Amazon - Will they become evil

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by OldLincoln

Problem is lately a few of the oldest ones I downloaded to Calibre years ago but past by reading until recently have disappeared from my on-line kindle cloud. I side-loaded them via Calibre Companion and upon trying to open in Kindle get the message to "Remove from device and download a new copy." Question is why in tarnation and how are they checking out what I read. Now they are AZW not AZW3 and are no longer available in the book store. I did find my order at Amazon though. I suggest if one has the means to convert Amazon formats to something they cannot get their hands on.

So just to be sure. You searched for the books under Manage Your Content & Devices on Amazon and the books are mo longer listed there?

As for the "Remove from device and download a new copy." message what makes you think they're checking what you read and not a corrupt book file or some other error?

[OldLincoln]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

So just to be sure. You searched for the books under Manage Your Content & Devices on Amazon and the books are mo longer listed there?

As for the "Remove from device and download a new copy." message what makes you think they're checking what you read and not a corrupt book file or some other error?

First part... yes they are plum gone. One is no longer available anywhere and even the author doesn't admit he wrote it. It was his first book ("Sockpuppet") and perhaps he withdrew it somehow. But if you purchase a paperback and the author changed his mind you still have the paperback.

The second one is it's my opinion only but it happens too often only on AZW books. It refuses to open on my Kindle and my Kindle for PC. Seems if they exist in my cloud they open.

I gave up on some of them as I have a lot of books and at my age won't remember them after a week or so anyway. Just a tad perturbed is all. Gotta gripe every now and then.

[Barbara1955]

I think its EVIL to tell customers to Buy from them. Them being.. Any store. Get customers locked into their system then turn around & Close accounts where the customer cant get to things they buy. ALL with out Changing policies on returns IN writing so people buying will know Up Front What can cause them not to be able to Enjoy what they paid for. Isnt this what TERMS OF Services are for? Shouldn't a web site Fully Explain how many returns can band a customer from the site?

[Josieb1]

This is a bit of a sore point with me right now. I think we need laws governing digital purchases. The idea that we are just buying a licence and are 'renting' any digital item needs to change. Until that happens Amazon will be able to do what they want and the customer has no real protection. My account has been threatened for too many returns and I'm not rehashing that again here I am just saying that Amazon can remove people's access to paid digital content at their discretion and that should be illegal.

Our family has three Kindle Fires and I would never buy one again as they would be useless without an account, even the ereaders are compromised (I.e no collections) without being registered to a Amazon account.

Amazon is able to lock users in and then treat them as they see fit with no controls, that is what makes them dangerous in my eyes.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

This is a bit of a sore point with me right now. I think we need laws governing digital purchases. The idea that we are just buying a licence and are 'renting' any digital item needs to change. Until that happens Amazon will be able to do what they want and the customer has no real protection. My account has been threatened for too many returns and I'm not rehashing that again here I am just saying that Amazon can remove people's access to paid digital content at their discretion and that should be illegal.

Our family has three Kindle Fires and I would never buy one again as they would be useless without an account, even the ereaders are compromised (I.e no collections) without being registered to a Amazon account.

Amazon is able to lock users in and then treat them as they see fit with no controls, that is what makes them dangerous in my eyes.

I don't trust any company that I buy digital content, that's why I always make a backup copy with the DRM removed for digital content.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I don't trust any company that I buy digital content, that's why I always make a backup copy with the DRM removed for digital content.

I have done for books, in my case it's more the devices tbh as they sell devices that are locked to their own content and pretty much useless for anything else. That is also wrong which is why I would never buy a kindle fire again.

[Barbara1955]

Ebooks are not the only Digital things I buy... I also buy Movies Music & Audible [audiobooks] That's a Lot to loose including the My Phone PW3 & K3 which will be Useless IF my account got closed.
I just think that's a LOT of Power a company can have over its Customers. They seem to forget IF not for Customers there would be no Business.

When I got Locked out of my B & Noble account cause I refused to pay extra for a pre-paid credit card they Refused to allow me to have assess to my ebooks.

When Sony decided to close ALL the Accounts for their books & Forced customers to go to Kobo I again lost my ebooks!

These Companies just have too much power!

[soulfuldog]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

I have done for books, in my case it's more the devices tbh as they sell devices that are locked to their own content and pretty much useless for anything else. That is also wrong which is why I would never buy a kindle fire again.

To be perfectly fair, you know before you buy a Fire tablet that they are priced and targeted for consuming Amazon content. Its your choice to buy it or not and instead get an iPad or android tablet which Amazon will also sell you. However, they can be used for other content if people really want to use them that way.

It isn't really that easy to avoid being 'locked in' to a device in some way (if you are not happy to jailbreak devices), as there are limitations to pretty much all the mainstream devices, you have to look and be willing to pay a little more for the truly open devices.

[fjtorres]

Lock-in, like DRM, is a bugaboo only for hobbyists, techies, and pundits.
The rest of the world just shrugs it off. They never expected 8-Tracks to play cassettes or CD players to play DVDs or PlayStations to play Mario Bros. Everything has limits. Don't like the limits, don't buy.

Most people understand that all products come with limitations and trade offs and that digital products come with a *different* set of tradeoffs. Pbooks you can sell or trade after reading. (Yay!) Damage it or lose it? You'll have to buy it again. New edition fixing typos or printing errors? Tough luck. (With ebooks, you get to redownload more or less forever.)

