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I won't be bothering. Nearly all of my (long) wish-list is geo-restricted, as are virtually all the new books that looked interesting. I know I could jump through a few hoops, get my USian family members to purchase them for me, or even some of my US-based colleagues (who volunteered after a rant!), but who needs this nonsense? I certainly don't. I've already got a huge reading/re-reading list, so I'm really not going to miss that much.
Instead, the authors, publishers (and FW) will miss out on $$$. A very quick estimate for me alone since April is around $400. If this is just for me, then how many others outwith the US worldwide? And what total sales loss worldwide? And now we are seeing signs of restrictions into the US - ok not yet a bite, but maybe a little nibble.
I just polled the front page of FW, finding only 3/12 of the 100% rebates, and 0/11 of the remaining DRM'd are globally available. And I suspect at least one of the 3 will suddenly become restricted as it leaves pre-order status. And these are NEW ebooks. No doubt some of them are from pre-existing contracts, but how many are from relatively recent contracts? Is this an indication the publishers and authors are still signing geo-restrictive covenants? Remember that at the moment, a US geo-restricted ebook is rarely available anywhere to the rest of the world in ebook format. Some are, and are often at stupid prices (even allowing for local taxes) or in a format I don't use.
</rant>
snowman
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