[shalym]

Some corrections below..

Originally Posted by notimp

"Why would amazon ever want to be in the public library space - they are a company" >

You know that they *are* in the public library space in the US, right? I'm not sure why they aren't in other countries, but I don't believe that it's because Amazon doesn't want to be.

"Of course they use the -pay per pages read model- in their Amazon unlimited subscription line of business, but what does this have to do with selling books?" >

Ok...so what *does* it have to do with selling books? Are you going to answer the question, or just leave us hanging?

"Of course they auto deliver all "sold" books in a format no one but the company itself is allowed to produce anymore, but what if no one is actively using those autodelivered -kfx books?"

Why do you think that *all* books are being sold in kfx format?

(This is the "we dont have to position ourselves against the format" - because we'd like to ignore its existence and demand, that the rest of the consumer market does as well (as in - not use it at all, although its the standard for auto delivery. And there is no opt out. Or opt in for that matter.))

Huh?? Who is demanding "that the rest of the consumer market" ignore anything??

"Of course Amazon is producing a "book", that no one but they themselves and the devices their factory lines produce can a understand anymore - and of course its the only format with certain layout benefits, which increase readability" >

The part that I have emphasized above: "devices their factory lines produce" is untrue. I just checked the Kindle app on my Motorola phone, and when I download a book that is listed as being one with "enhanced formatting" it has all of the kfx features. In fact, if I remember correctly, the app had the ability to read the enhanced features before the devices did.

"But Amazon isnt owning the rights to those books, especially in the self publishing space, the author is - so the company cant be seen as heavily tightening its grip and trying to become more and more of a content player in the industry - shedding its former role as a distributing entity and a manufacturer of reading devices."

Again, I have to say "huh??" What does this mean??

"Of course Amazon is showing highly uncompetitive behavior in other digital goods markets they entered recently (kicking Google and Nvidia devices out of distribution, removing the most popular open source media player from their app store for dubious reasons), but they have never shown signs of not supporting the one legacy file format we need to still be able to read anything from outside the Amazon ecosystem on our Kindles."

"Of course they arent supporting those legacy file formats in terms of ongoing development, current features, or even delivery to the Kindle, without having to introduce a PC and some cables into the equation - but thats all we need to proclaim a valid perspective for the future of Kindle eReading and - "

When you say "kicking Google and Nvidia devices out of distribution" do you mean streaming media devices? Yeah...I can't find Chromecast or Nvidia Shield on Amazon, but I can find many many other streaming media players, including Roku. I don't understand what you mean when you say "they have never shown signs of not supporting the one legacy file format we need to still be able to read anything from outside the Amazon ecosystem on our Kindles." Do you mean that they still support formats other than kfx? If so, you are totally wrong about "having to introduce...cables". First, as I said above, books are still available to buy *from Amazon directly* that are not in kfx format. Second, I can send books that are bought from other places or downloaded from guttenberg and other similar places (or created by me) to my Kindle with no need of a cable of any kind, by emailing to my Kindle's dedicated email address. I can also use the browser on my Kindle to download books directly to the device.

"Of course we already have compartmentalized that there ought to be "Books" and "Books behind glass" ("its just a container for delivery, we dont have to understand it") - its the future, get with it."

And of course, whenever we speak about legacy formats in the industry - we talk about them as "being bagage", except when it comes to Kindle file formats we still understand, but that Amazon isnt directly distributing anymore - at which point they become "a valid path into the future".

You keep saying that Amazon isn't distributing other formats anymore...and you are still wrong.

I proclaim, that this community has at least a little bit of an "identity crisis" alongside the "Apple cant do anything wrong" paradigm we know in the industry all to well.

Attempts to argue, that the ecosystem is becoming increasingly problematic are being countered with "it still works for us here" (who are happy to prolong a part of the ecosystem fewer and fewer people will come in contact with) - and thats everything we should be concerned with. Mostly as tech experts.

Of course people are countering your argument with "it still works"...that's because it *does* still work. Look...this is what it boils down to. Amazon has their own ebook format...just like Apple does, and Kobo does, and Google does. If you download a book directly from Kobo onto your device, you are not going to get an epub. It's the same with Apple and with the Play store. You only get epubs from those stores if you first download to your PC and then transfer via USB.

The overall message that is needed to make this work is not congruent and entirely relies on loopholes in the new paradigm Amazon is creating to foster their concept of the future of eReading.

-

Also - when I proclaim that Amazon is in no way positioned to be an entity that has cultural development or plurality of public opinion in their DNA - thats fine, because Hollywood hasnt either? Also - of course, Amazon isnt a content creator in the eBook space - they just own the current eBook (no one else can create it, no one else should be able to understand it) format in the space - and their ambitions on other sectors (digital content) should be seen entirely separate from...

Oh come on...

As to the rest, I think it's heading even further into strangeness. I truly can not understand what Hollywood has to do with Amazon.

Shari