'I should be the Nook's ideal customer. But I'm not...I am locked in.'

[MsCG1]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Although 20% of electronics isn't too bad a rate around here. Between my own personal clumsiness, and Husband's butterfingers, and TWO INSANE CATS, we probably do accidentally kill 1 in 5 electronics.

Primary Cat particularly likes to jump on top of the big screen TV, even though there's only about 2 inches of surface space for him to stand on..........

My daughter dropped her Nook and cracked the screen three weeks after we got it for her. BN was VERY good about replacing it for us, but really, that was just good customer service. They didn't have to do it, and they certainly would have been well within their right to charge us for it.

I see people walking around with shattered screens on their cellphones on a daily basis, and I feel bad for them that they obviously didn't have some kind of insurance to protect themselves. Portable devices have a higher "injury" rate than other electronics, I think.

[cfrizz]

Exchange one company lock in for another company lock in, that makes a lot of sense....NOT!

Originally Posted by toddos

If Barnes & Noble wanted to kill the Kindle in a single blow, here's what they could do: Provide a limited-time "trade-in" offer. For any Kindle book that is also in the Nook store, if you can provide proof of purchase prior to the start date of the promotion Barnes & Noble will give you a license for the same book on Nook.

Yes, it'd be expensive and difficult to verify proof of purchase and some people would game the system, but I bet they'd get hundreds of thousands (maybe even millions?) of converts who would then be "locked in" to the Nook store. Unfortunately it'd cost them several million to cover the cost of licenses for the converts and thus would be a short-term loss that they wouldn't be willing to take, despite the long-term gain in customer loyalty and lock-in.

[toddos]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

Exchange one company lock in for another company lock in, that makes a lot of sense....NOT!

But it does for Barnes & Noble, and all of the "I can't buy a Nook because all my books are on Kindle" folks would no longer be able to use that excuse. For those of us who liberate our books and convert back and forth between mobi and epub, it doesn't really matter.

Edit: Also, Nook supports regular Adobe DRM as well as their own version, so you can buy books from other stores (Kobo, Sony, etc) and get them from Overdrive-backed libraries. Can't do that with a Kindle, without liberating those books anyway.

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

Exchange one company lock in for another company lock in, that makes a lot of sense....NOT!

Hmm... As long as the authors/publishers are offering their books in other
formats at other outlets, you shouldn't be "locked-in". Not by the outlet
that you select, anyway. You can just choose another.

If you mean that the device you chose to be your reading device can only
work with a certain outlet's DRM scam, then you might have chosen the
wrong device. Or if you are so enamored of your Kindle or Sony or Apple
device, you will have to live with the restrictions that choice entails.

There are devices that can work with more than one DRM scam, (the
jetBook Lite can handle three), there are more general purpose devices;
PCs, Laptops, Netbooks, PDAs, Tablets, that can use programs to read
ebooks from all, or almost all, vendors. With these choices available how
can the vendor 'lock you in"?

Then there is the possibility of removing any impediment to reading an
ebook purchased from any vendor, and converting it to a format that any
of your devices can use.

Luck;
Ken

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

As long as the authors/publishers are offering their books in other formats at other outlets, you shouldn't be "locked-in". Not by the outlet that you select, anyway. You can just choose another.

If you mean that the device you chose to be your reading device can only work with a certain outlet's DRM scam, then you might have chosen the wrong device. Or if you are so enamored of your Kindle or Sony or Apple device, you will have to live with the restrictions that choice entails.

I like the mobile phone system of locked devices. You get the option to buy a phone that isn't bound to a network, or pay less and get a locked one.

I know it isn't exactly the same, but people don't seem to realize that the reason why Amazon can afford to lower the price on the kindle is because most kindles sold bring revenue from the book sales. I say most and not all because, of course, there are those who will just get the free books.

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

I like the mobile phone system of locked devices. You get the option to buy a phone that isn't bound to a network, or pay less and get a locked one.

I know it isn't exactly the same, but people don't seem to realize that the reason why Amazon can afford to lower the price on the kindle is because most kindles sold bring revenue from the book sales. I say most and not all because, of course, there are those who will just get the free books.

I posted something to that effect from the article, but it whooshed right over the heads of everyone here, because, well, open=always good, locked=always bad. Without the stream of income guaranteed to a dedicated device, e-readers would be more expensive.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by stonetools

I posted something to that effect from the article, but it whooshed right over the heads of everyone here, because, well, open=always good, locked=always bad. Without the stream of income guaranteed to a dedicated device, e-readers would be more expensive.

