Quote:
Originally Posted by ZodWallop
Why would you do that in the first place?
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I wouldn't. I said that is what it "evolved into". I bought a Nook and was happily buying books for it from Barnes & Noble. Because that was simple and convenient - I didn't buy the Nook specifically for B&N book purchases per se. I downloaded all by B&N purchases to my computer for backup. I knew those downloads contained DRM, but I was naive enough back then to not fully comprehend what that meant. I had my Nook. And I had my backed up books that I could read on my Nook. All was good. Or so I thought. At the time I bought my Nook I believe the B&N bookstore had more titles available than the Amazon Kindle bookstore.
Then B&N removed the capability to download to your computer for backup. You were forced to download using the Nook only. At that point my brain started thinking, "this can't be good for the long term". Then I found that you could not copy the books from your Nook to your computer. You plug the Nook into the computer with the USB cord and you could not even see the books to attempt to download them. Then I found that you could transfer the books from internal memory to an SD card (you did this via the built-in Nook software). You still couldn't see the books, even on the SD card, when you connected the Nook to your computer. But you could pull the SD card out of the Nook and insert it into a card reader, and THEN you could see the books for copying to your computer. So I did exactly that. My brain was in high gear thinking about what B&N's ultimate goal was here. So I investigated how to remove their DRM. I learned how, and did that, then decided I didn't want to deal with B&N any longer. My Nook had EVOLVED INTO the entry point for their walled garden. I didn't buy it as such in the beginning, but that's what they turned it into over time.
So I bought a Kindle and gave Amazon a try. But the first thing I learned how to do, even before purchasing the Kindle, was how to remove Amazon's DRM. I didn't want to get into that B&N mess again. All was good for many years. But now, Amazon appears to be following the B&N path of crippling direct computer downloads and forcing you to use their device and only their device. The Kindle is EVOLVING INTO something that I no longer like. I will keep using mine as long as it keeps working. It is permanently in airplane mode. It does not know the password to access my WiFi. My router is set to block any attempts to connect from the Kindle's MAC address. Amazon is not going to force a download of new firmware on me that could cripple the capabilities that my Kindle currently has. I know my Kindle will eventually die. When it does, I will begin a search for a device that can display non-DRM EPUBs purchased from anywhere, that are side loaded to it. If that type of device disappears in the future, then it's probably back to paper books for me. I don't plan to deal with eBook walled gardens ever again.