Cache and Carry: A Review of the Kindle

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I for one don't like the fact that Amazon can access the content via IP and delete any material it sees fit to delete.

Wow....are you sure? I would think that would be illegal, even if they included it in the terms of service?

NPR had a story on this a month or two ago... they literally went in on several users and erased material that they deemed to be in violation of copyright arbitrarily.

Holy smoke! I could see someone challenging the constitutionality of that. Can you imagine if companies were allowed to look through your computer for anything you shouldn't have? There's no way this will continue...eventually some court will rule against it.

[HAL 9000 96]

I for one don't like the fact that Amazon can access the content via IP and delete any material it sees fit to delete.

Wow....are you sure? I would think that would be illegal, even if they included it in the terms of service?

NPR had a story on this a month or two ago... they literally went in on several users and erased material that they deemed to be in violation of copyright arbitrarily.

Holy smoke! I could see someone challenging the constitutionality of that. Can you imagine if companies were allowed to look through your computer for anything you shouldn't have? There's no way this will continue...eventually some court will rule against it.

Exactly. Tell those folks that have naughty pics on their Kindles to watch out!

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I for one don't like the fact that Amazon can access the content via IP and delete any material it sees fit to delete.

Wow....are you sure? I would think that would be illegal, even if they included it in the terms of service?

NPR had a story on this a month or two ago... they literally went in on several users and erased material that they deemed to be in violation of copyright arbitrarily.

That's not much different to what Microsoft does - disables your OS if its determined that your copy isn't licensed.

[mawilson 2,133]

That's not much different to what Microsoft does - disables your OS if its determined that your copy isn't licensed.

Or downloads and installs updates without your explicit consent.

[HAL 9000 96]

That's not much different to what Microsoft does - disables your OS if its determined that your copy isn't licensed.

Or downloads and installs updates without your explicit consent.

Well at least with Microsoft you can disable that. I guess with Kindle you could eventually hack it to close uninvited commands.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

That's not much different to what Microsoft does - disables your OS if its determined that your copy isn't licensed.

Or downloads and installs updates without your explicit consent.

Well at least with Microsoft you can disable that. I guess with Kindle you could eventually hack it to close uninvited commands.

Yeah I turned that off at the getgo - there have been a few bad updates that mess up a Vista install.

Can't wait until October when I can get shot of it for Windows 7.

[featherB 1]

I for one don't like the fact that Amazon can access the content via IP and delete any material it sees fit to delete.

Wow....are you sure? I would think that would be illegal, even if they included it in the terms of service?

NPR had a story on this a month or two ago... they literally went in on several users and erased material that they deemed to be in violation of copyright arbitrarily.

Holy smoke! I could see someone challenging the constitutionality of that. Can you imagine if companies were allowed to look through your computer for anything you shouldn't have? There's no way this will continue...eventually some court will rule against it.

Link (yeah, hardly a news source, but it's where I first read the story, and I love the headline! ) . I quite fancied getting a Kindle until I read about that... I might still consider it if they sold "books" for the Kindle at a much lower price than the real thing, but... they don't. And I can't go and re-sell the Kindle version on eBay (or indeed Amazon) when I'm bored of it. Or lend it to my friends. Also not sure I could get used to reading books on an e-reader, it just wouldn't feel right!

[HAL 9000 96]

I for one don't like the fact that Amazon can access the content via IP and delete any material it sees fit to delete.

Wow....are you sure? I would think that would be illegal, even if they included it in the terms of service?

NPR had a story on this a month or two ago... they literally went in on several users and erased material that they deemed to be in violation of copyright arbitrarily.

Holy smoke! I could see someone challenging the constitutionality of that. Can you imagine if companies were allowed to look through your computer for anything you shouldn't have? There's no way this will continue...eventually some court will rule against it.

Link (yeah, hardly a news source, but it's where I first read the story, and I love the headline! ) . I quite fancied getting a Kindle until I read about that... I might still consider it if they sold "books" for the Kindle at a much lower price than the real thing, but... they don't. And I can't go and re-sell the Kindle version on eBay (or indeed Amazon) when I'm bored of it. Or lend it to my friends. Also not sure I could get used to reading books on an e-reader, it just wouldn't feel right!

You certainly don't want to lend a Kindle to a friend.

