Amazon eBook reader due next month: why I won’t touch it
Maybe I hold grudges too long, but since the Kindle eBook reader is coming from Amazon, I won’t touch it. Sure, the $400 to $500 device looks great with eInk. Yes, I think it’s wonderful that the device has a built in modem to puchase books on the fly, although I don’t know why it had to be an EV-DO modem; eBooks aren’t that big that you need a 3G connection to pull them down from the cloud. The problem I have is that Amazon burned me before; hopefully things are better this time around.
Before Amazon bought MobiPocket two years ago, they used to sell eBooks in various formats. I purchased a few in the DRM-protected Adobe format simply because the titles were only available in that format. I read the books on a Tablet PC and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Not too long ago, I wanted to re-read them so I went to my Amazon Digital Locker to pull them down again. Hmmm….not there. In fairness, I don’t expect Amazon or any other content provider to store my personal digital purchases forever, so I did have a backup on a portable hard drive.
I brought the content back to a different device because the old device is long gone, but I couldn’t unlock the content due to activation issues. The Adobe Reader software pointed me to Adobe, which in turn pointed me back to the origin of purchase. That’s a problem since Amazon no longer sells the content I purchased. I’ve found no practical way to unlock the content that Amazon sold me so my money is gone as is the ability to read the files that I have.
Now, I have to believe that due to the Kindle hardware as well as the ownership of MobiPocket, this won’t be an issue going forward. Perhaps this type of "friction" that Bob Russell was talking about is no longer there. I’m just not sure I want to invest $400 or more to find out. On the flipside, reading eBook content on my UMPC is still a risky prospect as well for the same reasons, even though it’s a great device for this type of activity. As much as I read (at least a book a week), I think I’ll sit on the fence a little longer to see how the Kindle shakes out.
Is anyone buying the Kindle when it hits the market? Have you lost access to content due to DRM or am I the only odd-man out?
My only ebooks have been on an iPAQ. I bought from Peanut Press -> Palm Press -> ereader.com
all of my books are in my Digital Bookcase on the ereader site.
I like the idea of an eInk unit but having a PDA with it’s other features (contacts, calendar, task list, games) will be hard to beat.
And I amused to the size of the screen.
thanks
..wiley
Houston, TX
ereader.com is also my preferred content provider Wiley. The way they handle DRM is much better because your content isn’t tied to a device, but instead is tied to the credit card number used to purchase the content. I change devices much faster than I change credit cards.
Additionally, you can change the content unlock codes if you do change credit cards.
Had similar problems to you – couldn’t open a half-read Microsoft Reader ebook on a new device. It was a Dan Brown ebook so I’m not that disappointed. I also bought an Adobe Reader ebook which I could never open from Amazon. Adobe couldn’t help me and I asked for a refund from Amazon but they just ignored me.
Wasn’t this ebook reader from Amazon originally supposed to be, like, $99?
I still don’t understand why anyone thinks people are going to shell out $400-$500 (or even $99) for what is essentially a single-purpose reading device — before they buy their first book — just to be able to read ebooks (which they can do on other devices they already own). Look at the flack the Palm Foleo took — at least it was a multi-purpose device.
I can only conclude that nobody’s really serious about selling ebooks, or else they’d be giving the readers away for free.
I have the Sony reader (I got it for 30% off so it was hard to say no). The thing will import pdfs and I have purchased probably 5 or 6 books.
It’s handy but speed of the page turns is frustrating. The grey-level isn’t enough to really read manga’s or american comics which is disappointing.
I also use the Zinio service for getting magazines that I read on the airplane (using a MacBook). The downside of that is that the 13.3″ screen is just a little small for a full page view (I don’t rotate). I had a tablet and have to admit that the magazine experience was wonderful.
Unless they give away a bunch of books free I don’t see them making much headway.
Even though I have lots of ways to read I still like the old paperback…
Yet another lesson why people shouldn’t buy DRM’d content. Ever.
Believe me, I know how great it is to carry an eBook anywhere you want and to have hundreds available at your fingertips but until people stop buying them, the retailers will continue to lock up books with tech that bites you.
Want reasonably prices books that aren’t locked up? Try Baen. Avoid the other sources that want to control when and how you can read the book you PURCHASED.
Yes, I have lost access to DRM-protected electronic books purchased at Amazon. I bought an e-book in protected PDF format. When Adobe updated their special reader for purchased PDF, my PDF on my hard drive could not longer be read. Amazon no longer sold the title as a PDF (only as a paper book). PDF unreadable, money gone, no fix available. NEVER again will I even consider buying a DFM-protected PDF book in electronic format.
I’d love to be able to read ebooks (actually, primarily for tech stuff and textbooks if they were available, my poor aching back) but $500 for a reader with a 6-inch display? Not after I got a real tablet PC from Woot (Gateway M275) a couple of months ago for the same price. And 4-level gray scale? How much less legible can we get here? And what’s with the “keyboard” underneath if it’s just a reader? Did Amazon just need to come up with an idea to take up space so the reader wasn’t so little?
I have a couple of MS Reader titles that I paid good money for and can no longer access, so I know exactly what Kevin’s talking about here. I *have* purchased a heap of books from ereader because as Dvorak said long ago, their DRM is the only one that makes any sense. I bought a protected Pdf once so world see what the experience was like -shush! does it stink!
And, by the way, if anyone thinks holding a grudge against a vendor that stiffed you, I will not buy any Apple product while I draw breath on this earth, courtesy of a neglected beauty queen called the Newton Message 2000. If you cheat a consumer, he (or she) will remember – and likely not forgive!
Sorry about the typos, I’m on XP tablet with a touchscreen and a mingy screen protector.
That’s Newton Messagepad 2000.
Wow. Amazon must like to throw money around without any regard as to whether they will ever get it back.
Can I get a few million from them? I promise never to return it!!
This is, to quote uncov, a big fat FAIL.
Kevin and MaroC, if you haven’t tried, yet, make sure you install Adobe Reader 6 or 7 — not the latest version 8. Adobe Reader 8 uses a different activation scheme and, as we’ve all found out, will not allow you to activate those older PDF purchases. However, when I uninstalled Adobe Reader 8 and re-installed version 7 (which is still available on the Adobe site), I was able to activate the old PDFs on my new laptop.
I don’t expect this option to last forever, so I’ll be looking for other options that eliminate the DRM completely. Surprisingly, several of my PDFs allow printing — just not to another non-DRM’d PDF, I had to print them to a file as high resolution graphics and then make a PDF out of that (which, naturally, produces rather large PDF files). Others don’t allow printing, so another solution is needed. I’ll let you know if I find anything more comprehensive.