Comments on: Kindles and Owning Your eBooks http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/03/23/kindles-and-owning-your-ebooks/ DEVISING A SYSTEM FOR REMEMBERING EVERYTHING Sat, 20 Mar 2010 09:55:22 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Ryan http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/03/23/kindles-and-owning-your-ebooks/#comment-21296 Ryan Fri, 30 May 2008 18:33:31 +0000 http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=527#comment-21296 OK, I have both of your OMW verse books for the kindle, and love both of them. Will TLC be coming out for Kindle any time soon? I can't wait, and I really want the Kindle version as opposed to the book. My bookshelves are full, and I'm trying to go as ebook as I can. OK, I have both of your OMW verse books for the kindle, and love both of them. Will TLC be coming out for Kindle any time soon? I can’t wait, and I really want the Kindle version as opposed to the book. My bookshelves are full, and I’m trying to go as ebook as I can.

]]> By: trey http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/03/23/kindles-and-owning-your-ebooks/#comment-21295 trey Mon, 24 Mar 2008 03:10:16 +0000 http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=527#comment-21295 Just finished Old Man's War not 15 minutes ago. Great read. Copyright meets BrainPal -- big collision. We'll need as much progress in law as we will in technology to get to that state. What will happen with my (paperback) copy of OMW? Sit on my shelf? Yea, I'd like to reread it, but by the time I make one loop around my reading list (which just grew by at least 2: Android's Dream and Ghost Brigades) the sun will be burning helium. I usually give my books to a friend or a book drive. Look at it this way: it's free advertising. Someone else picks your book up for peanuts, but if they like it, they are more likely to purchase another book. Just finished Old Man’s War not 15 minutes ago. Great read.

Copyright meets BrainPal — big collision. We’ll need as much progress in law as we will in technology to get to that state.

What will happen with my (paperback) copy of OMW? Sit on my shelf? Yea, I’d like to reread it, but by the time I make one loop around my reading list (which just grew by at least 2: Android’s Dream and Ghost Brigades) the sun will be burning helium. I usually give my books to a friend or a book drive. Look at it this way: it’s free advertising. Someone else picks your book up for peanuts, but if they like it, they are more likely to purchase another book.

]]> By: Mary Dell http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/03/23/kindles-and-owning-your-ebooks/#comment-21294 Mary Dell Mon, 24 Mar 2008 02:10:26 +0000 http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=527#comment-21294 Sort of OT, but OMW is one book I've never bothered to lend anyone or buy for anyone, because literally every SF reader I've described it to has gone and bought it immediately with no further prompting. Easiest sell ever. Anyway, Kindle format books seem to be DRM'd up the yin-yang, so I assume I can't give them to people when I'm done, but I think I should have the right to. I buy them anyway, though, because DRM isn't one of my particular issues. Drives my husband crazy, though. Likewise every time I buy something from the ITunes store, he dies a little inside... Sort of OT, but OMW is one book I’ve never bothered to lend anyone or buy for anyone, because literally every SF reader I’ve described it to has gone and bought it immediately with no further prompting. Easiest sell ever.

Anyway, Kindle format books seem to be DRM’d up the yin-yang, so I assume I can’t give them to people when I’m done, but I think I should have the right to. I buy them anyway, though, because DRM isn’t one of my particular issues. Drives my husband crazy, though. Likewise every time I buy something from the ITunes store, he dies a little inside…

]]> By: Mark K. http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/03/23/kindles-and-owning-your-ebooks/#comment-21290 Mark K. Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:28:52 +0000 http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=527#comment-21290 <a href="http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6530211.html?desc=topstory" rel="nofollow">"Is It OK for a Library To Lend a Kindle?"</a> (Answer: Only if it has no content on it...) “Is It OK for a Library To Lend a Kindle?”

(Answer: Only if it has no content on it…)

]]> By: John Scalzi http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/03/23/kindles-and-owning-your-ebooks/#comment-21289 John Scalzi Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:27:27 +0000 http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=527#comment-21289 Vicki: Pretty sure I don't take a hit and that I earn my standard royalty. But I would have to check. Vicki:

Pretty sure I don’t take a hit and that I earn my standard royalty. But I would have to check.

]]> By: Vicki http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/03/23/kindles-and-owning-your-ebooks/#comment-21292 Vicki Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:14:21 +0000 http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=527#comment-21292 If I buy a Kindle version of your book instead of the hardcover, what kind of a hit do you take on royalties? Vicki If I buy a Kindle version of your book instead of the hardcover, what kind of a hit do you take on royalties?