Doesn't make either good or bad.
Just different.
Different rules for different products because what restricts some uses enables others. It's a package deal: you either take the package or walk away.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by soulfuldog

To be perfectly fair, you know before you buy a Fire tablet that they are priced and targeted for consuming Amazon content. Its your choice to buy it or not and instead get an iPad or android tablet which Amazon will also sell you. However, they can be used for other content if people really want to use them that way.

It isn't really that easy to avoid being 'locked in' to a device in some way (if you are not happy to jailbreak devices), as there are limitations to pretty much all the mainstream devices, you have to look and be willing to pay a little more for the truly open devices.

I totally agree which is why I said I wouldn't buy 'another' Kindle Fire. I've learnt my lesson.

Apple and Google are locked in too, Apple in its need for itunes more so than Google but neither of them are as involved in the sale of content as much as Amazon which is where the danger lies.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by OldLincoln

First part... yes they are plum gone. One is no longer available anywhere and even the author doesn't admit he wrote it. It was his first book ("Sockpuppet") and perhaps he withdrew it somehow. But if you purchase a paperback and the author changed his mind you still have the paperback.

The second one is it's my opinion only but it happens too often only on AZW books. It refuses to open on my Kindle and my Kindle for PC. Seems if they exist in my cloud they open.

I gave up on some of them as I have a lot of books and at my age won't remember them after a week or so anyway. Just a tad perturbed is all. Gotta gripe every now and then.

I don't know how many books you own but did you give the manage your content at least 1 minute per every 1000 books to load?

Can I also venture to guess that most of your missing books were self-published?
Some of those authors pull their books if they don't sell well. Others, Amazon has kicked out for bad errors.

Anyway good luck.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by OldLincoln

I'm just a tad perturbed at Amazon tonight. My upset is all around their ebooks, of which I have over 6K since 2012. Problem is lately a few of the oldest ones I downloaded to Calibre years ago but past by reading until recently have disappeared from my on-line kindle cloud. I side-loaded them via Calibre Companion and upon trying to open in Kindle get the message to "Remove from device and download a new copy." Question is why in tarnation and how are they checking out what I read. Now they are AZW not AZW3 and are no longer available in the book store. I did find my order at Amazon though. I suggest if one has the means to convert Amazon formats to something they cannot get their hands on.

That message is usually related to DRM. Are you sure that the files were cleaned when you loaded them into Calibre?

Shari

[OldLincoln]

Like I said I just used Calibre as a library for a long time and thought because the books are on my computer I was protected. I discovered I wasn't so have been converting to epub and using FBReader instead of Kindle. These books, all AZW, wouldn't convert so I tried to read them on kindle device as is and they each give the msg to remove it from my device and download again. Only they aren't available to download. I'm working my way through all 6800 books and now have found only a few with AZW that I haven't read. All the others are also converted to other formats.

It's difficult for some to accept that one such as I will not hand out bootleg copies. I treat my library with respect and read most all day long, both because I am an immersive reader and enjoy it and because my circumstances limit my options.

I'm pretty much over my rant but think others who think they are safe keeping books in the Amazon format may want to consider keeping a copy in epub which I believe is an open format now. Another tip... some wonder why is that weirdo collecting all those books. I admit I get most of them from the free books. I have seen Amazon mistreat their authors and make changes to policy. I have Kindle Unlimited but consider that my be an intermediate step toward discontinuing free books. So I get them now and read them later breaking the Amazon connection once on my machine.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by OldLincoln

Like I said I just used Calibre as a library for a long time and thought because the books are on my computer I was protected. I discovered I wasn't so have been converting to epub and using FBReader instead of Kindle. These books, all AZW, wouldn't convert so I tried to read them on kindle device as is and they each give the msg to remove it from my device and download again. Only they aren't available to download. I'm working my way through all 6800 books and now have found only a few with AZW that I haven't read. All the others are also converted to other formats.

It's difficult for some to accept that one such as I will not hand out bootleg copies. I treat my library with respect and read most all day long, both because I am an immersive reader and enjoy it and because my circumstances limit my options.

I'm pretty much over my rant but think others who think they are safe keeping books in the Amazon format may want to consider keeping a copy in epub which I believe is an open format now. Another tip... some wonder why is that weirdo collecting all those books. I admit I get most of them from the free books. I have seen Amazon mistreat their authors and make changes to policy. I have Kindle Unlimited but consider that my be an intermediate step toward discontinuing free books. So I get them now and read them later breaking the Amazon connection once on my machine.

What's probably happened is that you have changed your kindle since you downloaded the books. When you download your books in AZW format they hard hardcoded to that specific kindle, thats why you are getting the 'please delete and redownload' message.

[OldLincoln]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

What's probably happened is that you have changed your kindle since you downloaded the books. When you download your books in AZW format they hard hardcoded to that specific kindle, thats why you are getting the 'please delete and redownload' message.

Well then I'd try to open it on the original device (now my wife's) except it isn't on that device and not in the cloud. So I'll side load it and check your theory out. That is IF she can find the little critter. Do have to say it seems a bit odd of a theory tho as Amazon claims you can read them across all your devices and even loan them out. Hard to do that it they are hard coded. But I'm a bit of a character so I'll give it a try. Say, if you have any AZW's maybe you'll try it on other devices and we'll have a real survey.