Quote:
Originally Posted by Barty
Back to the original question. I was concerned about being locked in for a long time, but turned out what I was really concerned was having to pay $400, then $300, etc. To be locked in. When the price dropped to $140, my concern was allayed :-)
But seriously, my beef with Amazon is they not only locked me in, but they locked me in an inferior format nobody else uses  . I still hold out hope they will support ePub some day, just so they can say kindle now reads library books like the Other National Leading Brands. |
Well as somebody who has probably lost $1000s of dollars in lost, damaged, and no longer viable media files (video games, iTunes, poorly backed up computers that crashed) I understand the sentiment.
I'm going to leave the "inferior" format comment alone because first of all I'm not terribly picky about my formatting. I like it readable and that's about it. But mostly I'm not all that convinced Amazon will ever switch to ePub or that they even need to. Right now they are clearly controlling most of the eBook market and raking in the money as they do it. They don't need to offer Library Downloads to sell the Kindle, and let's face it - there's no money for a bookseller in library downloads (Other than Overdrive).
How about this?
Amazon sets up their own library content system supplier or actually buys Overdrive and starts supplying Ye Olde Public Library with their own Kindle books. hmmmm, 60% to 80% of US digital reader owners out there have a Kindle device or App and now the libraries are serving them. Amazon is selling the devices AND the library eBooks.
My point is, this digital book market is in an uncontrolled explosive stage. None of us really know where any of these retailers are headed 5 years in the future so thinking you are protecting yourself by buying ePub only is a high risk gamble.