eReader book question

[ArizonaGuy]

As with many others I have been an Amazon Kindle reader. I probably have several hundred Kindle eBooks and have been concerned that I might lose some of them if Amazon loses its licensing agreement with the publisher and thought it would be worth checking out other eBook readers.

My main question is whether or not all eBook publishers sell books like Amazon does. That is, are all eBooks now sold as a reading license rather than as true ownership? If so, then the same problem with possible loss of books and/or content exists with all eBook publishers, not only with Amazon. If not, then I probably need to change to some vendor that does not threaten to remove the book or modify its contents based on their commercial licenses.

My first go-to was Kobo, but I am sure there are a lot of other eBook vendors so perhaps someone can give me some information about licensing.

Thanks in advance.

[theducks]

The 'License' is usually dictated by the Publisher-Author contract.
Amazon may ADD theirs (TOU) on top.

Baen used to do direct sell. But they had to severely roll that back to bew able to use other sales channels (They still have great deals on Pre-Release date versions. Once the release, they go up to LIST$) As a former merchant, having your supplier undercut you with direct sales, is BAD business.

[Quoth]

Contracts & Terms and conditions may have all kinds of stuff. They may not be enforceable.

Basically if you have a paper book, you can't make copies of it unless copyright has expired. You could of course privately loan it. Operating an actual library has rules that vary per country.

The equivalent with an ebook would be having ONLY ONE ereader, and loaning it privately. They'd have difficulty suing.

Copyright is about rights to the content. They have to prove a loss in court. So in practice if you buy an ebook, rather than a loan/borrow/subscription, you can't give a copy to any one else. Also in practice no-one can take it off you.

Amazon got into serious trouble for revoking ebooks that in fact they had no right to sell. In reality it was up to Amazon to pay any damages from copyright violation.

Ironically on Amazon UK when I go to a page of an ebook I have bought, it writes "You own this".
I do own the right to read it forever and eventually the copyright expires.

[Graham44]

If you are worried about ebooks you've purchased disappearing (as I am) maybe think about downloading them onto an external hard drive that way whatever happens you will always have access to them.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Graham44

If you are worried about ebooks you've purchased disappearing (as I am) maybe think about downloading them onto an external hard drive that way whatever happens you will always have access to them.

And remove the DRM, else it's pointless.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by ArizonaGuy

As with many others I have been an Amazon Kindle reader. I probably have several hundred Kindle eBooks and have been concerned that I might lose some of them if Amazon loses its licensing agreement with the publisher and thought it would be worth checking out other eBook readers.

My main question is whether or not all eBook publishers sell books like Amazon does. That is, are all eBooks now sold as a reading license rather than as true ownership? If so, then the same problem with possible loss of books and/or content exists with all eBook publishers, not only with Amazon. If not, then I probably need to change to some vendor that does not threaten to remove the book or modify its contents based on their commercial licenses.

My first go-to was Kobo, but I am sure there are a lot of other eBook vendors so perhaps someone can give me some information about licensing.

Thanks in advance.

Most traditionally published ebooks are sold as licenses. I'm not sure about self-published stuff.

That said, no one can remove your purchased ebooks if you remove the DRM and make personal backups. This is what many of us do.

I have several ebooks bought from stores that ceased to exist more than a decade ago.

[Graham44]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

And remove the DRM, else it's pointless.

Doh I forgot the most bleedin' obvious step

[nabsltd]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Basically if you have a paper book, you can't make copies of it unless copyright has expired.

In the US, at least, this is not true.

Copyright law in the US prevents you from distributing unauthorized copies of copyrighted material without permission. It does not prevent you from making the copies in the first place. You can paper the inside walls of your house with the copies you made of the latest James Patterson novel and there is nothing anybody can do to stop you.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by nabsltd

In the US, at least, this is not true.

Copyright law in the US prevents you from distributing unauthorized copies of copyrighted material without permission. It does not prevent you from making the copies in the first place. You can paper the inside walls of your house with the copies you made of the latest James Patterson novel and there is nothing anybody can do to stop you.

Well, probably I meant that. As long as it was your own purchase. I once wallpapered a bedroom with front covers of the BBC's Radio Times.