Buying an Ebook: In the real world

[stustaff]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

Actually, I often hear that googling author-title-download works quite well.

that worked but non of the results allowed me to download a copy for less cost than the hardback or told me if I could actually buy them or not.

eg link 1 amazon .com who wont sell me the ebook as im in the UK
link 2 Rbooks Random house own ebook where it cost almost twice what the hardback costs
link 3 sony store that wont sell it to me in the UK

not that simple unfortunately.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by stustaff

....

to be honest it still sucks that the simplest option would have been to use google and type

''author-'title'-torrent into it! thats how easy buying should be

.....

Yeah, but you never know what you'll get there. Some is truly awful and I hate pdfs on smallish readers.

[stustaff]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Yeah, but you never know what you'll get there. Some is truly awful and I hate pdfs on smallish readers.

unfortunately my experience is that generally the unnoficial books have better accuracy than my purchased books.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by stustaff

unfortunately my experience is that generally the unnoficial books have better accuracy than my purchased books.

If they are PDFs they are usually just scans so they should be fine (at least as fine as the printed book), but if they are OCR'd all bets are off.

[stustaff]

Originally Posted by kennyc

If they are PDFs they are usually just scans so they should be fine (at least as fine as the printed book), but if they are OCR'd all bets are off.

The few I have done have been version 1.6etc and have had multiple edits by fans of the books to correct any OCR issues. I dont know why publishers dont leverage this and give a beta copy to 20 or 30 fans free to fix it up.

they are generally MUCH better quality than the stuff i have had from Sony.

[Bremen Cole]

As a Robin Hobb fan I have all her works in eReader/pdb format. Before I discovered the hack to remove the DRM from that format, I got copies of all the books via torrent. I ran them through Calibre (I like epub) and they are great. And it was so easy to do..... I must admit it made me question why I go through all the headaches of DRM/Format/Authorizing that is involved to buy from the publishers...

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by stustaff

The few I have done have been version 1.6etc and have had multiple edits by fans of the books to correct any OCR issues. I dont know why publishers dont leverage this and give a beta copy to 20 or 30 fans free to fix it up.

they are generally MUCH better quality than the stuff i have had from Sony.

That's great and same sort of thing applies to the MR titles -- done with Loving care!

[Robertb]

Dear All:

Frankly, I was astonished when I first found out that there are geographical boundaries on eBooks. I think it is a real pain and I wish I could change it!

So, being with Astak as I am, I talked with Books On Board. What happens is the publishers put up the geographic boundaries.

Now, I will meet with the top brass of BoB at the CES show next week. I will talk up this whole thing of WHY people have to wait all the way to the end to find out they cannot buy.

I have heard you and I agree. Maybe I can get something done or at least find out why not!!

At Astak we sell the "EZ Reader" and "Mentor" eBook Reader lines and we think they are the best out there. BUT...we also try to listen and solve problems with eBooks in general.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Dear All:

Frankly, I was astonished when I first found out that there are geographical boundaries on eBooks. I think it is a real pain and I wish I could change it!

So, being with Astak as I am, I talked with Books On Board. What happens is the publishers put up the geographic boundaries.

Now, I will meet with the top brass of BoB at the CES show next week. I will talk up this whole thing of WHY people have to wait all the way to the end to find out they cannot buy.

I have heard you and I agree. Maybe I can get something done or at least find out why not!!

At Astak we sell the "EZ Reader" and "Mentor" eBook Reader lines and we think they are the best out there. BUT...we also try to listen and solve problems with eBooks in general.

That would be wonderful Bob. The more ways we can get the publishers to understand that thing MUST be different in the digital world the closer and sooner we will be to working out the kinks.

[Pardoz]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Maybe I can get something done or at least find out why not!!

The reason for geographic restriction's not a mystery: they exist because electronic book rights, in the vast majority of all book contracts, are an afterthought tossed into the stock contract. When electronic rights became an issue in the early 90s, boilerplate was added to standard contracts including electronic rights with paper rights. Since the standard in English-language paper publishing is to split rights trans-Atlantic (generally but not always US/Canada and UK/Commonwealth, with the odd exception like the one that made Raincoast Books a boatload of money when they realized nobody had picked up the Canadian rights to the Harry Potter books), electronic rights get split the same way.

For the current mess to be resolved, either contracts have to be changed (Magic 8-Ball says: "Outlook not so good") or the definition of 'location of sale' has to change.

