Books removed from fictionwise?

[jenshale]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

jenshale, welcome to mobileread, could you clarify your question.

From what we understand you have purchased books that are no longer available for you to download ?

Yes - that seems to be the case, and not only with Fictionwise. Changes in arrangements between the publishers and the sellers have meant, either a tightening up or contract agreement, or new contracts.

I can't remember when it started, but I suspect around a year ago - books bought prior to this time were unrestricted, since then - however - restriction means that the sale is only allowed according to where you live !!!! I've even had a case where a book purchase of a UK author from a UK seller was refused cos I am in the UK !!!!!!

In Fictionwise, books in my bookshelf, legally purchased, are no longer available for re-download cos of geo-restrictiveness ....

From what I've seen at Fictionwise, it only (clarification needed) affects DRM'd books. I can still purchase their multiformat books ....

I purchased 30-40 books via Fictionwise for Stanza. My iPhone died so I needed to go back and re-download all of the books. When I go into my bookshelf from Stanza, it is completely empty. I have been able to trick the program into downloading into Stanza by going through eReader and adding the additional website to download from. However, there are still some books that I am not able to download due to a territory issue. All of my books were purchased in the United States (actually all in California) and I am accessing my books from the same place. Do you happen to know if refunds are being issued for books purchased and accessed in United States that we can no longer access? Thanks again for your help!

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by jenshale

I purchased 30-40 books via Fictionwise for Stanza. My iPhone died so I needed to go back and re-download all of the books. When I go into my bookshelf from Stanza, it is completely empty. I have been able to trick the program into downloading into Stanza by going through eReader and adding the additional website to download from. However, there are still some books that I am not able to download due to a territory issue. All of my books were purchased in the United States (actually all in California) and I am accessing my books from the same place. Do you happen to know if refunds are being issued for books purchased and accessed in United States that we can no longer access? Thanks again for your help!

a question you'll have to pass onto the store .... although they may say you've downloaded it once and they have a 'rider' in their T&C that states that there is no guarantee they will retain the books in bookshelf (though all mine remain their - even those I can no longer access).

[wgrimm]

Sorry, I will NEVER buy another book from ereader.com. This is the sort of thing R. Stallman was talking about when he claimed that ebook buyers lose rights. The inability to download some books has been ongoing for over a month. I was told it was caused by a problem with their ISP. And here is part of the reply they sent:

The following is quoted from the eReader.com Terms of Use:"9. Ebooks. After purchasing any downloadable eBook or product from eReader.com, it is the eReader.com Member's responsibility to download the eBook or product within 1 hour of purchase. If you believe an error has been made in the purchase, please do not download the eBook (you must contact us explaining the error at support@eReader.com). Once you download the eBook, then it is impossible for us to refund you for it. Please note: Because of the constantly evolving nature of the eBook industry and eBook formats, we do not guarantee that eBooks you purchase from eReader.com will always be available in the formats that we "currently" support. That is why it is important that you download the eBook in the format of your choice immediately after purchasing.eReader.com, however, will make efforts to keep the product listed and available for download in the eReader.com member's "Bookshelf" for one week, and longer when possible -- but this is not guaranteed."

This is complete BS! I no longer have a functional PalmPilot, so having their books on my computer helps not one bit- because I can't just copy them over to my Ipad or Ipod. I have to use their online service to do that. Combine this with the fact that their pricing truly sucks, and I can buy most titles cheaper at Amazon, well- why would I ever purchase another book from them? This is extremely crappy service.

has anyone at Mobileread thought of getting together on a petition, getting all of the ereader.com customers to sign it and forward this to them? I really predict some problems for ereader.com if this is how they treat their customers.

I will absolutely NOT buy the sdame ebook twice. I think they are telling their customers 3 things- You spent good money on nothing, so in the future either pirate that ebook or buy it from Amazon, where it is much cheaper.

[wgrimm]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

a question you'll have to pass onto the store .... although they may say you've downloaded it once and they have a 'rider' in their T&C that states that there is no guarantee they will retain the books in bookshelf (though all mine remain their - even those I can no longer access).

This is precisely what they are saying- see my previous post- and will not give refunds. This is bogus, because if you read on an Ipad or Ipod, you need to use their omnline bookshelf- no way to copy a book from your hard drive over to these devices.

I think we need a petition about this- let them know all of the pissed off ebook readers on this site, and how we will be hitting them in the pocketbook if they do not fix this nonsense. Their customer services are certainly not what they were when the company was Peanut Press.

[ATimson]

Originally Posted by wgrimm

This is complete BS! I no longer have a functional PalmPilot, so having their books on my computer helps not one bit- because I can't just copy them over to my Ipad or Ipod. I have to use their online service to do that.

