question about Amazon Rising ?

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Chrissanth12

...But apparently King, Rowling and Patterson all hate Amazon.

Did any of them actually appear in person? I ask because King wrote a story specifically for the Kindle (UR) and in his latest book, The Outsider, the Kindle gets a shout-out as one of the best damn devices ever invented (though by volume, the iPad gets far more love).

I also remember Patterson doing a stunt for them where he hand delivered a copy of his latest book to an Amazon customer who had pre-ordered.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Did any of them actually appear in person? I ask because King write a story specifically for the Kindle (UR) and in his latest book, The Outsider, the Kindle gets a shout-out as one of the best damn devices ever invented (though by volume, the iPad gets far more love).

I also remember Patterson doing a stunt for them where he hand delivered a copy of his latest book to an Amazon customer who had pre-ordered.

I'm sure that hate is more of an overstatement.

Rowling is an interesting case. She has long been well known for having one of the best web sites with regards to interaction with her readers and selling product. She was really quite brilliant in using the web to market the Harry Potter series. She also is well known for being reluctant to release the Harry Potter books as ebooks, but once she did, she had a very good store, plus she released the extended version on the iTunes store.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I'm sure that hate is more of an overstatement.

Rowling is an interesting case. She has long been well known for having one of the best web sites with regards to interaction with her readers and selling product. She was really quite brilliant in using the web to market the Harry Potter series. She also is well known for being reluctant to release the Harry Potter books as ebooks, but once she did, she had a very good store, plus she released the extended version on the iTunes store.

I'm not a Potter fan, but doesn't Rowling also sell the books without DRM?

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I'm not a Potter fan, but doesn't Rowling also sell the books without DRM?

That is true. I bought the whole set from there back when they released the ebooks.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I'm not a Potter fan, but doesn't Rowling also sell the books without DRM?

Pottermore used a watermark technique instead of DRM for their epub format sales. I seem to remember BooXtream being mentioned as the source. Unless you edit the watermark out of the ebook code and images (Sigil or calibre's editor work for this on epubs), the watermark identifies the original purchaser. I find it much less obtrusive but also about as ineffective as Adobe or other DRM.

You can check Nate Hoffelder's The Digital Reader columns for more information starting with Researchers Reveal Booxtream’s Digital Watermark DRM and the booxtream.txt file linked there. Google will help finding more information if you are interested in further research.

I will admit to purchasing the entire set but it was for my daughter -- anything that encourages kids to read is a Good Idea IMNSHO.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by theducks

Look at what happened to Sears (Roebuck).

The had the Catalog (mail order) sales top spot. They had some of the best quality tools and appliances (some standard brands modified their designs to fit Sears requirements before attaching the Sears branding. Sears had engineers look over the product design and suggest demand, changes)

(Montgomery)Wards stomped them on Phone Catalog orders with the use of technology. No need to detail every aspect of an order. Returning user: Auto filled in (they asked for confirmation on shipping details). Catalog number: They confirmed with the details, asked if color or size.
Sears:every last thing had to be said and confirmed on a phone order.

Sears HAD the product, Warehouses and distribution, including 'Pickup points'
They had their heads buried and a death grip on the 'old ways'

Same goes for A T&T , nickel and dimeing for any of the bells and whistles or forcing purchase of bloated 'packages' that are standard with other carriers (disclosure: Ducks is a share holder). I finally switched to a Local carrier that provides wired line service (with DSL) for 2x what Ma Bell wanted for just LOCAL calling. (No VM, CID or long distance Toll calling) Ducks is not a heavy phone user, but CID and extended calling is a modern, basic usage.

Amazon (and my ISP) offer what the user wants, and at a fair price. They don't play 'used car salesman' with their customers

The same thing is going on in the book industry as well. The trad pubs try to stick to the old model and ebooks come along to take a good share of the market over.

