Privacy best Reader

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

Jesus you people are beyond paranoid.

Would you please explain exactly how this THEORY would work? Even if they removed it from my device, they can't remove it from my pc, as well as being backed up on a seperate HD & a microchip.

Some people don't archive books on hard drives. (I think of that as foolish. However, "foolish" doesn't mean "it's okay for stores to screw them over and delete their purchases.") Also, if they remove it from the reader once, they can do so again. They can make it impossible to read that book on the device. (I grant this is not particularly likely.)

Unless I'm logged into their store how are they going to access my books? The most they could do is remove it from my account online, but since it is still on my pc it doesn't matter.

If the device has wireless, they might be able to remove it from the device at any time.

Adobe isn't a bookseller, and for Sony, or any other store to remove books that I haven't bought from THEM would be STEALING!

They could claim the books were copyright infringements. Sony could claim it has the exclusive right to distribute <somebooktitle> and therefore any unauthorized copies of it are infringement.

This is, indeed, stealing. But so was Amazon's removal of books people had bought from their store. (If I buy a book from Waldenbooks, and they discover that publisher was illegally printing them, they don't get to break into my house to remove my copy.) Amazon got sued for removing 1894.... but not for removing the earlier copies of Rand's books and Rowling's books, despite the legal situation being the same.

And after the uproar over what Amazon did, I don't think any of them would be stupid enough to do something like it again.

No, we're pretty sure they'll find *new* ways to be stupid. And I can understand people not wanting to play guinea pig for corporate blunders, which, if they're leaving an open wifi connection between themselves and the company, they are.

When Fictionwise & others lost the Agency 5, you all were in an uproar since a good chunk of books disappeared & you lost them. But it was your own fault since you didn't bother downloading them right away. I had no loss since I always download what I buy right after I buy it.

You go back and forth between saying "you can trust the companies; they won't do anything stupid, illegal & harmful to your ebook reading," and "if you take the precautions I took, you won't be damaged." Some people want to take *different* precautions--like not giving the company access to their important data in the first place.

There are always ways to protect yourself without having to either do things illegally or create a whole bunch of work for yourself (stripping DRM) to accomplish what you want.

And that's what's being sought here: Legal methods to avoid corporate interference with reading habits, by choosing a device that ebook stores can't interfere with.

[Maggie Leung]

I think Amazon settle the "1984" lawsuit because they wiped out some kid's study notes when they nuked his copy of the book. That's not the same situation as the Ayn Rand book, which was nuked because someone without copyright sold it via Amazon. The kid's notes were his property.

[cfrizz]

Some of you are welcome to be a paranoid as you like. Me, I'm going to continue to download & read both my drm & non-drm books and enjoy myself.

The only AFAIK confirmed case of a company removing books from readers is from Amazon via wifi. If you don't have wifi, then the chance of it happening are slim to none.

I decided NOT to get any device that can remotely access my reader. All I do is a ONE WAY download when books are purchased, nor do I use any synch feature.

If I thought up as many unlikely to happen paranoid schemes as some of you, I would never be able to get anything done or have any enjoyment out of life. I refuse to live my life based on a endless cycle of "what ifs."

It has nothing to do with trust & everything to do with the vast majority of these companies have far more better things to do with their time then look over our shoulders.

No doubt, if any of these unlikely scenarios happen, I'm sure you all will let us know.

[nashira]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

Some of you are welcome to be a paranoid as you like. Me, I'm going to continue to download & read both my drm & non-drm books and enjoy myself.

The only AFAIK confirmed case of a company removing books from readers is from Amazon via wifi. If you don't have wifi, then the chance of it happening are slim to none.

I decided NOT to get any device that can remotely access my reader. All I do is a ONE WAY download when books are purchased, nor do I use any synch feature.

If I thought up as many unlikely to happen paranoid schemes as some of you, I would never be able to get anything done or have any enjoyment out of life. I refuse to live my life based on a endless cycle of "what ifs."

It has nothing to do with trust & everything to do with the vast majority of these companies have far more better things to do with their time then look over our shoulders.

No doubt, if any of these unlikely scenarios happen, I'm sure you all will let us know.

A little paranoia is actually good for us more often than not. A certain grumpy wizard's favourite phrase from Harry Potter comes to mind, too.

Regardless of how anyone else wants to do things, or how silly or timewasting or whatever they find a person's particular worries, it's a perfectly legitimate and reasonable thing for them to want a device that suits their needs and makes them feel more comfortable. Especially since there are a lot of devices available that do what the OP is asking for. It hardly effects anyone but themselves, anyway.

[cfrizz]

Originally Posted by nashira

A little paranoia is actually good for us more often than not. A certain grumpy wizard's favourite phrase from Harry Potter comes to mind, too.

