The Vent and Rant Thread

[poshm]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

why not just buy one from Amazon?

Well I live in the uk so when I worked out the cost of a kindle from the US plus import fees, it worked out around £50 cheaper to buy one from eBay over here - not that i'm a cheapskate but with the money saved I can purchase quite a few books!

It's a new one too as an unwanted pressie.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by poshm

Well I live in the uk so when I worked out the cost of a kindle from the US plus import fees, it worked out around £50 cheaper to buy one from eBay over here - not that i'm a cheapskate but with the money saved I can purchase quite a few books!

It's a new one too as an unwanted pressie.

I think in our flea market very recently someone advertised a fairly new Kindle2 for $200. Have you checked that section?

BOb

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

why not just buy one from Amazon?

Too easy!

[phenomshel]

This is long, and I'm ticked off, so you've been warned. You can skip this post and I won't be offended in the least.

The Llounge says, "for topics not related to ebooks". Well, sorry but this one is. Mods feel free to move it.

We here are all aware of the Macmillan/Amazon squabble and the results of Amazon pulling all Macmillan titles, not just Kindle books. We're also all informed about Amazon's capitulation and restoration of those titles. The physical titles, that is. The Kindle titles aren't back yet.

I called Amazon's customer service to try to get a straight answer on if and when (it darned sure better be when, is all I can say), those titles would be back in the Kindle store. The first customer service rep. I talked to had no clue what I was talking about. I asked to be transferred. She transferred me to the Kindle department. That rep. had no clue what I was talking about either, he thought Macmillan was an author. I asked for his supervisor. The supervisor had a clue of the situation, but insisted that the statement from Amazon that we've all read included Kindle books, til I read it to her over the phone and she then admitted that it did not, and she didn't have a clue when or if those titles will be back in the Kindle Store. I expressed my displeasure in what I hope was a polite manner, and suggested to her that clueing in the lower rungs of customer service reps would be a mighty fine idea. I still couldn't get a straight answer on if those titles that are Macmillan and are exclusive to Amazon are the result of an insistence by Amazon on exclusivity, or Macmillan being too lazy and too negligent of their authors to bother to distribute them anywhere else. All I know is I can't buy several titles I want, and several more being released soon, and I AM NOT HAPPY ABOUT IT. If I didn't have to go to work tonight, I'd be on the phone to Macmillan right about now... not that it would do me a bit of good.

for reading, if you made it this far.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

for reading, if you made it this far.

Good rant... but...

Would you be willing to pay $15 for a book that last week would have been $9.99?

BOb

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Good rant... but...

Would you be willing to pay $15 for a book that last week would have been $9.99?

BOb

If I can't get it anywhere else, and it's from one of "my" authors...you betcha.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

I still couldn't get a straight answer on if those titles that are Macmillan and are exclusive to Amazon are the result of an insistence by Amazon on exclusivity, or Macmillan being too lazy and too negligent of their authors to bother to distribute them anywhere else. All I know is I can't buy several titles I want, and several more being released soon, and I AM NOT HAPPY ABOUT IT. If I didn't have to go to work tonight, I'd be on the phone to Macmillan right about now... not that it would do me a bit of good.

It's not just Macmillan. Hachette and Simon and Schuster are also in this dustup with Amazon. Amazon's results have forced them to take the ebook market seriously and realize it's large and growing.

Essentially, they want more control over pricing. Amazon established the $9.99 price point to get customers interested in eBooks, and the Kindle can be viewed as priming that particular pump. eBooks are a natural fit for Amazon, as they are already the world's largest catalog retailer, and the infrastructure is already in place to display the catalog to viewers and accept orders via the web. It's trivial to add fulfillment to that, with download upon payment, and there are no warehousing or shipping costs.

The publishers involved think Amazon's $9.99 standard price point sets an unrealistically low price customers will expect when it isn't reasonable, and fear that simultaneous release of Kindle editions will cut into more profitable hardcover sales.

They threatened to delay ebook release by four months to protect hardcover sales. Amazon countered by dropping some prices to $7.99. It went on from there.

Ultimately, Amazon is the retailer. They buy from the publishers, and the publishers can choose not to sell to them. Macmillan pulled the plug, and Amazon had no realistic choice but to capitulate.

Meanwhile, the titles may well be available elsewhere. But if you have a Kindle, you are locked into Amazon as the vendor. You can't buy them elsewhere, because they won't work on the Kindle.

Lots of people like the Kindle, like the breadth of content Amazon offers, and like the prices, and will accept vendor lock in return. Will, this is the flip side of that coin...

(It's also a major reason why I have no interest in a Kindle or in buying ebooks from Amazon.)
______
Dennis

[Dylrob]

I know the writers are trying to draw from real life, but resource driven conflict in sci-fi is so groan-worthily bogus! Especially when that resource is water. There's enough Dihydrogen Monoxide in our solar system alone to fill the oceans of many Earth-like worlds!

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

It's not just Macmillan. Hachette and Simon and Schuster are also in this dustup with Amazon. Amazon's results have forced them to take the ebook market seriously and realize it's large and growing.