[doodlebugg 10]

The only reason I would buy one is to be able to read the paper without getting black ink all over my hands. Since it's pretty cost-prohibitive if I don't use it to read books then that's the end of that; however, it would free up a few forests here and there.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I for one don't like the fact that Amazon can access the content via IP and delete any material it sees fit to delete.

Wow....are you sure? I would think that would be illegal, even if they included it in the terms of service?

NPR had a story on this a month or two ago... they literally went in on several users and erased material that they deemed to be in violation of copyright arbitrarily.

Holy smoke! I could see someone challenging the constitutionality of that. Can you imagine if companies were allowed to look through your computer for anything you shouldn't have? There's no way this will continue...eventually some court will rule against it.

Link (yeah, hardly a news source, but it's where I first read the story, and I love the headline! ) . I quite fancied getting a Kindle until I read about that... I might still consider it if they sold "books" for the Kindle at a much lower price than the real thing, but... they don't. And I can't go and re-sell the Kindle version on eBay (or indeed Amazon) when I'm bored of it. Or lend it to my friends. Also not sure I could get used to reading books on an e-reader, it just wouldn't feel right!

You're kidding, right? You can have a yard sale and sell your used books. I don't see how legally they could prevent anyone from selling their Kindle to a private party. It sounds to me like publishers are holding for dear life over their power of what gets published. I think we'll see a gradual shift from big publishing companies to individual authors self publishing their work. I believe Steven King has already released a digital only version of book he self published. We saw the same kind of power grab by the record companies when MP3's were first getting downloaded. Hopefully, the digital age will continue to make the middle man obsolete - and provide more open access between artists and consumers.

[HAL 9000 96]

The only reason I would buy one is to be able to read the paper without getting black ink all over my hands. Since it's pretty cost-prohibitive if I don't use it to read books then that's the end of that; however, it would free up a few forests here and there.

True that as well.

If it became more open source... their sales would likely skyrocket.

I for one don't like the fact that Amazon can access the content via IP and delete any material it sees fit to delete.

Wow....are you sure? I would think that would be illegal, even if they included it in the terms of service?

NPR had a story on this a month or two ago... they literally went in on several users and erased material that they deemed to be in violation of copyright arbitrarily.

Holy smoke! I could see someone challenging the constitutionality of that. Can you imagine if companies were allowed to look through your computer for anything you shouldn't have? There's no way this will continue...eventually some court will rule against it.

Link (yeah, hardly a news source, but it's where I first read the story, and I love the headline! ) . I quite fancied getting a Kindle until I read about that... I might still consider it if they sold "books" for the Kindle at a much lower price than the real thing, but... they don't. And I can't go and re-sell the Kindle version on eBay (or indeed Amazon) when I'm bored of it. Or lend it to my friends. Also not sure I could get used to reading books on an e-reader, it just wouldn't feel right!

You're kidding, right? You can have a yard sale and sell your used books. I don't see how legally they could prevent anyone from selling their Kindle to a private party. It sounds to me like publishers are holding for dear life over their power of what gets published. I think we'll see a gradual shift from big publishing companies to individual authors self publishing their work. I believe Steven King has already released a digital only version of book he self published. We saw the same kind of power grab by the record companies when MP3's were first getting downloaded. Hopefully, the digital age will continue to make the middle man obsolete - and provide more open access between artists and consumers.

As far as I know... the files are non-transferrable. Really silly IMO.

[featherB 1]

I for one don't like the fact that Amazon can access the content via IP and delete any material it sees fit to delete.

Wow....are you sure? I would think that would be illegal, even if they included it in the terms of service?

NPR had a story on this a month or two ago... they literally went in on several users and erased material that they deemed to be in violation of copyright arbitrarily.

Holy smoke! I could see someone challenging the constitutionality of that. Can you imagine if companies were allowed to look through your computer for anything you shouldn't have? There's no way this will continue...eventually some court will rule against it.

Link (yeah, hardly a news source, but it's where I first read the story, and I love the headline! ) . I quite fancied getting a Kindle until I read about that... I might still consider it if they sold "books" for the Kindle at a much lower price than the real thing, but... they don't. And I can't go and re-sell the Kindle version on eBay (or indeed Amazon) when I'm bored of it. Or lend it to my friends. Also not sure I could get used to reading books on an e-reader, it just wouldn't feel right!

