[rationalbiker]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

This issue is the support for products sold. I am not sure if they guaranteed support for the eBooks but there is an implied support from a consumer.

Im not sure how the consumer can imply support. Only the seller could imply support, though consumers might assume a certain level of support. A customer's assumption of support would not be anything a company would be bound by.

It is standard industry practice to keep these kinds of things forever (well as long as the company exists anyway).

By industry, do you mean ebook sellers? Would the business practices of other businesses bind Amazon to that same practice?

Customer support should not suffer even if a current product is dropped as long as the company exists. At least that is the reasoning some use to question the practice of Amazon.

I'm not sure this is a reasonable expectation. A multitude of companies, both of digital products and non-digital products, do not offer support for the products for the life of the company.

There are those who feel DRM only means that you rent the books for a while and this is the main reason that they feel that way.

Then I would support their decision not to purchase DRM related products. If the disagree with DRM, I would assume they would not purchase DRM content. That is well within their rights.

DRM is a sore point with many members of this forum...

In my case, I don't have a problem with DRM. While there are some folks how handle digital files ethically and responsibly, there are many, many people who do not. From the author to the distributor, I support their right to control the distribution of their product and thus their livelihood. In the same sense that I support a person's right NOT to purchase DRM content, I support the other sides right to protect such content from unscrupulous people.

I have no idea how long Amazon will support DRM on eBooks they are currently selling.

Nor do I. No one can know the future. History can help, but it is not always a reliable indicator.

For my own sake and piece of mind, I never lose sight of the fact that businesses exist to make profit. I rarely have any expectation that they will continue a product line or lengthy support period when it will result in a monetary loss to them. Any expectation of support I would have from them would be based on either practice or explicit statement as I know how wrong assumptions can be.

In my particular case, I give them kudos for Kindle support so far. When I purchased a Kindle from someone other than Amazon, I came to find out that they explicitly state they do not support products purchased from other sellers. They did not have to replace my Kindle when if froze and became and expensive paperweight, but it appears that they are going to replace it for me and give me a promo credit for my inconvenience. If they renig on that, I'll be the first to come back and let you know.

But my guess is the Kindle is going to be something that previous ereaders have not been, something that catches on with a much larger user base, perhaps even mainstream. I would also guess that this will be a profitable venture for them and that we will see future iterations of the Kindle.