Essentially, they want more control over pricing. Amazon established the $9.99 price point to get customers interested in eBooks, and the Kindle can be viewed as priming that particular pump. eBooks are a natural fit for Amazon, as they are already the world's largest catalog retailer, and the infrastructure is already in place to display the catalog to viewers and accept orders via the web. It's trivial to add fulfillment to that, with download upon payment, and there are no warehousing or shipping costs.

The publishers involved think Amazon's $9.99 standard price point sets an unrealistically low price customers will expect when it isn't reasonable, and fear that simultaneous release of Kindle editions will cut into more profitable hardcover sales.

They threatened to delay ebook release by four months to protect hardcover sales. Amazon countered by dropping some prices to $7.99. It went on from there.

Ultimately, Amazon is the retailer. They buy from the publishers, and the publishers can choose not to sell to them. Macmillan pulled the plug, and Amazon had no realistic choice but to capitulate.

Meanwhile, the titles may well be available elsewhere. But if you have a Kindle, you are locked into Amazon as the vendor. You can't buy them elsewhere, because they won't work on the Kindle.

Lots of people like the Kindle, like the breadth of content Amazon offers, and like the prices, and will accept vendor lock in return. Will, this is the flip side of that coin...

(It's also a major reason why I have no interest in a Kindle or in buying ebooks from Amazon.)
______
Dennis

balderdash.

there are many resources for Jindle reading material outside of Amazon downloads

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

balderdash.

there are many resources for Jindle reading material outside of Amazon downloads

I did say buy above.

If you want something unencumbered by DRM like PG or Creative Commons licensed material, and it's in Mobipocket format, yes.

If you want to buy a current commercial title, no, unless you strip the DRM.

I think you'll find most folks caught in this crossfire do want commercial titles, and don't have the savvy to strip DRM.

If you own a Kindle, Amazon has done it's best to see that your your choices of where to buy books to read on it are Amazon, Amazon, and Amazon.

If that suits you, fine. It would not suit me.
______
Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Dylrob

I know the writers are trying to draw from real life, but resource driven conflict in sci-fi is so groan-worthily bogus! Especially when that resource is water. There's enough Dihydrogen Monoxide in our solar system alone to fill the oceans of many Earth-like worlds!

It's not a bogus problem at all. Copious quantity != water where it's needed.

If I need it, you have it, and won't let me have any, there's conflict. I may not be in a position to tap those abundant resources.

Ever hear of a "water empire"?
______
Dennis

[Dylrob]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

It's not a bogus problem at all. Copious quantity != water where it's needed.

If I need it, you have it, and won't let me have any, there's conflict. I may not be in a position to tap those abundant resources.

Ever hear of a "water empire"?

But how am I suppose to control water on a interstellar, or even just an interplanetary scale? And even if I could, how do I stop you from simply combining hydrogen and oxygen (two of the most abundant elements in the universe)?

In any case, I was thinking more towards those stories where a hostile force will invade a planet for its resources. That planet typically being Earth. The things they were seeking can be found in great plenitude on asteroids, comets, and other heavenly bodies.

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

It's not just Macmillan. Hachette and Simon and Schuster are also in this dustup with Amazon. Amazon's results have forced them to take the ebook market seriously and realize it's large and growing.

Essentially, they want more control over pricing. Amazon established the $9.99 price point to get customers interested in eBooks, and the Kindle can be viewed as priming that particular pump. eBooks are a natural fit for Amazon, as they are already the world's largest catalog retailer, and the infrastructure is already in place to display the catalog to viewers and accept orders via the web. It's trivial to add fulfillment to that, with download upon payment, and there are no warehousing or shipping costs.

The publishers involved think Amazon's $9.99 standard price point sets an unrealistically low price customers will expect when it isn't reasonable, and fear that simultaneous release of Kindle editions will cut into more profitable hardcover sales.

They threatened to delay ebook release by four months to protect hardcover sales. Amazon countered by dropping some prices to $7.99. It went on from there.

Ultimately, Amazon is the retailer. They buy from the publishers, and the publishers can choose not to sell to them. Macmillan pulled the plug, and Amazon had no realistic choice but to capitulate.

Meanwhile, the titles may well be available elsewhere. But if you have a Kindle, you are locked into Amazon as the vendor. You can't buy them elsewhere, because they won't work on the Kindle.

Lots of people like the Kindle, like the breadth of content Amazon offers, and like the prices, and will accept vendor lock in return. Will, this is the flip side of that coin...

(It's also a major reason why I have no interest in a Kindle or in buying ebooks from Amazon.)
______
Dennis

No, I do not own a Kindle,(vendor lock is why I don't), and up until Kindle for PC came out, I was locked out of buying several favorite authors, because they were only available through Amazon. Now I'm locked out again, due to greed and stupidity. I don't care whose fault it is, I just want to be able to buy the darned books!! As I have stated several times, the titles on my Amazon wishlist are those not available through any other retailer. That kind of prevents me from buying them anywhere else, don't you think?

[GeoffC]

drm, geographic restrictions, vendor restrictions, publishers apathy - any more reasons why books are not available where, when and how we readers want them. (not a rant or vent, just an observation).

[EowynCarter]

Realizing yesterday that my cybook's battery was dangerously low.
And still finding myself out of batery the morning because i still forgot to re-charge....