Quote:
Originally Posted by robko
Considering Sony could have done like Diesel Books and others have done and said "We're closing, get your books now or they're gone" I'm not sure how you could say 10% not transferring is disheartening.
As has been pointed out by others, in some cases books that are on the Kobo site may not be the exact same edition (I know in at least one case the author had regained rights over the book so the old publisher version (which had been purchased from Sony) wasn't the same as the new author version that Kobo had).
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It is disheartening because it should be completely unnecessary to lose any books. Not only on the "why is DRM necessary" front, which is what it is, but also because of Kobo's terrible customer service. It would have been nice if they had planned it such that their customer service was prepared to say, "Yes, it isn't right that these $50.00 worth of books you paid for with Sony that we have available didn't transfer over, so because we want your business we'll verify that those didn't transfer over and give them to you." [After all, it should only be a small fraction of what the person spent with Sony so we should eventually make that back, anyway.] Or even, "We'll issue you a $10.00 credit and we're sorry you're having this problem." Or even that Sony had set up such credits as part of the transfer.
Maybe I'd even have been satisfied if customer service was scripted to say, "We're sorry. If the editions didn't transfer it is most likely because it was a different publishing company that carries our edition and we can't transfer it. We're very sorry." But the call I had was
that bad that I have no confidence in what they told me.
It's disheartening because if I had spent that $50.00 on paper editions, I'd still have the paper editions until the paper disintegrates. Now I've got them only as long as this computer and my 650 are still alive.
And now that I have a Nook, I'll think twice before I hit the purchase button.
Quote:
Originally Posted by radius
I don't follow your frustration with Sony at all...
If you have sync'ed your Sony reader and the Sony library software, you have a copy of all of your books on the computer. Sony gave lots of notice for you to download any books you didn't already have in local storage.
Since Sony used Adobe's DRM standard, you should be able to read those books on anything that has an Adobe renderer in it like Adobe Digital Editions on a Windows or Mac machine, or in Aldiko book reader for Android devices, on Nooks, or on Kobos and I'm sure there are more out there.
Generally if you move from one device manufacturer to another you are going to lose your books locked into that store. In other words, if you bought from Apple's iBooks on an iOS device or Mac, if you bought Kindle format books from Amazon or kepub books from Kobo you are out of luck when you move to a different platform unless you break the DRM. Sony actually chose the only DRM that is accepted across multiple manufacturers.
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OK, first this isn't about not having the Sony books on my equipment. I was a 650 user, which means all the books I have are on my local environment in the Reader software and I always kept my Reader fully synced.
Now, to DRM. "Generally if you move from one device manufacturer to another you are going to lose your books locked into that store." Yes, and that's not right. You can tell me that's the way it is, that's the way I bought them so I should have known that. And sure, that's still all true.
That still doesn't make me happy that I chose to drink the Kool-Aid, or a feeling that now I know, eventually, I've thrown away that $50.00. Could it be different because of Adobe DRM and the customer service person was right? I'd like to think so. But why weren't the original instructions for the transfer geared that way, then?
But in DRM... I learned to give up on WMVs until DRM-free MP3's came out and only lost a few hundred on it. I have clues why I haven't done that with eBooks, but now I'm rethinking those whys.
But after a miserable customer service experience with Kobo and reading many authentic reports that this is Kobo: Good equipment, pretty good store, but customer service sucks.... I've decided to walk away from Kobo and embrace Nook. And when B&N finally packs it in (and I expect that,) maybe I'll get a Kindle. So, I'm sticking with the whole thing but that doesn't mean I don't think the situation sucks or that I'll ever trust eBooks in quite the same way again.
As to Sony... In e-Ink Sony was first in the commercial environment. They should have been the innovator, and they should have stepped out in front of Amazon at every opportunity. Instead they were typical Sony, dawdle along and keep thinking they're #1 in the tech world so they can be #1 by just being Sony. And this is their M.O., a better article than I can write is at
http://gizmodo.com/5477633/how-sony-lost-its-way. Maybe the flip to ePub is proof that they are not always this way. But now I'm really mad that I was an early adopter of Sony - before Amazon announced the Kindle - and now I'm stuck with having to do more on my own.
I still own a lot of Sony gear. But that is the last time I trust Sony with my money on anything that involved proprietary
anything. They have now become just another brand to me, no matter how cool or revolutionary.