[haertig]

The thing that worries me about Amazon is the same thing that worries me about any large company that gobbles up the competition and becomes the one and only provider. Once they've got you (by eliminating the competition) then they raise their prices. Where are you going to go then? You're stuck. Nowhere else to go. We are already starting to see this reversal happening at Amazon. When you buy into Prime you get shipping discounts and liberal return policies. Except now if you "abuse" those privileges (and they won't tell you what constitutes abuse) then they cancel your account. So this reversal is happening right under our noses now. Prime costs are going up, customer service is going down. But they've managed to hook many people on Amazon (myself included) and push other businesses to the curb in the process. Amazon is dang convenient. But we need to be careful what we wish for, because we just might get it! It pays to support the competition sometimes, just so that we will have competition going forward.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Pottermore used a watermark technique instead of DRM for their epub format sales. I seem to remember BooXtream being mentioned as the source. Unless you edit the watermark out of the ebook code and images (Sigil or calibre's editor work for this on epubs), the watermark identifies the original purchaser. I find it much less obtrusive but also about as ineffective as Adobe or other DRM.

You can check Nate Hoffelder's The Digital Reader columns for more information starting with Researchers Reveal Booxtream’s Digital Watermark DRM and the booxtream.txt file linked there. Google will help finding more information if you are interested in further research.

I will admit to purchasing the entire set but it was for my daughter -- anything that encourages kids to read is a Good Idea IMNSHO.

I have no issues with watermarks. My only concern is being able to read the book anytime I want in the future, even if the DRM authentication server goes away, and watermarks let me do that.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Pottermore used a watermark technique instead of DRM for their epub format sales.

Watermark counts as no DRM to me. As long as it is something that doesn't prevent me from copying the file and/or converting it and adding it to the devices of my choosing, it is fine.

The watermark is only a problem if you decide to upload to file sharing sites, which is what DRM is supposed to be about.

[sealbeater]

Originally Posted by theducks

Look at what happened to Sears (Roebuck).

I'm waiting for the day I can order a 3d printed house though Amazon.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by sealbeater

I'm waiting for the day I can order a 3d printed house though Amazon.

That would be Amazons installation services.
(A shipping container arrives full of printer materials and a couple of dozen printers , and all you hear for the next week is whup, whup.... of the print heads moving )

It amazes me, they sell this service with all sorts of plug and play electronics as well as more tricky installs like Plumbing or builtin appliances.
(I am a DIYer. Most of these things take less than an hour and cost $100's)

[sealbeater]

Originally Posted by theducks

That would be Amazons installation services.
(A shipping container arrives full of printer materials and a couple of dozen printers , and all you hear for the next week is whup, whup.... of the print heads moving )

It amazes me, they sell this service with all sorts of plug and play electronics as well as more tricky installs like Plumbing or builtin appliances.
(I am a DIYer. Most of these things take less than an hour and cost $100's)

Me as well but when that day happens, Amazon will be in the exact same spot as Sears Roebuck was way back when you could order a house (and a nice one) though the mail.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by sealbeater

Me as well but when that day happens, Amazon will be in the exact same spot as Sears Roebuck was way back when you could order a house (and a nice one) though the mail.

You can already buy houses through Amazon.

Here's a cabin kit, $60,000

Here's a container home, $36,000

And here's a small house, $8,500

I believe there's tiny houses on there as well.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

You can already buy houses through Amazon.

Here's a cabin kit, $60,000

Here's a container home, $36,000

And here's a small house, $8,500

I believe there's tiny houses on there as well.

174 sq ft is plenty small as is. Close to the lower limit of practicality, but suitable for housing a mother in law.

Most of the sub-100 sq ft "houses" (I've seen some as small 60 sq ft) strike me as more like design exercises than a place anybody would want to live in indefinitely. The cost of shrinking that small could easily pay for a more reasonable conventional solution.

By now nothing Amazon features on their online mall surprises me. They would have to feature a full size airplane (747 class) or submarine to get even close.

Either that or figure out how to sell digital housing.

[Deskisamess]

Originally Posted by sealbeater

Me as well but when that day happens, Amazon will be in the exact same spot as Sears Roebuck was way back when you could order a house (and a nice one) though the mail.

There is a Sear's House in the town where I live. The Magnolia which sold for around $6,000. The footprint of the house is almost as large as the small city lot it sits on.