Amazon - Will they become evil

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

I was referring to the big 5. I didn't even think about Tor.
I would be more interested in knowing if they saw an increase in sales.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If anyone knows the answer, I'd also be interested in knowing.

I don't know about an increase in sales, but I am sure they saw an increase in profit margins, simply because they are no longer paying for DRM licenses.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Fbone

I didn't know this. Is this something new?

I am pretty sure that has been the case since day 1.

Now back to our regularly scheduled moderator notice.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Tor does not do DRM and they have found no noticeable drop in sales due to removing DRM.

Some readers choose Tor because it is, unlike many other publishers, DRM-free. If almost all publishers went DRM-free, Tor would lose that advantage. So just because they may be doing well with their model doesn't mean it is generally a good idea for publishers.

Science fiction readers likely have above-average technical computer/web skills, making DRM less effective for them. But what about other genres? Macmillan, Tor's owner, surely has statistics not just on how Tor sales changed in general, but how different sub-genres were affected. On that basis, they have, so far, decided not to go DRM-free company-wide.

It could well be that, from a business standpoint, DRM or no-DRM is a borderline call for a publisher. That's the impression I get from Mike Shatzkin. I don't perceive it as a moral issue, any more than is an anti-theft mirror in the corner of a book store. It's just a question of what works. Macmillan managers, Tor and otherwise, have the data. We don't.

[John F]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

I don't have auto-update switched on (for anything, ever), but it may not be that simple. IIRC I have had (at least) one version of K4PC which expired, i.e. refused to open until I upgraded to latest version.

FWIW, I just opened Kindle For PC (version 1.11.2). A message box popped up with three choices:

1: Update now
2: Remind me Later
3: Skip this update

[HarryT]

Yes, some K4PC updates are optional, others mandatory. When there's a mandatory upgrade the old version will stop working at a certain point. You're generally given several months' warning of this.

[Rizla]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

This is just scare mongering.

Is there an echo in here?

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If amazon was going to drop old formats for newer formats, than Mobi would be dead and in place KF8 would be the format. Amazon does not want to piss off it's customers by forcing them to have to buy a newer Kindle.

Obviously Amazon won't stop supporting older devices, but I imagine it wouldn't be hard for them to roll out kfx compatibility to some older devices, or alternately, just let them gradually die. Amazon very sensibly tends to implement changes gradually.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Though I could easily see a new version of K4PC handle KFX. And that would mean you would need a hardware Kindle in order to use the USB download function to download via your web browser.

Yep.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Rizla

Obviously Amazon won't stop supporting older devices, but I imagine it wouldn't be hard for them to roll out kfx compatibility to some older devices, or alternately, just let them gradually die. Amazon very sensibly tends to implement changes gradually.

Rolling out KFX compatibility will happen sometime after they roll out AZW3 compatibility.
There are several models that people still use, and Amazon still supports, which do not even support AZW3.

And AMazon will not be touching the firmware for the K3/K4NT/KT anymore, other than for minor bugfixes -- those are officially legacy devices, all of them very old, and it would be far to much work.
Especially the K3/K4NT which still run pre-5.x firmware.


As for "or alternately, just let them gradually die", aren't you contradicting yourself???

[Sirtel]

I still do most of my reading on my little black K4NT, I actually prefer it to the newer model. It has the very best screen I've ever seen on any e-reader, and the best contrast. It is quite zippy too, even with 600 books on it.

[Rizla]

Yeah, those pre-paperwhite unlighted screens really popped.

[darryl]

Originally Posted by Rizla

Is there an echo in here?
Obviously Amazon won't stop supporting older devices, but I imagine it wouldn't be hard for them to roll out kfx compatibility to some older devices, or alternately, just let them gradually die. Amazon very sensibly tends to implement changes gradually.

Imagination is fantastic for scare-mongering. It does not replace fact. And the fact is that you have no idea whatsoever whether supporting kfx on older devices is trivial, impossible or somewhere in between, let alone whether Amazon is planning to do it.

It is quite okay to discuss all of these doomsday scenarios. It is not okay to present them as being more likely to occur than they are simply because of your imagination.

[Rizla]

Deleted.