Konrath and friends take on Turow - Page 5

rhadin · 03-14-2012, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue Tyson

There can't be many that can't download a file from a website, surely? Ok, a few people will be too dumb to do that - but some of them can be shown.

Amazon won't let me download an ebook from its website unless I either have a registered Kindle or I have Amazon software installed on my computer. I don't own a Kindle and I do not want to install Amazon software on my PC. I can't verify that installing such software won't permit Amazon to rummage through my personal data when it wants or cause other problems (perhaps a conflict with software that I regularly use). If Amazon simply wants to sell me ebooks, it could make it so that I could buy the ebooks and download from Amazon just as I can from Kobo and Barnes & Noble. I don't have any B&N apps or Kobo apps on my computer but am able to buy and download ebooks from them.

latepaul · 03-14-2012, 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rhadin

If Amazon simply wants to sell me ebooks, it could make it so that I could buy the ebooks and download from Amazon just as I can from Kobo and Barnes & Noble. I don't have any B&N apps or Kobo apps on my computer but am able to buy and download ebooks from them.

Is there a way to download a Kobo ebook without either the Kobo app or ADE?

ProfCrash · 03-14-2012, 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rhadin

Amazon won't let me download an ebook from its website unless I either have a registered Kindle or I have Amazon software installed on my computer. I don't own a Kindle and I do not want to install Amazon software on my PC. I can't verify that installing such software won't permit Amazon to rummage through my personal data when it wants or cause other problems (perhaps a conflict with software that I regularly use). If Amazon simply wants to sell me ebooks, it could make it so that I could buy the ebooks and download from Amazon just as I can from Kobo and Barnes & Noble. I don't have any B&N apps or Kobo apps on my computer but am able to buy and download ebooks from them.

And BN and Kobo and Sony could sell me Mobi books. Guess what, they don't. When the industry standard becomes sell both formats, I will join on the Amazon is being mean band wagon. Since none of the big e-book stores are selling both formats, I am going to yawn every time I see this argument.

Kindle users are lucky, Amazon has the largest e-book store in the market. I have no idea why BN, Kobo, and Sony do not carry all of the same books (exclusives aside.) That is their loss. Don't blame Amazon for having a larger inventory and try and demand that Amazon sell books as EPub and Mobi. BN, Kobo, and Sony should get off their butts and stock more titles, it is not as if there is a warehouse that they have to fill up.

BearMountainBooks · 03-14-2012, 10:49 AM

If you ask me (and no one did) Amazon lowered pricing because they knew it would sell more books. They were in the business for year and they know how many books were selling used--at that under 10 and under 5 sweet spot. They were responding to market dynamics not necessarily putting downward pressure on prices because they thought it was fun. It happened to hurt the competition, which was a double-bonus for them, but the fact is, lowering prices sold more books--and it brought some readers (myself included) back into buying new books instead of used.

Konrath loves to be in the middle of controversy. I'm sometimes surprised he wasn't a lawyer. :>)

JSWolf · 03-14-2012, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue Tyson

Depending how you look at it yes. However, it is DRM free, so that should be supported - and makes it trivial to convert to whatever you want.

Not everyone converts. They just want it in the format they read. How often does this have to be said? People on MR can find out where to go to learn to strip DRM/format shift. But a lot of people aren't on MR. They don't know they can do it and they don't do it. Some just don't want to do it. So please don't go on about how easy it is to do as most people don't do it. So for them, it's locked behind the wall of a different format.

JSWolf · 03-14-2012, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue Tyson

There can't be many that can't download a file from a website, surely? Ok, a few people will be too dumb to do that - but some of them can be shown.

Show me how to download a Kindle eBook from Amazon to a computer without Kindle installed.

JSWolf · 03-14-2012, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by latepaul

Is there a way to download a Kobo ebook without either the Kobo app or ADE?

an ePub eBook with DRM needs some software such as ADE to deal with the ACSM file.

I've been able to download DRM free ePub without needing any software other then a web browser. Can DRM free Kindle eBooks be downloaded without having to have a Kindle or one of the Kindle apps?

howyoudoin · 03-14-2012, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Show me how to download a Kindle eBook from Amazon to a computer without Kindle installed.

I face a similar problem too. I can't get the toothpaste onto my toothbrush without squeezing the toothpaste container. If only there was a solution that didn't involve something as demeaning as having to swallow my pride and squeeze on that container.

crossi · 03-14-2012, 11:10 AM

Paranoid are you? What DO you have installed on your computer? I've got more programs than I can shake a stick at. Adobe, Audible, Calibre, Cannon Camera software, Dell software, Dropbox, HR block Tax program, HP software, iTunes, Java, KindlePC, Winzip and on and on.
Without downloaded software my computer would be a great doorstop. Why be paranoid just about Amazon and not all the other stuff you download and install?

jgaiser · 03-14-2012, 11:12 AM

Jon, you're building strawmen.

I can't download B&N ebooks without a Nook or application.
I can't download Sony ebooks without a Sony ereader (or application?).

Anybody who spends anytime on this forum quickly understands your utter dislike for all things Amazon, but reality is actually very different.

anamardoll · 03-14-2012, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgaiser

Jon, you're building strawmen.

