Quote:
Originally Posted by jeremy81
No offense but to the people complaining didn't you purchase it knowing you would be buying books from Amazon. Isn't that the point?
|
Jeremy, I doubt anyone here took offense and you ask an excellent question (karma coming your way for doing so).
I think -- and I'm a Sony owner not a Kindle owner -- the answer has several levels and what follows are my thoughts, not necessarily the correct answers.
First, Kindle owners intended to buy primarily from Amazon, not exclusively from Amazon. (I didn't want a Kindle because I try to avoid buying anything from Amazon, so I assume Kindle owners have just the opposite view.)
Second, I think that many -- not all -- Kindle purchasers assumed originally that an ebook is an ebook and once purchased could be read, with minor inconvenience, on any ebook device. Neither Sony nor Amazon make it clear how difficult, if nigh impossible, it is to do so.
Third, a lot of people who would otherwise be perfectly happy buying only from Amazon just do not like the Big Brother aspects that slowly are becoming apparent. It is simply a matter of principle. Additionally, Amazon has publicly stated that Kindle ebooks are DRMed because publishers demand it, and people assumed Amazon was speaking truthfully. The truth is that Amazon's contract with publishers insists that the publishers agree to have the books DRMed, and so chink in the trusty armor.
As one looks at the totality of events one begins to question Amazon's trustworthiness. What will happen next?
In my case, I recognize that Sony is not the white knight but there are a couple of things that put it ahead, public relations-wise, at this moment. First, Sony can't change my firmware automatically because there is no whispernet equivalent. Second, Sony can't look at my Reader and decide I'm violating the TOS by putting unapproved books on it, again because of no whispernet. Third, Sony has added ePub and reflowable PDF support to the Reader, making it more open (not 100% open, just more open) and freer of the Sony store.
Compare the actions of Sony with those of Amazon and it becomes more obvious why some Kindle owners are upset. Sony is not perfect, just currently better than Amazon in these regards.