Regardless of how anyone else wants to do things, or how silly or timewasting or whatever they find a person's particular worries, it's a perfectly legitimate and reasonable thing for them to want a device that suits their needs and makes them feel more comfortable. Especially since there are a lot of devices available that do what the OP is asking for. It hardly effects anyone but themselves, anyway.

I agree with you. However, practically everyone on here only espouses breaking the drm which you have to go hunt for on the web in order to download some other program to do it & then fiddling around with it in Calibre, then if they are lucky they have time to read the damn thing.

In other words, making it more complicated then it has to be. Maybe some just want to buy the books they want & sit down and read them.

You all make it sound like this is something that HAS to be done & nothing could be further from the truth.

The least you can do is present BOTH sides. Having a drm book is NOT the end of the world and it is highly UNLIKELY that anything is going to happen to that book, especially if you back it up. Which is something that everyone should do with all their important documents that are on their pc's.

[Lilly]

Definitely a Sony Reader meets your requirements.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

Having a drm book is NOT the end of the world and it is highly UNLIKELY that anything is going to happen to that book, especially if you back it up. Which is something that everyone should do with all their important documents that are on their pc's.

The people who bought 1984 from Amazon probably thought the same thing.

[cfrizz]

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't this happen BEFORE Amazon allowed you to dload your books onto your pc?

Again, if you don't use wifi, then you don't have to worry about a store coming in the backdoor to take something back.

If you can recall another time that this has happened with any other store please share.

Amazon, just like Apple or Bose have succeeded because they follow a very simple rule that the majority of people like: KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID!

When you hear about thousands of books being removed from peoples readers & pc's from every store that sells books, then by all means we will have a huge problem.

Until then, other than pointing out the potential problems that having a reader that can connect wirelessly to the web might mean for their books, there is no need for making this venture more difficult than it has to be for newbies.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't this happen BEFORE Amazon allowed you to dload your books onto your pc?

I'm a little unclear what you mean by that. Amazon have always allowed you to download books onto your PC. How else do you think people without Whispernet coverage (which there are many) get their books onto their Kindle?

[cfrizz]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm a little unclear what you mean by that. Amazon have always allowed you to download books onto your PC. How else do you think people without Whispernet coverage (which there are many) get their books onto their Kindle?

I didn't know, since when I was originally checking out the Kindle it seemed like the only way to get the books was through the reader. I never even saw where you could download a kindle app to your pc until after the debacle.

So when I heard about the deletions, I immediately took it off of my list.

[HarryT]

You can copy books onto the Kindle via a USB cable, just as you do with most other readers. This is completely separate to the "Kindle for PC" application.

[sunnysmiles]

Originally Posted by rabbie

Thanks for all the info. I would like a 6" screen with eink. In the UK at the moment they are selling the Iriver story for £149 which looks like a good buy.
Does anyone ahve any experience of this?

Thanks

i HAVE AN iRIVER AND i LOVE IT . I think its better than the sony to read on .

[LCF]

I would also recommend Hanlin/Bebook/Astak (same hardware, different logo on the front) or a Sony reader.

Pro for Hanlin: It supports (AFAIK) more formats than the Sony.
Multiple firmwares, you can use the one best suited for you.

Contra(?) for Hanlin: I don't know how does it manage DRMed books, if you intent to read such.

Pro for Sony: With the price war going on, it's cheaper than H/B/A. Make sure to check the package contents though - there are some opinions, that buying an Astak with all the extras is cheaper than buying a cheaper reader without them, and then buying the extras out of necessity (cover for example).
Also pro are the Sony store and the touch screen (if you want one, of course).

Contra for Sony: Formant support.

I'm not sure if someone mentioned it already, but you could use the site wiki and compare all readers without direct connection to the stores. You will find it in the "Other Interfaces" row.

[jerrywojo]

Originally Posted by GhostHawk

Jetbook or Jetbook light beyond a shadow of a doubt....

I say the Jetbook as well. Ghosthawk covered it well. But I may add that the original Jetbook not the the Lite can play MP3's.

I have the original Jetbook and am very pleased with it. No page turn screen flash and the optional 2gig sd card can hold enough reading for nearly a lifetime!

Can read html. I frequently dump whole web pages for reading later. Calibre news service works well. I'm subscribed to 20+ feeds. And with the recent firmware upgrade feeds now have a table of contents.


One caveat though. There has been a series of firmware upgrades of a late that have been a little buggy. But Ectaco seems to be on top of it issuing new ones.

[Solicitous]

Originally Posted by luqmaninbmore

How so? I mean, in theory, calibre could be hacked to act this way, but in the real world it doesn't.
Any evidence that ADE phones home with the content of your ereader? Do you think they care? They are not in the business of tracking consumer preferences like amazon is.

Hell no. If ADE did phone home about all your ebooks, then people would avoid ADE and look for another solution (or use it simply as an intermediate step between purchasing and liberating).