Yet Another Reminder That You Don't Own Your Ebooks: B&N Nook Deletes Files, Blames User

from the poof-gone dept

Just as Barnes and Noble is updating the Nook, its ebook reader that hasn't gotten much traction, comes reports that of an upset customer who found that the Nook deleted all of his files, and when he complained to B&N, the company basically told him it was his fault and there was nothing it could do. While B&N was able to restore the ebooks, it could not restore anything else, not from B&N, such as his own documents and notes:

I tried to turn my Nook on this morning and it wouldn't turn on. Finally, it gave me a screen that said it was updating and that I needed to leave it be, so I did. When it had finished updating it had wiped all of the files off of my nook. When I reregister the device, the books from B&N will return, but everything, including documents not from B&N, has been deleted.

When I called technical support (1-800-THE-BOOK) to complain/make sure they were aware of the problem so that it wouldn't happen to other people, I was informed that this can happen when the device hasn't been updated in awhile. I asked if this was something they were trying to fix and I was blamed for the fact that everything had been wiped from my device because I had not been studiously updating the device. I asked if he understood how absurdly incompetent this was, my computer, after all, does not delete all my files because I don't update it for awhile. I was informed that my computer updates everyday, whereas I have apparently not updated my nook in a terribly long unspecified length of time, which was just too long and too many updates for it to handle without deleting all my files.

Amazon got in a lot of hot water years ago for deleting copies of an ebook. You would think Barnes & Noble would know better than to do the same.

Filed Under: ebooks, nook, ownership
Companies: barnes & noble

Kindle To Let You Lend Books, Just Like A Real Book... Except Not

from the just-like-a-book...-or-not dept

Apparently, Amazon is adding a feature to the Kindle that will let you "lend" books to other Kindle users. Of course, it sounds quite like the ridiculously limited lending found on the Barnes & Noble Nook ebook reader as well. You see, when you "lend" the book, you can't read it yourself... "just like a real book." But, um, you can only lend it to other Kindle users, just like a real book (oh, no actually). And, you can only lend it for 14 days, just like a real book (oh, no actually). And... you can only lend it out once, just like a real book (oh, no actually). It really makes me wonder how incredibly soul-deadening it must be to be a developer working on products like this where you're focused on limiting what the technology allows.

Filed Under: ebooks, lending

Ebook Publishers Never Learned: DRM & Ridiculous Prices

from the history-repeats-itself dept

One of the reasons we talk so much about the recording industry is that, in some ways, it's an "early warning system," for a ton of other industries. I had hoped that, in calling attention to things done poorly and the things done well in the music industry, some of those other industries starting to face the same issues would be able to avoid the same mistakes. However, as we've watched the movie industry, the newspaper industry and the publishing industry start down those same rapids, a part of me is wondering if they're simply destined to make the same mistakes anyway (and just wait until other industries, such as healthcare, energy and finance go through this process as well...).

In fact, watching the ebook market in action is like watching a slow motion train wreck that parallels the music industry. Here are two examples. First, some publishers have apparently decided to price ebooks higher than hardcover books. Customer are protesting (and giving the books one-star reviews on Amazon), but the publishers don't seem concerned. Meanwhile, publishers are still insisting on ineffective and annoying DRM which only serves to harm legitimate buyers, without doing anything to prevent unauthorized copies from proliferating. We've seen this story before... How is it that folks at these publishers haven't been paying attention? Or do they really think "but, with us, it's different"?

Filed Under: drm, ebooks, pricing

Don't Be Confused By Amazon's Ebook Sales Claims

from the not-as-big-as-you-might-think dept

Amazon seems to have a way with presenting information about its ebook sales in a way designed to mislead people into thinking it's more significant than it really is. You may remember last year, when Amazon announced that on Christmas day, for the first time ever, ebooks outsold regular books. That got a lot of press coverage. But it was somewhat meaningless. That's because on Christmas, plenty of people who received a Kindle probably decided to buy an ebook or three. And it's also a day when fewer people have reason to go to Amazon and buy a physical book, since they may have just received some books as gifts (though, to be fair, some may have received Amazon gift cards too, but you don't necessarily need to use them that same day).