Vicki

]]> By: steve davidson http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/03/23/kindles-and-owning-your-ebooks/#comment-21291 steve davidson Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:05:18 +0000 http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=527#comment-21291 I imagine as Ian M (#7) implied that it will operate in a manner analagous to music - you're purchasing a single copy in a particular format for personal use, a format that is not necessarily transferable to other media. You an transfer your videocasettes to dvd with the right hardware, but you're not supposed to and in fact the distributors consider that to be illegal. E-books formatted for kindle may very well be transferable to multiple digital formats, but that won't necessarily remain true. When it comes time to obtain the direct-to-brain version of OMW, you'll have to buy a new copy, even if you've already done so for the Kindle version. I imagine as Ian M (#7) implied that it will operate in a manner analagous to music – you’re purchasing a single copy in a particular format for personal use, a format that is not necessarily transferable to other media. You an transfer your videocasettes to dvd with the right hardware, but you’re not supposed to and in fact the distributors consider that to be illegal.

E-books formatted for kindle may very well be transferable to multiple digital formats, but that won’t necessarily remain true. When it comes time to obtain the direct-to-brain version of OMW, you’ll have to buy a new copy, even if you’ve already done so for the Kindle version.

]]> By: Kristi Wachter http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/03/23/kindles-and-owning-your-ebooks/#comment-21293 Kristi Wachter Sun, 23 Mar 2008 21:18:50 +0000 http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=527#comment-21293 For me, my (possibly erroneous) understanding that buying a song from iTunes or buying an ebook means that I do NOT have right of first sale or any of the other rights in the physical counterpart has kept me from spending money on iTunes and ebooks. I'm extremely happy to give $100 to the library every year at their used book sale - I get a bunch of books I really like, they get $100. As a matter of principle, I have not yet been able to bring myself to spent one red cent on an electronic work I can't legally transfer (deleting my own copy, as would happen with a physical copy) to someone else. For me, my (possibly erroneous) understanding that buying a song from iTunes or buying an ebook means that I do NOT have right of first sale or any of the other rights in the physical counterpart has kept me from spending money on iTunes and ebooks. I’m extremely happy to give $100 to the library every year at their used book sale – I get a bunch of books I really like, they get $100. As a matter of principle, I have not yet been able to bring myself to spent one red cent on an electronic work I can’t legally transfer (deleting my own copy, as would happen with a physical copy) to someone else.

]]> By: Captain Button http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/03/23/kindles-and-owning-your-ebooks/#comment-21288 Captain Button Sun, 23 Mar 2008 18:27:37 +0000 http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=527#comment-21288 I trust that the authors who rail against used book stores do all their research for writing using only books they have purchased new. No libraries, no looking at friends' copies, used copies, etc. This probably makes historical research practically impossible. I trust that the authors who rail against used book stores do all their research for writing using only books they have purchased new. No libraries, no looking at friends’ copies, used copies, etc.

This probably makes historical research practically impossible.

]]> By: Geoff Arnold http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/03/23/kindles-and-owning-your-ebooks/#comment-21287 Geoff Arnold Sun, 23 Mar 2008 17:14:49 +0000 http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=527#comment-21287 For me, the free download from Tor of "Old Man's War" worked just as the publishers hoped. I transferred it to my Kindle, and read it during a business trip to California. As soon as I finished it (at SFO, waiting to fly back to Seattle), I bought "The Ghost Brigades" from the online Kindle store, and started reading it on the flight home. As for the "who owns what" debate, it's pretty clear that most of the restrictive licensing terms originate from the content providers (publishers, film distributors, record industry, etcetera). And frankly, I can't really blame them: nobody knew what a fair pricing model might be, or how digital downloads might disrupt their businesses. If you look at the history of (legal) music downloads, it took the publishers more than six years to agree to give up on DRM. I expect that the book business will take just as long. For me, the free download from Tor of “Old Man’s War” worked just as the publishers hoped. I transferred it to my Kindle, and read it during a business trip to California. As soon as I finished it (at SFO, waiting to fly back to Seattle), I bought “The Ghost Brigades” from the online Kindle store, and started reading it on the flight home.

As for the “who owns what” debate, it’s pretty clear that most of the restrictive licensing terms originate from the content providers (publishers, film distributors, record industry, etcetera). And frankly, I can’t really blame them: nobody knew what a fair pricing model might be, or how digital downloads might disrupt their businesses. If you look at the history of (legal) music downloads, it took the publishers more than six years to agree to give up on DRM. I expect that the book business will take just as long.

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