Quote:
Originally Posted by notimp
Publishers have lost this ability under the new Amazon paradigm as well. Its actually the distributer that now has the sole ability to "create a book" ("the master copy").
The idea is, that as long as you leave this ability to be at least "somewhat known" and "distributed" - you cant inflict structural powerplays as in "this is my format - and I tell you how to...". We are talking about books for gods sake - do I really have to tell you how the "walled garden model" usually goes for those?
Also - the ability for users themselves to "edit" books is still as vital as ever - because Amazon didn't put any quality checks for formated text into the publishing workflow - and as a result they are now combating a low quality distributions segment within their publishing ecosystem. With negative labeling - btw. Ask any developer how well that usually goes.. 
Also I am not exactly sure if I am sad to see people actually having obtained this ability. Its one of the cornerstones of the argument we make for using Calibre, btw. Yes, manage your library - but also be able to convert those books to keep them accessible after the company seizes to support a format.
Its the cultural argument - do we manage culture, or will a company do so, that we not only pay for that privilege, but also pay for being able to access it. A private company - with ambitions to replace (I think thats fair...) public lending systems for example. |
I don't understand how Amazon delivering books in it's exclusive format is any different from Kobo delivering books in it's exclusive format or Google Play delivering books in it's exclusive format? For all of these companies, if you download directly to a device/app, you will get their own exclusive format. It's only if you download to a PC that you get the original format (epub in the case of Kobo and Google Play, or .mobi/.azw3 in the case of Amazon)
If Amazon is wrong, aren't the others just as wrong? What about the other services that serve up the books in their own exclusive formats that can only be read in their apps, and don't allow downloading at all?
Also, you understand that Amazon isn't replacing "public lending systems", right? It's only in the US that Kindle books are in libraries at all, and there are more epub books than kindle books in libraries in the US (at least there were last time I checked, could be changed now)
I just don't understand how ANY of this is inhibiting people from writing/publishing books in any way, shape, or form.
Shari