Can't you use Stanza to read eReader-DRM'd files, copied from your own machine?

[wgrimm]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I disagree. A refund is totally appropriate. Jon, the glass is never half full for you is it?

BOb

This situation is absolutely atrocious. It might have been bearable in palm pilot days, when I had All ebooks on disk and could synch when I liked. No, everyone is at their mercy- pretty frickin impossible to get the books on your iPad or pod. Totally at their mercy, and the several hundred I spent on titles I can't download is lost money.
I have bwought books from them since they were peanut press, and have spent several thousand dollars there. I won't buy from them again. I have always noticed that e couple of people on this board that always dis the book pirates have not been saying much about this situation. Sorry, but ereader is actively encouraging piracy with crap like this.
I guess I am almost livid about this. I have alwready spent $30 at amazon kindle store to REPURCHASE references I bought at ereader. I won't buy from their parent company either, and I sure have a lot more sympathy for the ebook pirates after this situation. This company is trying it's best, with this situation and with their absurd pricing to kill the ebook business.
Sorry, Amazon may be the 800 pound gorilla, but their pricing
has been one of the best things to happen to the ebook market.

[wgrimm]

Originally Posted by ATimson

Can't you use Stanza to read eReader-DRM'd files, copied from your own machine?

That is a good suggestion- I will give it a try. Means a lot of work just finding the downloaded books. Ereader's pricing is crappy now, and added to this, means I won't be patronizing them any more. This is very disappointing.....

[ATimson]

Originally Posted by wgrimm

Means a lot of work just finding the downloaded books.

True, but even without DRM - which is the sole cause of Stallman's "lost rights" - you'd still have to deal with that.

[langshipley]

Originally Posted by wgrimm

I no longer have a functional PalmPilot, so having their books on my computer helps not one bit- because I can't just copy them over to my Ipad or Ipod.

If you have iTunes for your iPad or iPod, you can download an app called Stanza. Stanza will allow you (iTunes) drag and drop .pdb (?) eReader files to your iPad or iPod. I do that with my iPhone on books that I have previously downloaded to my PC but not on my iPhone to get it onto my iPhone.

Hope this helps.

[wgrimm]

Originally Posted by ATimson

True, but even without DRM - which is the sole cause of Stallman's "lost rights" - you'd still have to deal with that.

This is one of our digital age's unfortunate glitches. We need something like an "eternal digital storage locker" for books and music purchased. A service that is always online, that you can always download purchases from. Not just archiving- I can do that- but a service that can guarantee access to products in current formats, always.

For example, say you purchase a copy of Herbert 's Dune in .pdb format. The company you bought from goes out of business, and you are stuck with a DRMed pretty useless file, and can't read what you purchased. The service would update the file, perhaps strip the protection, and you could download and read what you BOUGHT, any time.

Actually, twice in my consulting work, companies I have worked for were considering custom software purchases that were a little pricey. The vendor would not provide source, and there were worries that if the vendor went out of business we would be stuck with obsolete software that had cost a bundle, and that we could not use. We worked out deals in both cases- the vendor deposited the source code (there was a code review conducted by another 3rd party to ensure the correct source was indeed deposited) with a 3rd party and signed an agreement. If the vendor went out of business, we were to be given the source code.

Now, books are not that expensive, but why should anyone get ripped off? If you buy a hardcover book, and want to read it 5 years later, you can do so. The same should be true of an ebook.

The sellers and publishers really need to do something here. IMHO, this sort of thing promotes piracy and will kill ebook sales. Why would anyone pay good money for something that they can't access a few months later? But I think this sort of thing will continue to happen until it hits the sellers and publishers in their pocketbook. There is so munch greed out there; costs are lower for ebooks, but many publishers are trying to chagre full hard cover price.

Amazon has made a good start, but 9.99 is still too high. Books need to come down to the $5 range. If they do, the market will have a lot of buyers. A month ago, I bought several iPhone sdk books, for about $40 each. They were available in ebook format, but prices were almost as much as for the paper. Why would I spend that. These books are of course available in pirated .PDF form, for free. Tech books seem to get pirated a lot. Just noticed the other day that a couple of those books are now available for $17 in ebook format.

Maybe publishers are starting to wake up. Apress, for example, prices it's ebooks too high, but run a daily deal where a selected title is $10. I have never bought one of their ebooks at standard price, but several at the special price. Reader need to pressure the sellers and publishers and let them know how stupid a lot of pricing is. And vote with their wallets.....

