If books worked like Amazons new CD/MP3 plan....

[elemenoP]

This service is useful to me because my husband still listens to CDs and I prefer all my music to be digital. So sometimes I buy him CDs and rip them for myself.

Originally Posted by Catlady

My first reaction to the Auto-Rip idea was ho-hum, but then I discovered that Amazon now has given me mp3 versions of a number of CDs I bought and gave as gifts, and therefore never ripped myself, so that was a nice bonus. On the other hand, only a small fraction of the CDs I bought over the years were included in the program.

I also discovered a lot of CDs I had bought as gifts (and completely forgotten about), and also other CDs that I have no recollection of at all!!! We shall my teen and pre-teen nieces and nephews and I share any overlap in musical taste.

I only hope that when I bulk import these into iTunes, it will ask me to skip duplicates, since I have already imported many of my own CDs.

[kennyc]

I'm noticing a few albums that I don't think I purchased. This is somewhat worrying....

[Gudy]

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

Hi Gudy, I don't mean 2 different ebook formats, I mean paper and e formats.

Ah, OK, the problem is a slightly different one then: While ripping mp3s from a CD is something that can be largely automated, this is definitely not true for the creation of e-books and paper books from the same source. At some point after the proof reading stage, the two processes diverge, and both require non-trivial amounts of human effort to get decent results. Bundling the e-book with the paper book would then have to account for that effort in the pricing somehow.

[avantman42]

Originally Posted by kennyc

This also makes me wonder why this is not a copyright violation. Gifts are not 'personal use' ??

This is one of the reasons I suspect Amazon have struck a deal with the record labels to allow them to do this.

[avantman42]

Originally Posted by Gudy

Ah, OK, the problem is a slightly different one then: While ripping mp3s from a CD is something that can be largely automated, this is definitely not true for the creation of e-books and paper books from the same source. At some point after the proof reading stage, the two processes diverge, and both require non-trivial amounts of human effort to get decent results. Bundling the e-book with the paper book would then have to account for that effort in the pricing somehow.

On the other hand, the effort to make both formats has already been made. Offering both as a bundle may get you more profits as people that would otherwise only buy one format (paper or ebook) will pay the extra to get both. On the other hand, of course, you'll get less profit from people that would have bought both separately.

[cghipp]

Originally Posted by Fluribus

I've downloaded other music from the cloud player. Just like kIndle booKs (I hope I spelled that correctly).

Thanks for your response. If I can do that, I will definitely take advantage of it!

Edited to add: I just started the process of adding my past purchases to the cloud player (you just click on a button and they are added automatically) and the first thing I noticed is that Amazon has gotten a huge chunk of change from me over the years... And that's not counting the music my husband purchased from them!

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by cghipp

Thanks for your response. If I can do that, I will definitely take advantage of it!

Edited to add: I just started the process of adding my past purchases to the cloud player (you just click on a button and they are added automatically) and the first thing I noticed is that Amazon has gotten a huge chunk of change from me over the years... And that's not counting the music my husband purchased from them!

yes, all my money and my children go to amazon...

[jersysman]

Went to my cloud account and saw my late Christmas present. I'm not going to worry about copyright or anything like that. That's Amazon's deal not mine. I'm just going to enjoy my new cloud music!!

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by avantman42

My understanding of UK copyright law (it may be different in the US - fair use may come into it, we don't have fair use in the UK) is that, unless they had an agreement with the music/book publishers, they'd need to pay for two copies (one CD copy, one MP3 copy), and then the music label & the artist would simply treat it as two sales and split the proceeds from those sales however their contract dictated.


I'd speculate that Amazon have made a deal with some music labels, hence why only some CDs are covered. If I'm right, to do the same with books they'd need to make a deal with publishers, and I suspect the big publishers wouldn't be in a hurry to make such a deal.

Avantman oh yep what you say makes sense and it seems that all involved in the deal should have been approached and accepted it. Although I do wonder if the artists themselves were ever included in this process.

But, I must admit, my post was more in the rhetorical sense .... because the same arguments re Royalties, copyright, personal use, lending etc are equally applicable to ebooks.

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by Gudy

Ah, OK, the problem is a slightly different one then: While ripping mp3s from a CD is something that can be largely automated, this is definitely not true for the creation of e-books and paper books from the same source. At some point after the proof reading stage, the two processes diverge, and both require non-trivial amounts of human effort to get decent results. Bundling the e-book with the paper book would then have to account for that effort in the pricing somehow.

It makes sense to me that one could buy a paper/ebook bundle, either on-line or in a store, but it's all the who haa re DRM copyright whereby what's okay for music is not for books.

That inconsistency seems to be heightened by Amazon's giving you another copy of purchased music in a form that you may not have bought it, and which may never have been for personal use eg it was given as a gift, but you now also have a copy of it.

I'm hoping that a legal loophole is opening (or is it widening) ......

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by kennyc

yes, all my money and my children go to amazon...

All your children are belong to us

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

All your children are belong to us

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

All your children are belong to us

Well, yes...
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=198605

They *are* working to a plan.

[cghipp]

While I would LOVE to get the e-books of the 42,000 (give or take ) books I have bought from Amazon, I'm sure it would be a nightmare. I would imagine that the rights to the CDs I have purchased are still owned, for the most part, by the same companies that would be allowing Amazon to stream them. But a great number of the e-books I own have been published by groups other than the hardback or paperback publisher. Heck, often the hardback and paperback publishers aren't even the same!

[cghipp]

I actually have nostalgic feelings for the Amazon of old (though that doesn't quite seem possible for a commercial web site). Remember when they were brand new, and they would give you a store credit for reporting typos or inaccuracies on their site? I felt like I was PART of something, man!

I remember buying a spiral-bound metalworking book that was defective because the spirals only went through the thin paper that was pasted to the inside of the cover (flyleaf?), and not through the cover material itself. (I feel sure I could describe that better...). So it was a matter of minutes before the entire book came out of the cover. I CALLED Amazon about it, on my land-based (though perhaps not rotary) telephone. They offered me a new one, but I told them any other copy would have the same problem and I just wanted to let them know; I planned to keep the book because I needed it. They either gave me the book for free or gave me a $20 credit - can't remember which.

Remember when they first announced they were branching out from books and music to every product on earth? I remember thinking at each step that it was going to be a disaster, and they were going to RUIN this great online bookstore, this upstart pioneer that I loved. I was not happy about it! This is why I am not a dot-com zillionaire: inability to recognize the moment!