Kindle, meet my partner. Darling, play nice with Kindle, please Amazon.com has made a small-but-significant enhancement to its Kindle ebook ecosystem, as it now allows sharing ebooks among family members. The new Family Library feature allows one to access ebooks “from the Amazon account of a spouse or partner.” Amazon's allowed loans of ebooks, under limited conditions, for a while now. …
Forgive me for stating the obvious, but since this was the point:
To paraphrase: You wouldn't stop someone from giving away a book they no longer want. So what makes them think that's acceptable just because its an ebook?
It's not so easy to run off one or a hundred or a thousand copies of a printed book. That's not the case with an eBook file. Not to excuse the paranoia of the publisher, but it is a bit nerve-wracking to consider that the value of an $8.95 eBook can be diluted with a flood of free copies made from one sale.
That's why when I buy a CD I do it through Amazon, to get the digital copy as well.
These days it's faster & easier to rip the CD yourself. Last time I tried to get an album as an MP3 from Amazon I had to turn on 1-click ordering, and then download a 38MByte application just so I could do the MP3 download. I don't need my PC cluttered up with more crap that just duplicates what I already have :( Their MP3s also seem to be 160kbit/s CBR, I prefer 320kbit/s VBR which work out about the same size but better quality.
"but it is a bit nerve-wracking to consider that the value of an $8.95 eBook can be diluted with a flood of free copies made from one sale"
This seems like a compelling argument... until you remember that the basic human nature would prevent 99.999% of those who paid $8.95 for it from mass-producing them and giving them away for free. Simply because they have paid for it with their hard earned cash out of their own pocket.
I know it's true because a) I myself am one of such selfish and greedy bastards and b) ebooks are still selling like hot potatoes even though only the lazy and the stupid are not yet able to strip DRMs from them...
P.S. Oh, and houses like Baen are selling their ebooks DRM-free as a matter of policy, even through Amazon.
> This seems like a compelling argument... until you remember that the basic human nature would prevent 99.999% of those who paid $8.95 for it from mass-producing them and giving them away for free.
Yes, but then it only takes 1 person to put a drm stripped copy on bittorrent from which a hundred thousand (or more) copies are made. While basic human nature makes us less likely to give something away free when we've paid for it, it also means we are less likely to pay for something that can be had for free.
"Yes, but then it only takes 1 person to put a drm stripped copy on bittorrent from which a hundred thousand (or more) copies are made."
OK, and so what?...
It's not different to someone putting their originally DRM-free copy on bittorrent, is it? Yet, there is no apocalyspse happening and the publishers that sell DRM-free are doing not worse, if not better then those who insist on DRMs. And they all keep on selling.
I have Linux and Calibre. Brilliant software, will convert between formats, all kinds of tricks. Well worth the price (which is free)
Personally, I find it annoying when the Kindle version of old books is several times the cost of a used copy. I'd rather buy the Kindle version (save trees, etc), but end up buying, then recycling the used paper copy. I suppose it keeps the package delivery folks in business.
You're currently allowed 5 Kindles on one account. Plus other devices running the software - there is a limit, I hit it once, but due to not removing old devices.
Turn off whispersync (most people don't read on multiple devices at the same time) and you can share books easily enough.
Only downside is that everyone can see the whole library, so need to make sure there's nothing embarrassing on there!
Comparisons with paper books are slightly off - there are always limitations with paper as only one person can read at a time, so there's a natural limit to how many people can read each one. Plus we see value in an old book, so may wish to keep it on a bookshelf.
When you lend a eBook all other eBooks should be unreadable.
If your wife is reading an ebook from your library, and you start reading a book, her kindle should lock her out.
if you have 3 kindles in the house only 1 can be used to read books, the others are for decoration only.
VALVe have gone to great lengths to redefine sharing, and amazon come along with their liberal hippy version of sharing.
but that relies on an always on connection, or at least turning it on, connecting it up and then taking ownership. The great thing about ereaders is the battery life and portability. You'd be miffed if you were on a flight only to find your account is "locked".
However it's a reasonable idea otherwise.
Wife and I both have the same Google calendar configured. No iOS needed.
In fact, why on earth is a calendar being mentioned here? What's the got to do with Amazon? You could say that Amazon also don't let you see it on computers made by them, which Apple does let you do. Is that just a random iOS advert?
Go to to Amazon website and "Manage Your Content and Devices", and it's available from the 'actions' against your books.
Couple of books/or maybe latest kindle update seem to have a 'bug'. Hyperlinks to the footnotes take you to later in the book, but 'back' dumps you back to the book selection page.
When you dig into it, you can only set this up if you have a latest generation actual Kindle device. You cannot so it from the Android or iPad reading Apps, nor can you do it from your account settings page on the Amazon website.
Older Kindles andf Fire tablets can't set it up either.
I guess that those who don't use a "real" Kindle are just second-class citizens.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
