (because I have it set up to do that) and I will see the handout I wrote back in 2005. If I double-click on Sharn_Web_Enhancement.pdf, my computer will open Acrobat Reader and display the web enhancement for Sharn, City of Towers. And if I click on Ulfkort.ppt (originally a Powerpoint file), my computer will open it using OpenOffice Impress and I'll see the cards I once made for a player who played a Soulknife, which meant they had use of cards to keep track of whether they had Psionic Focus and/or Psychic Strike online or not. And for each of these files, there are many different apps I could use to read and/or edit them, and I'd still be able to access the files regardless of app (as long as that app can read that file format, of course – trying to open a PDF in Notepad wouldn't do much good)

On the iPad, things work differently. I'd have to first open the relevant app, and from there I would have access only to things belonging to that app. So elaydenbrev would be under Pages, Sharn_Web_Enhancement under Acrobat, and Ulfkort under whatever app the iPad uses for presentations. And switching to different apps in case I find I'm not happy with one would probably not be impossible, but likely require some effort.

 

[Belen]

That is generally not the publisher, but the platform licence agreement that does that.

If I buy a John Scalzi book, published by Tor, it comes with a notice that it is provided without DRM. Good luck getting it off your e-reader, though.

If you but the ebook from Barnes and Noble, for example, you need to root your tablet to get it outside the Nook app...

You can tie your Nook to Calibre and get the content to archive on your computer.

I will not buy an ebook unless I can make sure my copy is backed up.

 

[Umbran]

You didn’t understand what I was saying.

I thoroughly understood what you wrote. It is not my fault if that did not clearly represent what you wanted to get across.

I also understand that you don't feel the paper is part of the value. But that is my point - value is subjective.

As an example, digital products have little value if I am going to play while on vacation with friends in a cabin by the lake... with no electricity.

 

[Morrus]

I thoroughly understood what you wrote. It is not my fault if that did not clearly represent what you wanted to get across.

OK.

 

[Gilladian]

Or do they seem to be getting ridiculous?

I primarily read on a Kindle. I had some serious bouts of retinopathy in both eyes over the years so it’s generally easier to read white text on a black background. Plus, these old eyes appreciate being able to adjust font size.

I noticed this when I was trying to backfill the Discworld series. The books jumped from roughly $8 to &15 each. What can possibly justify this jump aside from “that they can”. The series has been out for years and the paperbacks go for about $7. Eventually, I was able to pick them up for cheap thanks to a Humble Bundle.

I don’t mind paying if the book is a new release or still only available in print as a hardcover. I just find it ridiculous for the ebook to be more than a non-discounted paperback. Especially, since you don’t technically own the ebook, but rather have a perpetual license to it (and we know they can take it away anytime). It also seems like ebooks don’t go one sales that often anymore.

Unfortunately, while I have the Libby app, they rarely have the books I want to read.

What are your thoughts? Do you use an eReader and if so, how do you get your books.

Retired librarian - talk to your library. Email suggestions of titles, authors, etc… that you want to read. They WANT to hear from you.

 

[Belen]

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.

Now Amazon controls complete access to how you can deliver your purchases to your device.

I, for example, keep my kindle in airplane mode. If I bring it online, Amazon wipes ALL of my sideloaded content as well as all of my locally created bookshelves.

They only way to prevent this is to give all of my sideloaded books to Amazon through the send to kindle feature that takes my content to add to Amazon’s cloud.

They want to own your stuff and data mine you by keeping you online.

The change made me stop buying books from Amazon and I am slowing moving to new e-readers.

I can no longer read authors exclusive to Amazon including several friends that publish multiple books but I do not want to be controlled by that company.

 

[Belen]

My wife’s a librarian and one of their big vendors just went subscription only. They used to have an option where a library purchase meant that the content was purchased and accessible when the contract expired.

Now, the library pays forever or they lose access to entire databases and collections.

They dropped that company and moved to the competitor.

Of course, the company who switched to the sub only model fired 60% of their employees because they did not need them for a sub-only business.

 

[Micah Sweet]

My wife’s a librarian and one of their big vendors just went subscription only. They used to have an option where a library purchase meant that the content was purchased and accessible when the contract expired.

Now, the library pays forever or they lose access to entire databases and collections.

They dropped that company and moved to the competitor.

Of course, the company who switched to the sub only model fired 60% of their employees because they did not need them for a sub-only business.

What a great business model for the tiny percentage of big business elite!

 

[Belen]

What a great business model for the tiny percentage of big business elite!

It is a feature. It is difficult to build wealth if you have no assets and you sub to everything.

I do hope that laws change to allow for digital ownership.

 

[Umbran]

I don't actually care about the whole "ownership" thing so much. I just want ebooks to be device-agnostic. If I had a e-ink device that could run kindle, Nook, and Libby apps for access, I would be happy.