Missed it completely. I mean I read it at the time, but got distracted by the off topic argument.

[Giggleton]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Primary Cat particularly likes to jump on top of the big screen TV, even though there's only about 2 inches of surface space for him to stand on..........

My cat does the same thing, especially when he wants attention!

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by stonetools

I posted something to that effect from the article, but it whooshed right over the heads of everyone here, because, well, open=always good, locked=always bad. Without the stream of income guaranteed to a dedicated device, e-readers would be more expensive.

Those particular e-readers, perhaps, but there have been plenty of other
e-reading devices not subsidized by an ebook retailer. Many at a lower
cost. The Ectaco jetBooks for example.

Luck;
Ken

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by toddos

If Barnes & Noble wanted to kill the Kindle in a single blow, here's what they could do: Provide a limited-time "trade-in" offer. For any Kindle book that is also in the Nook store, if you can provide proof of purchase prior to the start date of the promotion Barnes & Noble will give you a license for the same book on Nook.

I suspect that the books most people are worried about having to replace are from the publishers that set a minimum price with no discounts, coupons, etc. allowed.

Originally Posted by toddos

Yes, it'd be expensive and difficult to verify proof of purchase and some people would game the system, but I bet they'd get hundreds of thousands (maybe even millions?) of converts who would then be "locked in" to the Nook store. Unfortunately it'd cost them several million to cover the cost of licenses for the converts and thus would be a short-term loss that they wouldn't be willing to take, despite the long-term gain in customer loyalty and lock-in.

[OtterBooks]

Originally Posted by toddos

If Barnes & Noble wanted to kill the Kindle in a single blow, here's what they could do: Provide a limited-time "trade-in" offer. For any Kindle book that is also in the Nook store, if you can provide proof of purchase prior to the start date of the promotion Barnes & Noble will give you a license for the same book on Nook.

Interesting idea, and would definitely a big gamble on their part.

I noticed that many ebooks on Amazon list the publisher as the seller. Some do, some don't. But if you bought it from the publisher, it seems like they should honor that license across platforms. I guess they could claim that you only bought a license for the Kindle format version, but I hear that the original file from the publisher is epub, and Amazon converts.

A proof of purchase verification system would need to be set up, naturally. But that should just be a matter of your name and contact info matching the Amazon sale. Of course there could be problems here that I'm not considering.

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by MsCG1

My daughter dropped her Nook and cracked the screen three weeks after we got it for her. BN was VERY good about replacing it for us, but really, that was just good customer service. They didn't have to do it, and they certainly would have been well within their right to charge us for it.

I see people walking around with shattered screens on their cellphones on a daily basis, and I feel bad for them that they obviously didn't have some kind of insurance to protect themselves. Portable devices have a higher "injury" rate than other electronics, I think.

That's pretty much what I was trying to say: You run a greater risk with some electronics than others. What counts is the cost of the insurance vs. the cost of the device, at that point. Sure, you might never need the EW, but it's a safety measure in case you do. Especially with high-priced electronics where certain fragile parts are specifically left out of the normal warranty.

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by OtterBooks

I guess they could claim that you only bought a license for the Kindle format version, but I hear that the original file from the publisher is epub, and Amazon converts.

If it was from an independent author that might not be the case, though, right? Almost nothing of mine starts off life as an epub. The things I have in stores other than Amazon were originally DOC files (at least, on my end) and gets converted by Amazon and Smashwords, respectively. The only epubs I produce are sold directly on my website.

[kacir]

Now, you can read your Kindle Books on Nook Touch.

Very short time after the All New Nook Simple Touch (or how is it called) was Rooted, there is the first hacker running Kindle App on it.
http://www.the-digital-reader.com/20...he-kindle-app/

[OtterBooks]

Originally Posted by kacir

Now, you can read your Kindle Books on Nook Touch.

Very short time after the All New Nook Simple Touch (or how is it called) was Rooted, there is the first hacker running Kindle App on it.
http://www.the-digital-reader.com/20...he-kindle-app/

"It’s nowhere near ready for the average user, and even when it is I’m not sure you’d want it. This app has been tweaked to look good on an LCD screen and frankly the animation is almost painful to watch on the NT. I kinda wanted the NT as an E-ink Android tablet, but as I watch this video I think I’ve changed my mind."

Looks promising.