You're kidding, right? You can have a yard sale and sell your used books. I don't see how legally they could prevent anyone from selling their Kindle to a private party. It sounds to me like publishers are holding for dear life over their power of what gets published. I think we'll see a gradual shift from big publishing companies to individual authors self publishing their work. I believe Steven King has already released a digital only version of book he self published. We saw the same kind of power grab by the record companies when MP3's were first getting downloaded. Hopefully, the digital age will continue to make the middle man obsolete - and provide more open access between artists and consumers.

Hadn't even got as far as thinking about selling the Kindle (if I had one to sell, that is) - my guess would be that you could sell the Kindle itself no problem, but that you would (according to their usage agreement etc - which of course I admit to never having seen, so take this guess for what it's worth!) have to wipe all the content from it first. Kind of like how you're welcome to sell your iPod, but not loaded with MP3s. It does seem like with the Kindle, you're buying the right to read the work in question, and nothing more. You don't own anything at all... apart from the device you're reading it on. And when you couple that with Amazon's right to snatch back what you've paid for (yeah, they refunded all those people, but still... grr!)... hm, it's like paying tons of money to borrow a (rather fancy version of) a book. I'd rather just pay nothing and borrow one from the library, if I'm never going to own it.

[featherB 1]

I for one don't like the fact that Amazon can access the content via IP and delete any material it sees fit to delete.

Wow....are you sure? I would think that would be illegal, even if they included it in the terms of service?

NPR had a story on this a month or two ago... they literally went in on several users and erased material that they deemed to be in violation of copyright arbitrarily.

Holy smoke! I could see someone challenging the constitutionality of that. Can you imagine if companies were allowed to look through your computer for anything you shouldn't have? There's no way this will continue...eventually some court will rule against it.

Link (yeah, hardly a news source, but it's where I first read the story, and I love the headline! ) . I quite fancied getting a Kindle until I read about that... I might still consider it if they sold "books" for the Kindle at a much lower price than the real thing, but... they don't. And I can't go and re-sell the Kindle version on eBay (or indeed Amazon) when I'm bored of it. Or lend it to my friends. Also not sure I could get used to reading books on an e-reader, it just wouldn't feel right!

You certainly don't want to lend a Kindle to a friend.

Swapping books among friends would become a thing of the past! Unless you just passed your Kindles around weekly or something. Musical Kindles.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Hadn't even got as far as thinking about selling the Kindle (if I had one to sell, that is) - my guess would be that you could sell the Kindle itself no problem, but that you would (according to their usage agreement etc - which of course I admit to never having seen, so take this guess for what it's worth!) have to wipe all the content from it first. Kind of like how you're welcome to sell your iPod, but not loaded with MP3s. It does seem like with the Kindle, you're buying the right to read the work in question, and nothing more. You don't own anything at all... apart from the device you're reading it on. And when you couple that with Amazon's right to snatch back what you've paid for (yeah, they refunded all those people, but still... grr!)... hm, it's like paying tons of money to borrow a (rather fancy version of) a book. I'd rather just pay nothing and borrow one from the library, if I'm never going to own it.

Someone needs to challenge this in court. I thought it was understood that when I purchase a book at a store, I have every legal right to sell it privately or even loan it to as many people as I wish. Libraries do not pay any royalties for loaning out books. Publishers' copyrights just don't extend that far.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Hadn't even got as far as thinking about selling the Kindle (if I had one to sell, that is) - my guess would be that you could sell the Kindle itself no problem, but that you would (according to their usage agreement etc - which of course I admit to never having seen, so take this guess for what it's worth!) have to wipe all the content from it first. Kind of like how you're welcome to sell your iPod, but not loaded with MP3s. It does seem like with the Kindle, you're buying the right to read the work in question, and nothing more. You don't own anything at all... apart from the device you're reading it on. And when you couple that with Amazon's right to snatch back what you've paid for (yeah, they refunded all those people, but still... grr!)... hm, it's like paying tons of money to borrow a (rather fancy version of) a book. I'd rather just pay nothing and borrow one from the library, if I'm never going to own it.

Someone needs to challenge this in court. I thought it was understood that when I purchase a book at a store, I have every legal right to sell it privately or even loan it to as many people as I wish. Libraries do not pay any royalties for loaning out books. Publishers' copyrights just don't extend that far.

Copyright law for electronic media is different to that of print media, even if the content is essentailly the same.

Similar thing is happening with video games - online delivery systems like steam don't allow for resale either. The argument is that you're buying the license to use the product, not the actual product itself.