The latest is Amazon's recent claim that ebooks are outselling hardcover books 180 to 100. Another nice headline that the press picked up, with various stories suggesting that ebook sales are now really significant. This bothered some folks who dug much deeper into the numbers over at the MeAndMyKindle blog:

So what happens if you ask how many "printed books" Amazon sold, instead of using the smaller number of "hardcover books"? Following the same ratio, Amazon would be selling approximately 334 paperbacks for every 100 hardcover books -- or a total of 434 printed books for every 180 ebooks. That would mean over 70% of the books Amazon sells are still printed books -- 180 out of 614 -- with ebooks accounting for just 29.3% of all the books that Amazon sells.

Add to that the twin facts that Amazon covers 90% of ebook sale and that it only represents 19% of the overall book market, and you get an estimate that ebooks represent about 6% of the total market. This is certainly a non-zero number, and there's no doubt that it's growing, so it's a trend to watch out for. But we're a long, long way from ebooks really being a majority of the market. As the blog points out, even Amazon admits that no ebook has sold more than a million copies:

According to Amazon's own figures, no ebook has ever sold more than one million copies. (Though Stieg Larsson's three ebooks, added together, total one million in sales -- an average of just 333,333 per book.) PC World reports Stephenie Meyer is close to selling one million ebooks -- though she's sold over 100 million printed books.

This isn't to say the ebook market isn't important, but Amazon's statements promoting ebook sales seem purposely designed to pump up the significance of ebook sales, which still represent a much smaller proportion of the market than the company would have you believe.

Filed Under: books, ebooks, kindle, sales
Companies: amazon

Reminder: You Don't Own Your Ebooks; Amazon Locks Customer Out And Doesn't Respond To Help Requests

from the you-don't-own-what-you-bought dept

We've pointed out in the past that if you're "buying" ebooks on devices like the Kindle or the iPad, it's important to remember that you're not really "buying" the books, and you don't really own them. We're seeing that once again with a story on Consumerist about a woman who was locked out of the ebooks on her Kindle for a month:

A month ago I bought a kindle and was really excited to use it on vacation. I bought a few books and when I was done, I bought another. Then they froze my account, so I called in and logged a case.

Within 48 hours I got a call back, saying it was an error on their side and they'd unfreeze it for me, but I'd just need to re-order the book. I thought no problem, thanks for the help. So I bought the book a second time and it automatically freezes me out again. I call in and log another case, but get no phone call back as promised from an account specialist.

This apparently has gone on for four weeks, involving approximately 20 phone calls and emails... and still no solution from Amazon. Anyone know of any case where the same thing happened with a physical book?

Filed Under: drm, ebooks, kindle
Companies: amazon

Digitizing Your Own Books Becoming Popular In Japan

from the expect-a-backlash dept

Tim O'Reilly points us to a new report out of Japan, noting that it's becoming increasingly popular for people to digitize their own books (a practice called "jisui"). Yes, they're taking books they legally own and scanning them, so that they can store them as ebooks, and read them on various devices such as the iPad. I would have thought this wasn't a popular practice, but at least one study found that 20% of iPad owners in Japan had done so, and another 30% were interested in doing so.

What's interesting is how this is boosting ancillary businesses: specifically there's a strong demand for scanners that make it easier to scan and backup your books. In Japan, digitizing your own books for personal use is apparently legal under that country's copyright law, but some publishers are getting worried about this practice and are considering what to do about it. And, of course, some copyright "experts" are already saying that Japanese copyright law needs to be updated to deal with this.

Or, perhaps, just this once, we shouldn't change copyright law to limit what new technology allows, and recognize that maybe, just maybe, this action is showing what people want, which book publishers haven't been fulfilling.

Filed Under: books, digitizing, ebooks, japan

Why Hasn't The Authors Guild Freaked Out About iPad Ebook Text-to-Speech?

from the inquiring-minds-want-to-know dept

Back in March, we pointed out how odd it was that the Authors Guild hadn't freaked out about the text-to-speech capabilities of the iPad, which would allow for ebooks to be read aloud. Of course, this was the same feature on the Kindle which caused the Authors Guild to freak out (with absolutely no legal basis), leading Amazon to make that feature optional.

It appears others are noticing this strange silence on the part of the Authors Guild. David Pogue, over at the NY Times wonders if the Authors Guild just wasn't paying attention:

This is exactly the feature that debuted in the Amazon Kindle and was then removed when publishers screamed bloody murder. But somehow, so far, Apple has gotten away with it, maybe because nobody's even realized this feature is in there.

