Are Fair Use Rights coming to an end?

[speedlever]

Originally Posted by sadievan

I am running Kindle for PC version 1.4.1 and just downloaded a book. Freed it up. I think the original reference ton AA's blog was a heads up for future versions of Kindle for PC. Hopefully we can still use the older versions and things will 'work as they should'.

Carol

I just d/l K4PC 1.6.0 and tried tools 4.5. It appears to work fine.

Strangely, I appear to have an earlier K4PC install that I don't recall... and can't locate on any current PC... so I ended up with a K4PC 2.

I have put off archiving my Amazon books. This has stirred the pot on my end, ergo my d/l of K4PC and now I'll have to get busy and save my books while I can.

I hope Amazon will see the light and reverse course (although I'm not holding my breath.) I like Amazon. But they are straining the relationship.

[Nancy Fulda]

Originally Posted by sadievan

If I buy a DVD say from Sony Pictures, am I only allowed to play that DVD on a Sony Player?

Carol

Of course not -- because DVD has become the standard for video technology (although Blue-Ray is now trying to edge it out). If I recall correctly, PAL and VHS had a battle over video format for quite a while before VHS became the industry standard. We're seeing a similar battle here: all the big online retailers are scrambling for a piece of the pie.

I suspect that when the dust settles, Amazon, B&N, and the other major players will have established a standard format for purchases and file transfers, and it will be possible to swap DRM-protected files across various devices that have been registered to the same person.

[sadievan]

Originally Posted by speedlever

I just d/l K4PC 1.6.0 and tried tools 4.5. It appears to work fine.

Strangely, I appear to have an earlier K4PC install that I don't recall... and can't locate on any current PC... so I ended up with a K4PC 2.

I have put off archiving my Amazon books. This has stirred the pot on my end, ergo my d/l of K4PC and now I'll have to bet busy and save my books while I can.

I hope Amazon will see the light and reverse course (although I'm not holding my breath.) I like Amazon. But they are straining the relationship.

I 'free' my books as soon as I download them. I agree about Amazon. It is easy to get my books from them, but if I can't 'free' them, I will probably buy them elsewhere.

Carol

[sadievan]

Originally Posted by Nancy Fulda

Of course not -- because DVD has become the standard for video technology (although Blue-Ray is now trying to edge it out). If I recall correctly, PAL and VHS had a battle over video format for quite a while before VHS became the industry standard. We're seeing a similar battle here: all the big online retailers are scrambling for a piece of the pie.

I suspect that when the dust settles, Amazon, B&N, and the other major players will have established a standard format for purchases and file transfers, and it will be possible to swap DRM-protected files across various devices that have been registered to the same person.

Maybe you are correct. I don't know. I would like to see ebooks go the way of the music industry and be DRM free.

Carol

[cfrizz]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

Assuming you're not one of the people who likes to fix spelling mistakes, change the layout, make the text bold, add chapter ticks, etc, and never want to buy your ebooks from anywhere other than Amazon, or buy a competing ebook reader when a better one comes along, there is nothing to worry about.

As for lobbying, I doubt you will ever get a large enough group of people to stump up the money it would cost to get the laws that the entertainment industry paid for overturned.

I DO want to buy my books without being locked into just one store, therefore, I didn't buy a Kindle for that very reason.

As for the rest, I couldn't care less.

[DiapDealer]

As for the rest, I couldn't care less.

Then feel free to ignore such topics.

[WT Sharpe]

Moderator Notice
Please do not post links to DRM removal tools. Our policy is that we permit the discussion of DRM removal in the abstract, but not the provision of detailed instructions for DRM removal, or direct linking to sites where such instructions or tools are hosted. - Moderator

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by Nancy Fulda

I suspect that when the dust settles, Amazon, B&N, and the other major players will have established a standard format for purchases and file transfers, and it will be possible to swap DRM-protected files across various devices that have been registered to the same person.

