I've enjoyed this thread. In the interest of full disclosure, I have a Kindle which I am giving to my daughter to take to Africa (Peace Corps). In her case, it's easier to carry than the 150 paperbacks.
Of course the issue is not eReaders in general but with Amazon. My thoughts: 1. I'm surprised anyone thought Amazon couldn't do this. They can put stuff on your Kindle and upgrade your firmware/software. 2. The law that says they can't come into your house and take back stolen goods is a practical one, especially since they can't compensate you for your loss. I suspect that the law will be different for electronic devices, especially since they can give you your money back. I also suspect that such a new approach could actually survive a referendum, at least in the US. 3. It will be interesting to see how Amazon handles this next time. Corporate ethics is formed largely by Darwinian section based on customer reaction. People forget that in many cases a great majority silently assent to many corporate practices. As a side note, I've never understood why anyone expects personal-style ethics from a corporation once it ceases to be controlled by a founding family. 4. As much as people don't like the Amazon model, ebooks have taken off since they began to sell them with Kindle. For better or worse, the market/customers rewarded them in a way that companies like Sony could never manage. 5. The best analogy is obviously Apple/itunes. Apple recently pulled an App that killed a virtual baby by shaking the ipod. I'm trying to remember if they pulled the App from ipods. I understand Amazon's reaction and, by and large, I think it's a fair reaction. They have also said they will do things differently in the future. I suspect that really means they'll be more careful to screen ebooks, which was Apple's reaction with the App store. ________________________________________ From: [email protected] [[email protected]] On Behalf Of P. J. Alling [[email protected]] Sent: Sunday, July 19, 2009 5:10 PM To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List Subject: Re: OT: Down the memory hole ... Once again it's only a matter of time. In this case I would expect it would be software that could be loaded on a hand held computing device, or PC that will control access to those documents. Software security is even more fleeting than military secrets. Joseph McAllister wrote: > The libraries here in the Seattle area offer a growing list of titles > that are available for download with a time limit on them, in PC, Mac, > and iPod formats. I find the iTouch a bit small for reading a book, > but my laptop is just fine. > > I imagine that in the next few years lending libraries around the > world will have similar functions such as Amazon's Kindle. If not > broadcast like a cell phone, at least reachable via Wi Fi hotspots to > load a book into your reader of choice. > > > On Jul 19, 2009, at 09:19 , P. J. Alling wrote: > >> I refuse to use proprietary distribution formats because it locks you >> into one vendor. Baen Books, a publisher of Science Fiction offers >> their books in HTML format, (and a few others as well), but you can >> read them in any browser, and they can't reach into your machine and >> erase something you've already purchased. Not all of their catalog >> is electronic of course, but a fare amount is, and they supply a >> number of titles for reading on line or download for free in their >> free library. I don't know if it's happened yet but if it hasn't >> it's only a matter of time before someone hacks a kindel to produce >> unauthorized copies of downloaded books, not because there's any >> money in it, but just to do it... > > Joseph McAllister > [email protected] > > There is no off position to the genius switch. > Genius can, however, be observed as insanity. > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > follow the directions. > -- The free man owns himself. He can damage himself with either eating or drinking; he can ruin himself with gambling. If he does he is certainly a damn fool, and he might possibly be a damned soul; but if he may not, he is not a free man any more than a dog. --G. K. Chesterton -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
