Quote:
Originally Posted by AprilHare
Why we are complaining: For the sake of being able to purchase ePub books and PDF reflow support we have to outlay on the order of $300 compared to people inside the US getting to pay merely $100, because Sony insists on these bizarre international border limitations. The main benefit of ePub for me would be that I could purchase ebooks where I live, since the Sony Store is bricked off from us. I speak the same language as our US friends (besides "faucet" and "tap" and "gray" and "grey"); I live in a similar society; we have good trading and social relations with the US, including Americans who live and work here - but this silly arrangement is kept to humor lawyers and Sony executives at the expense of us, the international consumer.
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"Humoring" lawyers
is something of a survival trait, you know.
The legal realities that made the borders into barriers were mostly a matter of not getting sued, and incidentally, not setting the e-book movement back a couple of decades or so: if they hadn't abided by those nicities, the publishers would have taken their balls (and
all the balls are theirs) and gone home, with lawsuits as nice farewell gifts. Then where would we be?
When the UK Sony roll-out happens next month, you'll likely be able to buy books from Sony then, if that's what you want to do: they'll still be selling BBeB format for as long into the future as they'll comment on.
The only thing you're missing out on is the option to get $100 from them for your old Reader, which, from their perspective (the only one they
can take and remain lawyer-resistant) you aren't supposed to have outside the U.S. to begin with -- that's also why you had to jump through so many hoops to get it in the first place.
Further, let me point out that absolutely nothing in the world prevents you from eBaying that PRS500, and using the procedes (likely
more than $100, mind you) toward a new 505.
Sony is in the best position to know of epub can be made to function on the 500 or not, they say it can't. Personally, I recognise the possibility that this might be 'Marketing Speak' for "we're not going to put in the time and effort to
make it work on a model we discontinued last year."
However, I also recognize that I
don't know which scenario is the accurate one. Unless someone gets epub working on a 500, I doubt we'll ever know, and if someone does, it won't much matter that Sony didn't, will it?
I
also recognize that Sony has a right to decide it's not in their best interests to put development efforts into making
anything new work on a model they discontinued last year, so I don't have a problem with either scenario.
To me what it comes down to is that Sony didn't have to make this 'trade-in" offer at all, it's pretty clear that they did so in response to the outcry of their early adopters (mainly) here at MR, and, respectfully, my sympathy for folks who are upset by being excluded when they
had to know they were buying outside channels in the first place is pretty limited, I'm afraid.
Please note that I am
NOT saying we should shut-up and be grateful for what we're given. Rather I'm pointing out that Sony deserves a little credit (or at the
very least simple
acknowledgement) for going well beyond the norm to offer a token of thanks to their early adopters.