What "freedoms" do you value in relation to your ebooks?

[latepaul]

Interesting list. I'm not sure they all count as freedoms though. And some of them depend on multiple factors. So lack of DRM would ease conversion but easy conversion depends on the availability of conversion tools. If you don't find Calibre easy to use has that impinged on your freedom?

I also don't think you have a "freedom" to demand a certain price, even a price relative to something else. You do have the freedom not to buy at a price you don't like.

If you're modeling this after Stallman's four software freedoms then I think you should boil it down to fewer more generic items and have your existing list as illustrations of the utility those freedoms provide.

[DiapDealer]

I value the freedom to read my ebooks in relative peace and quiet.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I value the freedom to read my ebooks in relative peace and quiet.

People are still trying to gain that right for pbooks so I'm afraid you might have a bit of a wait.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by darryl

I do agree that some rights are far more important than others, and that people have different priorities. I agree with you that access and affordability are of primary importance. I am not surprised that at the time of posting every single respondent has regarded backups in accessible format as important. On the other hand, it is not surprising to me in these days of social media that privacy does not seem to be a major concern, at least on current results.

I'm not surprised either. If I buy something I want to know that I will be able to continue to use it til either it wears out or I do. And really what privacy does the average person have in this digital age? With the right basic info about you I could find out everything from where you went to pre-school to what you like to have for breakfast. All that information is likely to be in a database or perhaps several databases somewhere in this world. We have an appearance of privacy but true privacy (where no one knows anything about the person next door) is an illusion I think. I understand hackers (traditionally) would dumpster dive for some of their information. So even your trash can tell others something about you in a general sense. And if I walk by your house and see a baseball, a tricycle and other toys in the yard I can pretty much tell that it's a family home with kids.

[Katsunami]

I checked everythong, except borrowing, lending and reselling.

I never borrow and will never lend or sell books, paper or digital.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by darryl

I tried to include the major rights I could think of plus a facility to at least mention those I missed. GeoffR already pointed out two other "rights" that could have been included.

I do agree that some rights are far more important than others, and that people have different priorities. I agree with you that access and affordability are of primary importance. I am not surprised that at the time of posting every single respondent has regarded backups in accessible format as important. On the other hand, it is not surprising to me in these days of social media that privacy does not seem to be a major concern, at least on current results.

I did not consider the privacy angle, simply because I think, what with social media and everything, it is the kind of thing that pervades everything, why should my ebooks be any different?

This is what the Kindle jailbreak+KUAL+BBB Firewall is for, and AdblockPlus+Ghostery+Co. in the browser, and and using exorcism-class avoidance techniques for Facebook and the like.
The responsibility for protecting your privacy is on the user. It's just plain old reality.

[darryl]

Originally Posted by latepaul

Interesting list. I'm not sure they all count as freedoms though. And some of them depend on multiple factors. So lack of DRM would ease conversion but easy conversion depends on the availability of conversion tools. If you don't find Calibre easy to use has that impinged on your freedom?

I also don't think you have a "freedom" to demand a certain price, even a price relative to something else. You do have the freedom not to buy at a price you don't like.

If you're modeling this after Stallman's four software freedoms then I think you should boil it down to fewer more generic items and have your existing list as illustrations of the utility those freedoms provide.

Your criticisms are largely accurate. In my defence, I will say that this was not a professional exercise on my part, just a throwaway attempt in a short time to put something together to get an idea what people value being able to do with their ebooks. Some of the items on the list don't sit very easily with the concept of either freedom or rights. A good example is price. A better question would not have framed this in terms of freedom, but of how important price actually was, or better yet, address affordability directly.

Stallman's freedoms, believe it or not, did not enter into my head. This is just a quick throwaway exercise to get people's opinions and encourage a discussion.

[Sweetpea]

Most of my answers stem from the same problem: DRM

I want to be able to read on any device of my choosing, on any app of my choosing, in any format of my choosing.

Beside that, I don't want anybody to look over my shoulder while reading.

Originally Posted by rcentros

I did also because, really, if the author chooses to sell books through one publisher in the U.S. (for example) and another publisher in England (for example) there's not really much the eBook vendor can do about that.

Why should I be stopped from reading a book if there is nobody who wants to sell it in my region? I don't mind that there are different prices for the same book, due to the circumstances you describe. But I do mind that I cannot buy a book on Amazon.com, because there's a European publisher, who sells that same book on Amazon.co.uk, where I cannot buy the book because I, being Dutch, am only allowed to buy books at Amazon.com (and I do mention Amazon because if I want to buy English books, it's about the only choice I have, as I cannot buy at English ebookstores at all and the Dutch ones don't offer a lot of English...)

[EowynCarter]

DRM free, be able to backup.

As far as format goes, we need a common format. Enough with having to mess up with conversions.

[danskmacabre]

Due to restrictive DRM being on most ebooks on the market, I have bought very few ebooks.
I DO however download books from the free repositories such as Gutenberg project and from here.

It's a shame though, as my book spending has dropped dramatically as well since I adopted ereaders years ago.
I would have spent probably $20 a month minimum with spending spikes when certain books I wanted were released in pbook format.

But I don't tend to buy physical books anymore, as I prefer the convenience of ebooks.

So a lot of re-reading, legally free books and one other thing I do is read a lot of new authors books where the first book is free, which can be interesting.

One day, when I can reliably and regularly buy ebooks in general without DRM, I'll probably get back into my old spending habits. Until then, I guess I'm a lost customer.

removal of DRM happened with music, so I expect one day it'll happen with ebooks.

[FatDog]

I love the freedom of cloud/vendor storage. If my device (Kindle) breaks or gets lost, the replacement simply accesses my content and re-downloads in a few minutes. I am no longer responsible for backing up the content.

I love the freedom that it's electronic and not in a box in the storage area, garage, upstairs or downstairs shelves. I have literally bought a second copy of a book because it was easier than trying to find my old copy somewhere.

(While we are sharing... )

I miss the B&M experience of discovering a new (or old) book by a favorite author.

I miss seeing the cover art every time I pick up my book. I don't recognize the books I have purchased visually any more and I have tried to re-purchase a few books. But Amazon catches this.

[DiapDealer]

OK, I just came up with one "Real" freedom I want/value with regard to ebooks.

...to be able to once and for all tell ebook producers to shove the Charis-SIL font where the sun doesn't shine. I am soooooo tired of having that font shoved down my throat. It's like the door-to-door vacuum-cleaner salesman of fonts. GO AWAY!!

[darryl]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

OK, I just came up with one "Real" freedom I want/value with regard to ebooks.

...to be able to once and for all tell ebook producers to shove the Charis-SIL font where the sun doesn't shine. I am soooooo tired of having that font shoved down my throat. It's like the door-to-door vacuum-cleaner salesman of fonts. GO AWAY!!

OMG! How could I have overlooked including that in the poll?

[JSWolf]

I want to be able to give my eBooks that I'll never read again to someone else. That means having the downloadable file at the shop it was purchased move to the account of the person receiving this eBook.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

OK, I just came up with one "Real" freedom I want/value with regard to ebooks.

...to be able to once and for all tell ebook producers to shove the Charis-SIL font where the sun doesn't shine. I am soooooo tired of having that font shoved down my throat. It's like the door-to-door vacuum-cleaner salesman of fonts. GO AWAY!!

LOL

It's not even an ereader optimized font. I wonder why so many publishers insist on including it. Just don't set a font, and use small images for special headers.