What happens to Kindle books if I die?

[The Old Man]

In Hell books will be DRM'd?
Bad quotes?
Typos?
Bad hyphenation?

Are we in Hell now?

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by The Old Man

In Hell books will be DRM'd?
Bad quotes?
Typos?
Bad hyphenation?

Are we in Hell now?

No...these things can be fixed now.

In Hell they won't be able to be fixed.

[susieqt]

Well thanks for all the ideas folks, I particularly like your visions of hell! Meantime, my K3 arrived this morning and I have been busy playing with it throughout the day, all morbid thoughts banished.

What a nice piece of kit - so easy to use and weighs next to nothing. The clarity of the text is excellent - no more will I have to faff about finding glasses to read in bed (the penalties of middle-age), I will just make the text bigger.

susie

[Oldpilot]

Well, look at the bright side: if you die before midnight on December 31, the value of the Kindle books in your library will pass to your heirs free of inheritance tax.

Don't make the mistake however of waiting until January 1 to die! Then your estate will be taxed at 45 percent.

[cuteseal]

Interesting thread... I'm pretty sure I read something similar like what happens to all your personal data (facebook, webmail etc) when you die. If I recall correctly, your next of kin should be able to get access if they can produce the correct documentation - death certificate etc.

I hope it's the same with digital purchases /content as well.

[susieqt]

Yes I am guessing that provided the new owner can provide the relevant documentation Amazon would transfer the already purchased books to that person. I have dropped Amazon customer service a line to find out the official position and will put a note on here when I get an answer.

susie

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by susieqt

Yes I am guessing that provided the new owner can provide the relevant documentation Amazon would transfer the already purchased books to that person. I have dropped Amazon customer service a line to find out the official position and will put a note on here when I get an answer.

susie

Seems like all you would need is the password. Amazon doesn't even need to come into it.

Go to the 'manage my kindle' page.

De-register the kindle.

Re-register to another account.

Now....if the books were liberated to begin with, you wouldn't need to worry about where/who got them.

They could be transferred by whoever has the 'key' to the account.

[susieqt]

Well Amazon CS has responded... have to say I am surprised - it seems a bit odd in this digital age that you only have a lifetime ownership and your digital asset evaporates on your death.

"Thank you for contacting Amazon.co.uk with your Kindle query.

In the event that the Kindle owner passes away and the new owner registers the Kindle to their own account they will not have access to the previously purchased kindle books. They will have to purchase the books again from Amazon.co.uk.

Thank you for your interest in the Amazon Kindle."

[wesleyer]

This kind of problem is going to be more common from now onwards, as digital content becomes more widespread.
And to complicate things, the owner and the seller could easily be in different countries, subject to different laws.

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by susieqt

Well Amazon CS has responded... have to say I am surprised - it seems a bit odd in this digital age that you only have a lifetime ownership and your digital asset evaporates on your death.

"Thank you for contacting Amazon.co.uk with your Kindle query.

In the event that the Kindle owner passes away and the new owner registers the Kindle to their own account they will not have access to the previously purchased kindle books. They will have to purchase the books again from Amazon.co.uk.

Thank you for your interest in the Amazon Kindle."

I wonder about that here in the US...remember this will vary by country. I started a similar thread a while back and it will be interesting to compare responses from the same people as in this thread.

Remember one thing, just because the user agreement tries to threaten you into believing something is one way does not mean it's legal OR enforceable. Any contract is only as binding as the parties involved are willing to abide by the terms.

But as was my point in the past...if we book buyers are indeed being forced to give up the right to control the items we buy then we deserve compensation for that. And in this case compensation could reasonably be in the form of significantly lower prices. In the US for a contract to even be considered binding both parties must benefit in a reasonably equitable fashion, there are further criteria involving coercion and such but the meat of it is a contract agreement must be fair to both parties. And there is the argument...what is a reasonable benefit in this case? If the contract does not specially specify a limit of control to be the person's lifetime then certainly there is room for a legal argument. And then there is the issue of full disclosure prior to purchase and so on and so forth...problem is, at least as far as anyone has posted here, but there hasn't been a legal case to set a precedent yet. We all consider books as tangible good but publishers want them considered as something different with no inherent value.

Remember just because it is difficult to enforce control legitimate use over your product does mean the other party has to surrender reasonably assumed user rights to the product in order to protect your work> Protecting it is your problem not the buyer(s).

[catsittingstill]

Originally Posted by Oldpilot

Well, look at the bright side: if you die before midnight on December 31, the value of the Kindle books in your library will pass to your heirs free of inheritance tax.

Don't make the mistake however of waiting until January 1 to die! Then your estate will be taxed at 45 percent.

Only if your estate (minus the balance on your mortgage and any property that goes to your spouse) is more than a million dollars. (www.irs.gov)

If this is the case, I rejoice for you--alas, it has not been an issue for anyone I know.

[just_jeepin]

Oops, delete me... I accidentally posted on this thread instead of starting a new one.

Very good question though!

[JSWolf]

HELL: You own a Kindle. You do not own any other electronic device. All eBooks are ePub. No scripts/programs to strip the DRM & convert. But, they are free.