Bought a Kindle book, pages are only images

[talaivan]

I just paid $10 for the Kindle version of Why the Allies Won by Richard Overy. On my Kindle ereaders (a Scribe and Oasis), the book is apparently just a series of imaged pages that cannot be resized. Adjusting font size, margins, etc. has no effect, and the entire page is displayed at once, making the font so small it's unreadable, especially on the Oasis. The Kobo version of the same work is $20, so perhaps Amazon is selling it for less because of the format. The Amazon website says the book has enhanced font setting, but if I change the font, font size or anything else, the screen just blinks and the page reappears with no change. What is going on? I have never encountered this with a book I bought from Amazon.

[j.p.s]

What is the file extension of the book?

It's sold by "Amazon.com Services LLC" so it might be a bootleg scan.

I see a $30 audio book on kobo.com, no ebook.

[DNSB]

On Amazon.ca, I found a book by that title with ASIN ‏ : ‎ B006N5OTW6. It was priced at $12.99 Cdn which was the same price as listed by Kobo CA. The Amazon version showed the publisher in the details as Vintage Digital (Feb. 29, 2012) with the sold by being PRH UK. The Kobo version showed the publisher as Random House (Feb. 29, 2012) with the imprint being Vintage Digital.

The sample of the Amazon book showed up as an azw3/KF8 and appears to be a bog standard reflowable ebook complete with an embedded .epub version.

[tomsem]

No publisher is listed. Most likely a bootleg. Does not look like there is an official ebook edition in the US. The preview shows publisher is WW Norton. I'd return it for a refund and report to Amazon if you can figure out how to, and WW Norton.

[DNSB]

Hmm... Published date on Amazon.com shows as March 14, 2023.

Oddly a click on the See all formats and editions shows one that matches the one I see on Amazon.ca and Kobo.ca and it does show the Vintage Digital imprint. Can't say what the price is since Amazon.com shows me "from $21.14". The ASIN matches the ASIN on Amazon.ca ( B006N5OTW6 ).

[Sunlite]

I can find a version in an german ebook shop:
buecher.de
There you can look at part of the ebook in an online reader and you can change the fons and font-size.

The page there also says that the book can only be sold to residence of the following countries: A, B, BG, CY, CZ, D, DK, EW, E, FIN, F, GR, HR, H, IRL, I, LT, L, LR, M, NL, PL, P, R, S, SLO, SK

Some of which I can't identify.

But it is therefore highly likely that the digital rights are split between multiple publisher or are not sold at all for some territories.

[JSWolf]

Go to eBooks.com, switch to the UK and buy the eBook from there. Use PayPal to pay for it. Remove the DRM (if any) and convert to KF8.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Hmm... Published date on Amazon.com shows as March 14, 2023.

Oddly a click on the See all formats and editions shows one that matches the one I see on Amazon.ca and Kobo.ca and it does show the Vintage Digital imprint. Can't say what the price is since Amazon.com shows me "from $21.14". The ASIN matches the ASIN on Amazon.ca ( B006N5OTW6 ).

I hadn't clicked on See all formats and editions. I just did, in in the US, amazon.com does not show any other ebook options.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

I hadn't clicked on See all formats and editions. I just did, in in the US, amazon.com does not show any other ebook options.

Yes, and no US e-tailers sell one either (Kobo, Apple, Google anyway). Audiobook is available. The rights might be in dispute in USA.

Wonder what it will take to eliminate regional restrictions for ebooks. Who benefits from them?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

I hadn't clicked on See all formats and editions. I just did, in in the US, amazon.com does not show any other ebook options.

Interesting. I've attached the results from clicking on See all on Amazon.com connecting from Canada. OTOH, today it shows me the price as being $9.99.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Interesting. I've attached the results from clicking on See all on Amazon.com connecting from Canada. OTOH, today it shows me the price as being $9.99.

Yes, but click through to the Preview and you'll see the issue with it. There is no way it is legit.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by tomsem

Yes, and no US e-tailers sell one either (Kobo, Apple, Google anyway). Audiobook is available. The rights might be in dispute in USA.

Wonder what it will take to eliminate regional restrictions for ebooks. Who benefits from them?

Probably the publisher. Given that PRH UK is shown as the source for the ebook in Canada while W. W. Norton is shown as the source for the paperback and hardcover in Canada and the USA.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Interesting. I've attached the results from clicking on See all on Amazon.com connecting from Canada. OTOH, today it shows me the price as being $9.99.

What are the file sizes?

The bootleg is almost 400 megabytes. I suspect the $9.99 is because of data tranfer surcharge and the legit price is based on market considerations.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by tomsem

Yes, and no US e-tailers sell one either (Kobo, Apple, Google anyway). Audiobook is available. The rights might be in dispute in USA.

Wonder what it will take to eliminate regional restrictions for ebooks. Who benefits from them?

In general, various regional publishers that get geographic exclusivity and authors that are able to negotiate more total royalties and advances by dividing the rights than by granting worldwide rights to a single publisher or multiple publishers.

Specific to the US-UK, one of the several bilateral copyright treaties specified a split for english language books. (I'm not able to find the particular one at the moment.)

I suspect the political will to maintain the status quo far exceeds that to get rid of this anachronism.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

In general, various regional publishers that get geographic exclusivity and authors that are able to negotiate more total royalties and advances by dividing the rights than by granting worldwide rights to a single publisher or multiple publishers.

No, it's historic for English Language due to agreeing to respect "Foreign" copyright after they didn't.

Dividing rights for more money for the Authors is a myth. It would only apply to about top 0.5% of published authors. The royalty is based on sales. Historically UK wholesale wouldn't import USA publishers as part of a boycott organised by UK publishers. There are still unresolved issues with music (see creative rights and performance rights royalties on USA radio vs elsewhere).

With the current agreed monopoly areas for English Language, a Publisher won't sell even online outside the "industry" agreed areas and won't market there. Also it's hard to get even one major publisher to take a MSS. There is no onus whatsoever for the Publisher(s) for the other region(s) to take the title too. Whereas if this (restrictive and possibly immoral) trade practice was abolished then Authors & Publishers would see more income from online paper & ebook sales even if no distribution and marketing in the local retail.

It simply means that many English Language books are not available at all, even online, outside the geographical area the publisher has agreed.

Many Irish retailers in the past did personal "grey" imports of USA magazines (no magazine historically has more than one publisher) and books (either unavailable from UK publishers or much more expensive). Ireland for books was dominated by UK wholesale, even for Irish Publishers. This was part of back to 16th C. when Elizabeth I cut all Irish trade except via England. It was only when Ireland & UK both joined the Common Market it started to reverse (Majority Irish imports from UK then), so that by the time the UK left the EU, Ireland no longer was dependant overall on UK for import/export. But UK still dominates Irish retail books and magazines and Ireland is expected to use Amazon UK (wrong currency & tariff barrier) and till recently only UK Kindle sales (you can now opt for USA Kindle sales, but the sales are limited to titles in the UK, you just pay USA price plus Irish VAT).

DVDs & BD are now easier than ebooks or paper books! Though Region 1 DVDs are lower quality than Region 2 (or 4?) and while a BD player might play any DVD region, the BD player is still region locked.