Amazon is the only one that doesn't use a standard format. I doubt that will be an accident, and I doubt they will want to change it. Having their own format means anyone who wants to read Kindle exclusive ebooks has to buy a Kindle, and anyone with a Kindle has to buy their ebooks from Amazon. If they changed their ebooks to epub it would cost them a lot of money in lost sales of both hardware and software.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

Amazon is the only one that doesn't use a standard format. I doubt that will be an accident, and I doubt they will want to change it. Having their own format means anyone who wants to read Kindle exclusive ebooks has to buy a Kindle, and anyone with a Kindle has to buy their ebooks from Amazon. If they changed their ebooks to epub it would cost them a lot of money in lost sales of both hardware and software.

I can see ways for Amazon to move to supporting the ePub format alongside Mobipocket and Topaz, but I don't think they'll ever support Adobe's DRM, as that would cost them $0.22 per DRMed sale.

[vishcompany]

I'm happy to buy books from any store, as long as I can read them on any reader. The day this is not possible any more, I will have to stop buying books from the shop, which prevents me from reading it on the reader of my choice.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Nancy Fulda

I suspect that when the dust settles, Amazon, B&N, and the other major players will have established a standard format for purchases and file transfers, and it will be possible to swap DRM-protected files across various devices that have been registered to the same person.

I expect that when the dust settles, small publishers who don't use DRM will watch their businesses grow, while the large publishers who use DRM will continue to panic as bookstores go bankrupt and they fail to meet customers' interests for digital content.

Swapping DRM-protected content across devices registered to one person isn't possible if those devices don't all read the same filetypes; whatever solution they come up with for future ebooks won't work on the readers I currently own. I have no intention of buying another ereader just to read badly-OCR'd content I can't edit.

I'm sure plenty of people will be happy with whatever method Amazon comes up with--I'm also sure that plenty won't, and their literary future is going to be a lot more diverse and profitable in the long run.

Amazon has no incentive to make its files readable on the Nook. B&N has no incentive to sell to Kindle users. Both would rather people with different devices had to re-buy their books for the other platform. Since the purpose of the DRM is to prevent casual sharing, not piracy (which is going to happen no matter what they do; scanning the paper is always going to be an option), their solutions aren't going to be oriented toward customer usability but vendor lock-in, which they don't get from universal formatting standards.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Please do not post links to DRM removal tools. Our policy is that we permit the discussion of DRM removal in the abstract, but not the provision of detailed instructions for DRM removal, or direct linking to sites where such instructions or tools are hosted. - Moderator

I'm sorry, I didn't intend my message to be read as asking for a specific link, I just wanted an idea of a heading or text to look for on the page. I apologize for inadvertently causing others to run afoul of the rules.

[carpetmojo]

Sadly, at present, the book situation is nowhere near where the music business was.

The money involved was huge, as was the scale of bootlegging, and the industry had to find an acceptable compromise with an existing fait accompli, so they they could still make money.

I fear the consumer side of the equation with books is nowhere near being in a powerful enough position to seriously affect any of the publishing side's decision. We just aint strong enough, in numbers or power.

[taustin]

Originally Posted by Phogg

It is, and the RIAA lost their war to have ripping and format shifting tools made illegal in a long and bitter fight in which their lobbyists (moneybags at hand) got legislation rammed through congress in the US only to see it struck down in constitutional challenges.

The book publishing industry is running an exact parallel, and their gameplay seems to be to try to get legislation passed but then avoid actually getting it enforced so it doesn't get struck down by the courts, who will surely follow precedent.

They have created a large paper mache scarecrow.

That my reading of it, too. And the movie industry is slowly losing, too, on several fronts (the market will decide, and it will not consult the industry as it does). DIVX dies an embarassingly stupid death, and I'm convinced that a good deal of the reason Blue Ray is still a minority of movied disc sales is not DRM, per se, but simply that it's more expensive and clearly intended to be. The current nonsense with digital cables/converters will bite them in the ass, too.

[Giggleton]

Fair use rights are part of the rights package written into the United States constitution yes? (your constitutional rights may vary) Some might say that these fair use rights fall under the broader category of basic human rights, i.e. the right to read whatever you want, whenever and however you want.

Allowing your reading preferences to be controlled by any entity, governmental or otherwise is probably a problem, but if you are crazy enough to buy a few words from Amazon, knowing or not knowing that those words can be erased from your device by Amazon at any time, well that's your ninety nine cents I suppose.

I prefer the read before purchase system. Which makes DRM Irrelevant.