Filed Under: copyright, ebooks, ipad, text to speech
Companies: amazon, apple, authors guild

Once Again, How Does DRM Benefit Anyone?

from the we're-waiting... dept

Drew points us Shane Richmond's blog post about not being able to open legally obtained eBooks due to DRM. There's nothing new in this story -- which has been repeated thousands of times over the past decade or so, but it's just a reminder of the pointlessness of DRM and how the only thing it serves to do is to make the legitimate consumer worse off:

Can we pause for a moment to remind ourselves just how absurd this situation is? It's been a problem for so long that sometimes it's easy to take it for granted but we are being sold products that work in one set of circumstances but not others. And there's no good reason for the distinction. It's not as if this is a piece of software that needs to be re-written for each new platform -- it's just text.

The limitation is artificial and it's only there to prevent unauthorised copying but it's a wasted effort because anyone who intends to share these books can remove the DRM in no time. As always with DRM, it's the law-abiding customer who gets punished.

It really is amazing that anyone still thinks DRM makes sense.

Filed Under: benefits, drm, ebooks

Murakami Releases His Own eBook Without His Publisher

from the do-it-yourself dept

With the increased adoption of the iPad and the Kindle, eBooks are finally becoming a viable alternative to traditional paper-based books. And with this shift, comes an opportunity that some publishers may not like -- it is now easier than ever for authors to self-publish their works. Popular Japanese author Ryu Murakami announced that he will be self-publishing his next novel directly to the iPad, sidestepping his publisher in favor of working directly with a software publishing company on this eBook. Murakami's eBook, "The Singing Whale," will include video content and music by composer Ryuichi Sakamoto that will hopefully leverage some of the strengths of the new platform. By self-publishing, Murakami has the chance to make more money from this book than he has with his previous deals. That said, he's also assuming the risk that it loses money; in order to break even, Murakami needs to sell 5,000 copies of the digital book, which is priced at around $17. To be fair, $17 seems a little high for an eBook, but Murakami's eBook attempts to justify the cost by incorporating video and music, elements not typically found in the run-of-the-mill eBook. But, even if this experiment doesn't succeed, Murakami will probably be just fine -- his publisher, Kodansha, reports that they are in talks with the author about publishing "The Singing Whale" as a traditional book. Since Murakami clearly has other options at this point, undoubtedly those negotiations will play out more favorably for the author. We've seen a few interesting new models arise for book publishing in the recent past, so hopefully this is a sign that we will start to see even more.

Filed Under: books, diy, ebooks, ryu murakami, self-publishing

Big Name Authors Realize Their Old Contracts Don't Cover eBooks; Route Around Old Publishers To Release New Versions

from the there's-a-legal-fight-coming... dept

Late last year, we wrote about a legal fight, where Random House was fighting some of its authors who claimed that their old publishing contracts did not cover ebooks. Those authors wanted to go off and publish ebooks via other partners (or even directly themselves). Random House tried to claim that even though the contracts didn't specifically cover ebooks, that it was more or less implied. The problem, of course, was that Random House had already lost a case about this very issue years back. So, this April, the company was forced to concede with the one author they were fighting -- though it claimed this was an "exception."

Except some other big name, old time authors know better. They've been realizing that they could be free to take their ebook versions elsewhere, and now they're doing exactly that. A bunch of really well known authors, working via their agents, have decided to route around their publishers and offer some of the most popular books of all time as ebooks directly on Amazon's Kindle, without going through a publishing house. Among the books released through this effort are works from Philip Roth, Martin Amis, Vladimir Nabokov, Hunter S Thompson, John Updike, William Burroughs and Saul Bellow along with many others. Basically, some of the biggest names in literature from the 20th century.

Of course, more recent authors won't have this luxury directly, since new publishing contracts for books cover ebooks as well, but it will be interesting to see how well these new ebooks do for authors -- and if it leads to more authors realizing they can just self-publish outside of the traditional publisher system. I'm still not sure that makes as much sense, say, as going "indie" from a music standpoint, as publishers still offer a tremendous amount of value that's hard to recreate, but at the very least, it could open the door to more specialized "indie" publishers, who are more author-friendly.

Filed Under: contracts, ebooks