[wgrimm]

I have been trying to download my inaccessible books every day, and was finally successful yesterday. I was able to download all but 2 of the 40 or so books previously inaccessible.

But ereader, and for that matter Fictionwise and their parent company- I believe that is B&N, has lost me as a customer. It wasn't just the problems with downloading, but their inane "customer disservice" reply where they showed me their "terms of service.". The pool of ebook readers is comparatively small; fewer than exist for music and movies. When a bookseller starts pissing off the customers that buy many books, they are going to have some problems.

It's too bad. I started buing from them when they were Peanut Press, and customer service was excellent. Recently, it has sucked. A year or so ago, when pointed out to them that their book prices were more than double Amazon's in many cases,Customer Disservice gave me another inane reply- they told me that their customers liked the higher prices because of the many special offer programs they had....

Yeah, right. What happened is that they lost sales; if I saw something on ereader that looked good, I checked amazon's prices and usually bought from amazon. Why pay $20 when you can pay $9.99?

My prediction is that ereader and Fictionwise will not last. Price and convenience are the 2 biggest factors in this market, and Amazon is beating everyone. The booksellers should wake up- this market is all about convenience, and customers are not going to pay the same price for an ebook that they would pay for a hardcover.

Make it inconvenient and high priced, and people will obtain their commercial ebooks for free from usenet newsgroups or IRC or various websites like books4s!!! (I won't type in the rest of that s name because the moderator probably won't like it). DRM? Give it up. Most new books can be had in a matter of a few days because high speed scanners exist. Pirates do not need to crack DRM'd books to get their wares.

The booksellers and publishers that want to stay in business will realize these factors and will make it convenient for people to buy from them, and they will price their books accordingly. My guess is that eversions of current books need to be in the $7 range. And hey- if a publisher can make money selling a paperback for that price, they should be able to do it with ebooks.

[Genaro Zamora]

Originally Posted by wgrimm

I have been trying to download my inaccessible books every day, and was finally successful yesterday. I was able to download all but 2 of the 40 or so books previously inaccessible.

But ereader, and for that matter Fictionwise and their parent company- I believe that is B&N, has lost me as a customer. It wasn't just the problems with downloading, but their inane "customer disservice" reply where they showed me their "terms of service.". The pool of ebook readers is comparatively small; fewer than exist for music and movies. When a bookseller starts pissing off the customers that buy many books, they are going to have some problems.

It's too bad. I started buing from them when they were Peanut Press, and customer service was excellent. Recently, it has sucked. A year or so ago, when pointed out to them that their book prices were more than double Amazon's in many cases,Customer Disservice gave me another inane reply- they told me that their customers liked the higher prices because of the many special offer programs they had....

Yeah, right. What happened is that they lost sales; if I saw something on ereader that looked good, I checked amazon's prices and usually bought from amazon. Why pay $20 when you can pay $9.99?

My prediction is that ereader and Fictionwise will not last. Price and convenience are the 2 biggest factors in this market, and Amazon is beating everyone. The booksellers should wake up- this market is all about convenience, and customers are not going to pay the same price for an ebook that they would pay for a hardcover.

Make it inconvenient and high priced, and people will obtain their commercial ebooks for free from usenet newsgroups or IRC or various websites like books4s!!! (I won't type in the rest of that s name because the moderator probably won't like it). DRM? Give it up. Most new books can be had in a matter of a few days because high speed scanners exist. Pirates do not need to crack DRM'd books to get their wares.

The booksellers and publishers that want to stay in business will realize these factors and will make it convenient for people to buy from them, and they will price their books accordingly. My guess is that eversions of current books need to be in the $7 range. And hey- if a publisher can make money selling a paperback for that price, they should be able to do it with ebooks.

well said.

[ficbot]

Thank you so much for posting about your success. I had all but given up that they would ever resolve this problem! I was resigned to having to re-buy some of the books in order to access them again. I went and checked today after reading your post and ALL of my 22 non-downloadable books were downloadable again. Yay! I downloaded, liberated, backed up the PDBs and then converted them in Calibre to read on my Kindle. And now that I have ALL the books I paid for, I am officially done with Fictionwise!

[ann15554]

One nice thing about .pdb (ereader) files is they are drm'ed to your credit card # (or the number you make up using PayPal) not to a device, so I read and backup mine to my desktop, laptop, netbook, jetbook, and HP windows device, using sd cards for most of these. I learned not to use a device specific format for my books when Amazon was selling ebooks in microsoft reader format.

[ann15554]

Unfortunately Fictionwise has been caught in the publishers efforts to get a stranglehold on ebook pricing--isn't this an illegal cabal or something ? It certainly has hurt the competition that was making ereading more fun and varied.