In a nutshell - if I live in Poland, I fire up Opera (or Firefox or Internet Exploder), I log into Amazon-US, and I buy a paperback printed by a US publisher that only has rights to sell the book in the US, Amazon will happily sell it to me and put it in the mail. The sale is considered to have taken place in the US, in the warehouse where the book is stored. If I live in Poland, I fire up Opera (or Firefox or Internet Exploder), log into Amazon-US, and buy an electronic copy of the exact same edition of the same book from the same publisher from the Kindle store the sale is considered to have taken place...on my computer in Poland. As far as I know, there's absolutely no basis in law (and arguably very little basis in logic) for this assumption. There is, however, an argument based on brute force: "If you don't play by these rules, we (the publishers) will refuse to supply you with new product."

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by Pardoz

If I live in Poland, I fire up Opera (or Firefox or Internet Exploder), log into Amazon-US, and buy an electronic copy of the exact same edition of the same book from the same publisher from the Kindle store the sale is considered to have taken place...on my computer in Poland.

Actually, in practice, the sale is often considered to have taken place in the bank where you have your credit card, or in the address where you have your legal residence (as per passport or driving license).

The most annoying issue with these split rights and geographic restrictions is when some publisher, which has the rights to sell in some countries, makes an ebook version, while another publisher, which has the rights to sell in other countries, does not. Otherwise, I would not mind that much being obliged to buy from a given publisher.

[K-Thom]

The reason for geographic restriction's not a mystery: they exist because electronic book rights, in the vast majority of all book contracts, are an afterthought tossed into the stock contract. (...)

In fact, it's much easier.

Most publisher simply DON'T want to sell you eBooks. Face it. Not if they can sell you a printed book. So they still (and will) do anything to complicate and aggravate the way you might buy an eBook.
eBook still aren't their kind of turf, and they let you feel their influence in controlling the access to a specific title as much as possible.

It will change, but it will take some time.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Bremen Cole

As a Robin Hobb fan I have all her works in eReader/pdb format. Before I discovered the hack to remove the DRM from that format, I got copies of all the books via torrent. I ran them through Calibre (I like epub) and they are great. And it was so easy to do..... I must admit it made me question why I go through all the headaches of DRM/Format/Authorizing that is involved to buy from the publishers...

I have all the Robin Hobb eBooks as well. They came as MS Reader or Mobipocket and have since been converted to ePub.

[Bremen Cole]

She is an amazing author. The Tawney Man series was for me an epic masterpiece. I am delighted that now they are liberated I can enjoy then on present and future readers.

[sydneycat1999]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Dear All:

Frankly, I was astonished when I first found out that there are geographical boundaries on eBooks. I think it is a real pain and I wish I could change it!

So, being with Astak as I am, I talked with Books On Board. What happens is the publishers put up the geographic boundaries.

Now, I will meet with the top brass of BoB at the CES show next week. I will talk up this whole thing of WHY people have to wait all the way to the end to find out they cannot buy.

I have heard you and I agree. Maybe I can get something done or at least find out why not!!

At Astak we sell the "EZ Reader" and "Mentor" eBook Reader lines and we think they are the best out there. BUT...we also try to listen and solve problems with eBooks in general.

I still don't understand this geographic boundaries business. Ok, it has something to do with the publishers right and all that. But US$15.00 per book is still US$15.00 even when I pay with my Malaysian Credit Card isn't it? After all the currency exchange I still pay a bit more than that but then I'm satisfied that I've purchased the book.

And what's stranger it's not consistent, I'm following the Michael Scott Nicholas Fleming series, I could buy the first two in the series without any problems but when I tried to purchase the third instalment I get that dreaded "this book is not for sale in your country" note.

For UK buyers they can go to the Books On Board UK site for instance if they can't buy the ebooks on the US site but where does that leave ebook readers on my side of the world? Was tempted to ask an US acquaintance of mine to purchase the book for me, but then of course this will eventually lead to... which I think they wanted to avoid in the first place. Luckily, found another site which I can purchase the book & subsequently other books too, paid a bit more, but I really don't mind as long I can purchase & "own" them.

Actually, I find it a bit "demoralising" (although I know it's not their intention) after going through all the procedures of filling in your credit card details then you get that "doomed" message and you are even asked to remove them from your cart like you did something really offensive or illegal. So, I hope this matter will be resolved soon.