Amazon admits mistake but we now know: You don’t own e-books

23 Oct 12 14:51 by in category Industry

Yesterday we wrote how someone’s Kindle was wiped, today we can report that her account is mysteriously re-activated which means she has her 50 books, stored on the Kindle back. Amazon has also posted on their customer forum that the account status on Amazon.com shouldn’t affect the books on the Kindle. In other words, if your Amazon account is deactivated you shouldn’t lose your books. That’s good news and this case seems to be a mistake that shouldn’t have happened.

Unfortunately the case required some press attention before it was solved. We’ve also learnt from it that although this happened by mistake, Amazon is able to wipe your e-books remotely, whether it is by accident or on purpose.  This makes clear that if you purchase an e-book on Amazon, you might feel the owner of it, but in fact you just have it as long as Amazon wants you to have it, they’re in full control due to their DRM. We’ve seen a lot of DRM come and go, we wonder when Amazon will decide to really let you own your e-books.

8 Comments on Amazon admits mistake but we now know: You don’t own e-books

olyteddy
Posts: 6596
Posted on: 23 Oct 12 16:41
That's why every time I buy an e-book I open it on my pc in one window and open Notepad in another adjacent window. I then proceed to type every word of the e-book in to Notepad before I even read the book. I don't want to be caught cold if Amazon sneezes. [/sarcasm]
BradWright
Posts: 226
Posted on: 23 Oct 12 17:57
Quote:
Originally Posted by olyteddy View Post
That's why every time I buy an e-book I open it on my pc in one window and open Notepad in another adjacent window. I then proceed to type every word of the e-book in to Notepad before I even read the book. I don't want to be caught cold if Amazon sneezes. [/sarcasm]
WOW! You really type the entire book in Notepad, and then read them? Try this instead. It will be a lot easier. Download the Kindle DRM Removal tool from www.ebook-converter.com and use it to remove the DRM from your Kindle books (you can do three books for free). Then download Calibre from www.calibre-ebook.com and use it to convert the books from Kindle's .azw format to a different format that you can use on any tablet/ebook reader of your choice. Calibre will save the converted books to it's own default location, and you can even use the program to load the books onto your tablet/eBook reader. I've done this with every Kindle book I have, and used Calibre to load them on my $45.00 generic 7" eBook reader, and it's great.
DrageMester
Posts: 19904
Posted on: 23 Oct 12 20:30
Quote:
Originally Posted by BradWright View Post
WOW! You really type the entire book in Notepad, and then read them?
sarcasm

sar·casm [sahr-kaz-uhm]
noun
1. harsh or bitter derision or irony.
2. a sharply ironical taunt; sneering or cutting remark: a review full of sarcasms.

BradWright
Posts: 226
Posted on: 23 Oct 12 21:09
Quote:
Originally Posted by DrageMester View Post
sarcasm

sar·casm [sahr-kaz-uhm]
noun
1. harsh or bitter derision or irony.
2. a sharply ironical taunt; sneering or cutting remark: a review full of sarcasms.

Unlike you apparently, I don't know this person, and because I don't know her, I also don't know if she was being sarcastic or not, so I offered her a solution. Your smart-ass reply to me, on the other hand, offered nothing.
Wombler
Posts: 9660
Posted on: 23 Oct 12 23:26
Quote:
Originally Posted by BradWright View Post
Unlike you apparently, I don't know this person, and because I don't know her, I also don't know if she was being sarcastic or not, so I offered her a solution. Your smart-ass reply to me, on the other hand, offered nothing.
olyteddy had already indicated he was using sarcasm in that earlier post.

Quote:
Originally Posted by olyteddy View Post
That's why every time I buy an e-book I open it on my pc in one window and open Notepad in another adjacent window. I then proceed to type every word of the e-book in to Notepad before I even read the book. I don't want to be caught cold if Amazon sneezes. [/sarcasm]
Presumably Drage thought you hadn't understood.


Wombler
TSJnachos117
Posts: 357
Posted on: 24 Oct 12 00:51
Quote:
We’ve seen a lot of DRM come and go, we wonder when Amazon will decide to really let you own your e-books.
As soon as they realize they can't stop people from hacking and removing their DRM.
olyteddy
Posts: 6596
Posted on: 24 Oct 12 04:46
Sorry to start a s***storm there. I thought the humor was pretty evident with
Quote:
type every word of the e-book in to Notepad before I even read the book
As how could I type it in without reading it...

PS: Good tips on how to 'own' the book though.
blegs38552
Posts: 104
Posted on: 24 Oct 12 14:37
How about saving the azw file to your PC?
Tell us, what do you think about

Amazon admits mistake but we now know: You don’t own e-books

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