Amazon deleles E-Books from Users Kindles

[jinjuku]

Putting this in the category of 'You soon won't own anything anymore':

Users of the ebook reader, kindle, had some of their e-books deleted with an intentional delete order from Amazon on behalf of the publisher.

From the NY Times article by David Pogue:

"apparently the publisher changed its mind about offering an electronic edition, and apparently Amazon, whose business lives and dies by publisher happiness, caved. It electronically deleted all books by this author from people’s Kindles and credited their accounts for the price. "

The books in question? George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm.

Remember: You can't resell your ebooks or even loan them out. Welcome to your new media 'free' world.

I think I will simply keep buying the DVD/CD/book thank you.

 

[markw]

...and people wonder why I still love physical media and the printed word.

 

[tbergman]

At least they were given the credit back but at the same time, if I physically own the book, it's mine, and that is a huge benefit over electronic media. Plus I don't have to buy a Kindle

 

[WmAx]

This crap has occured several times now in media formats such as Microsoft's ex-music service and Google's media service, etc..

I have now learned that a high end amplifier ($20,000) in the latest edition of Stereophile uses electronic authentication. That's right, you have to register with the manufacturer to get an authentication file from them, put it on a USB stick and load the files into the USB port on the amplifier, or it will only work for 15 minutes at a time, after which, it automatically shuts down....

OMG - this is freaking ridiculous......now we have authentication of HARDWARE? Sick....

-Chris

 

[tbergman]

This crap has occured several times now in media formats such as Microsoft's ex-music service and Google's media service, etc..

I have now learned that a high end amplifier ($20,000) in the latest edition of Stereophile uses electronic authentication. That's right, you have to register with the manufacturer to get an authentication file from them, put it on a USB stick and load the files into the USB port on the amplifier, or it will only work for 15 minutes at a time, after which, it automatically shuts down....

OMG - this is freaking ridiculous......now we have authentication of HARDWARE? Sick....

-Chris

I guess I don't see the point... Are they trying to prevent resale? Can you transfer authentication? I hope this doesn't trickle down to more common equipment.

 

[Audioholics]

Can you imagine being on a trip... or having to use a book for class - and it gets erased? I'm extrapolating, but I think everyone should consider... um... borrowing a digital copy of 1984 in response to this.

 

[GlocksRock]

I think this makes me want to borrow all of my media just to stick it back to them.

 

[jinjuku]

I guess I don't see the point... Are they trying to prevent resale? Can you transfer authentication? I hope this doesn't trickle down to more common equipment.

Companies of almost all stripes and varieties would just LOVE to bash 'First Sale Doctrine's' head in.

They want you to own NOTHING. Every book, movie, audio track, car, electronics component, etc would all be LICENSED. It's coming folks.

You have Wal-Mart decommissioning their DRM servers, you have Microsoft decommissioning their DRM servers, you have Apple's kill switch removing applications from your iPhone that they didn't approve of, and now you have Amazon. This is a disturbing trend by no less than some of the worlds largest corporations.

 

[jinjuku]

Here is Orwells 1984 available in the Australian public domain at Project Gutenberg.

LINK

Make sure you are in a country were the works of an author dead already over 60 years is available in the public domain.

I read the first few sentences here in Ohio so I guess I will wait here for the FBI to kick down my door and haul me off to prison.

 

[WmAx]

I guess I don't see the point... Are they trying to prevent resale? Can you transfer authentication? I hope this doesn't trickle down to more common equipment.

They did not specify if it was transferable, or if you had to update authentication periodically to keep the hardware operating. It is primarily intended to prevent ANY unauthorized sales, such as grey market sales, for example, according to the article.

-Chris

 

[lsiberian]

The irony of this is the books deleted. Does no one else see that?

 

[jinjuku]

They did not specify if it was transferable, or if you had to update authentication periodically to keep the hardware operating. It is primarily intended to prevent ANY unauthorized sales, such as grey market sales, for example, according to the article.

-Chris

The real problem is:

1. They decide they don't want to run a licensing server any longer
2. They go out of business and you are left with a $20K device that runs only 15 minutes at a time because it is running w/o authentication.

The irony of it is if either of the two happened, it would be YOU sitting in jail if you circumvented the encryption all due to the DMCA.

 

[Nemo128]

Nothing can take the place of a good book, paper and ink, in my hands.

 

[lsiberian]

Nothing can take the place of a good book, paper and ink, in my hands.

Until you are hauling up 3 flights of stairs in boxes.

 

[tbergman]

Until you are hauling up 3 flights of stairs in boxes.

In the process of moving, will be homeless for about five days and I couldn't agree with you more on hauling books around. I should have sold these text books... or had them on Kindle so they could be deleted when the new edition comes out so I can't use my old editions. But that gets started down a whole different path of things that piss me off.

 

[Nemo128]

I hauled three bookcases worth when I moved. My books and I never part. I even have almost every textbook I used in college, that's half a dozen boxes by themselves.

I love my books. They're more important to me than my HT gear!

 

[MidnightSensi]

I hauled three bookcases worth when I moved. My books and I never part. I even have almost every textbook I used in college, that's half a dozen boxes by themselves.

I love my books. They're more important to me than my HT gear!

Yeah man, books are awesome. I keep all my books too, and I read them again and again. I eat that sh*t up like its valiums ... er volumes...

 

[Davemcc]

The irony of this is the books deleted. Does no one else see that?

No kidding.

This incident proves the text.

 

[lsiberian]

No kidding.

This incident proves the text.

I suspect a prank?

It'd be like congress banning the guilded age.