Quote:
Originally Posted by meeera
Yep, me too (having come to the rescue of friends in this situation in the past, with my olde Mac). And those people could have prevented that, just by transferring their data over when tech first started to move on from floppies, instead of waiting ten years and then going "Oopsie!". I've seen a bunch of people lose data from not backing up their hard drive, too - again, this is very easily prevented. The solution is a modicum of education, forward planning and not falling into the trap of "it'll never happen to me" syndrome.
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You know this, and I know it too.
Most other people don't know, don't want to know, or are indeed of the "It won't happen to me" or the "There will be a solution someday" sort.
There are a few people that I support through Remote Assistance to keep them reading. They wanted an ereader because of the convenience with regard to weight, size, and so fortth. However, without me, they can't even get a purchased book onto the thing.
They just don't understand the process. They just DON'T. No amount of education will solve this. These are the type of people that go "Hey, where is that file I just downloaded?" when the browser has finished and closed the download window. They are too computer-illiterate to manage.
Who do you think has to keep track of all of these people's books? Yes, me. And the only reason I do it is because they are friends or family.
If I don't download and unDRM their books, make their backups, import them into their Calibre, *and* put the books onto the reader, everything through Remote Assistance, then they won't be reading on an ereader. Even after watching me do it many times, they just can't do it themselves. Each time I ask and just watch, they hit snag somewhere along the line, be it not being able to log into the store, find the ASCM-file, find the EPUB after downloading, or using Calibre.
If I decide to go away to Timbuktu and live as a hermit, there are a significant number of people who will not just cease reading on an ereader, but will instantly loose access to ALL of their information if only the slightest thing happens, such as a defective hard drive, let alone if they'd need a program upgrade or God assist me, a file format conversion of a DRM-ed file that was bought from the store using the e-reader itself.
I can future proof my data to some extent, because I know (some) stuff, and because some individuals and/or companies provide solutions I am aware of. However, most people are too uneducated with regard to computers, too uninterested, or sometimes even too stupid to handle something like this. That's my main reason for looking into future proofing ebooks in such a way that even the most uneducated, disinterested and stupid people will be able to read for a long time to come.
At the same time, I wouldn't have to worry about it anymore myself.