I can't download B&N ebooks without a Nook or application.

Whoops, not quite true. You can absolutely download B&N books right from their site without a nook program.

Theoretically, you could then use a simple python script to unlock the books. If one was into that sort of thing. And if you're not, you can still side-load them to something like Aldiko and read on the app.

rhadin · 03-14-2012, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Whoops, not quite true. You can absolutely download B&N books right from their site without a nook program.

Quite right. I do it regularly and have no B&N application on my computer.

jgaiser · 03-14-2012, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Whoops, not quite true. You can absolutely download B&N books right from their site without a nook program.

Theoretically, you could then use a simple python script to unlock the books. If one was into that sort of thing. And if you're not, you can still side-load them to something like Aldiko and read on the app.

Ok. Point taken. Don't know much about B&N and the Nook

latepaul · 03-14-2012, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

an ePub eBook with DRM needs some software such as ADE to deal with the ACSM file.

I've been able to download DRM free ePub without needing any software other then a web browser. Can DRM free Kindle eBooks be downloaded without having to have a Kindle or one of the Kindle apps?

It was a genuine question. I hold no brief for Amazon. I have both a Kindle and a Kobo and various PCs and an Android phone.

Whenever I've bought DRM-ed ebooks from Kobo I've needed to use an app. I've never tried to download a DRM-free ebook from there - mostly because I think it's a harder site to use and most of my DRM-free stuff comes from Project Gutenberg.

BTW my PCs dual-boot but I only use Windows when I absolutely have to, preferring Linux but I don't check the software I install in the way rhadin suggests even though I could.

tomsem · 03-14-2012, 03:17 PM

The B&N flavor of DRM does not require any app to deal with the ascm. You can just download the ePub and open it with an app or device that uses Adobe RMSDK and implements its API correctly (pretty much all current gen apps and devices except Sony Reader at this point). I wish that more vendors used this DRM flavor (the friendliest on the planet unless you count watermarking), but I guess they assume everyone is used to the inconvenience of using ADE and any change would cost them money.

DRM free epubs will not involve an ascm file and can be downloaded directly as well from any of the stores (Kobo, Google etc.).

With Amazon even DRM free books require a Kindle or Kindle app registered to your account to download. You don't actually need to have a Kindle in hand to download DRM free books, registration is sufficient. This is only an issue if you want to read with non Amazon reading system, or just want to convert to something else. Even then, not much of an issue for most people. And if the goal is conversion, just about all of that content is available elsewhere in the desired format.

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03-14-2012, 10:49 AM	#64
BearMountainBooks Maria Schneider Posts: 3,746 Karma: 26439330 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Near Austin, Texas Device: 3g Kindle Keyboard	If you ask me (and no one did) Amazon lowered pricing because they knew it would sell more books. They were in the business for year and they know how many books were selling used--at that under 10 and under 5 sweet spot. They were responding to market dynamics not necessarily putting downward pressure on prices because they thought it was fun. It happened to hurt the competition, which was a double-bonus for them, but the fact is, lowering prices sold more books--and it brought some readers (myself included) back into buying new books instead of used. Konrath loves to be in the middle of controversy. I'm sometimes surprised he wasn't a lawyer. :>)

03-14-2012, 11:10 AM	#69
crossi Guru Posts: 997 Karma: 12000001 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Seattle Wahington U.S. Device: kindle	Paranoid are you? What DO you have installed on your computer? I've got more programs than I can shake a stick at. Adobe, Audible, Calibre, Cannon Camera software, Dell software, Dropbox, HR block Tax program, HP software, iTunes, Java, KindlePC, Winzip and on and on. Without downloaded software my computer would be a great doorstop. Why be paranoid just about Amazon and not all the other stuff you download and install?

03-14-2012, 11:12 AM	#70
jgaiser Omnivorous Posts: 3,283 Karma: 27978909 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Rural NW Oregon Device: Kindle Voyage, Kindle Fire HD, Kindle 3, KPW1	Jon, you're building strawmen. I can't download B&N ebooks without a Nook or application. I can't download Sony ebooks without a Sony ereader (or application?). Anybody who spends anytime on this forum quickly understands your utter dislike for all things Amazon, but reality is actually very different.

03-14-2012, 03:17 PM	#75
tomsem Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,939 Karma: 27060151 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: USA Device: iPhone 15PM, Kindle Scribe, iPad mini 6, PocketBook InkPad Color 3	The B&N flavor of DRM does not require any app to deal with the ascm. You can just download the ePub and open it with an app or device that uses Adobe RMSDK and implements its API correctly (pretty much all current gen apps and devices except Sony Reader at this point). I wish that more vendors used this DRM flavor (the friendliest on the planet unless you count watermarking), but I guess they assume everyone is used to the inconvenience of using ADE and any change would cost them money. DRM free epubs will not involve an ascm file and can be downloaded directly as well from any of the stores (Kobo, Google etc.). With Amazon even DRM free books require a Kindle or Kindle app registered to your account to download. You don't actually need to have a Kindle in hand to download DRM free books, registration is sufficient. This is only an issue if you want to read with non Amazon reading system, or just want to convert to something else. Even then, not much of an issue for most people. And if the goal is conversion, just about all of that content is available elsewhere in the desired format.