Comments on: ebook reader release date list – 2010

By: switch11

switch11 — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:19:03 +0000

Pam, Kindle does allow this for PC, iPhone, and soon for Mac and Blackberry.

Where Nook has an advantage is that it could possibly set its eBook DRM such that any Adobe DRM powered eReader could use its books. It doesn’t do this at the moment. Sony does.

By: Pam LaVassar

Pam LaVassar — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:52:53 +0000

In reply to Dave D.
I’ve been investigating B&N’s Nook but in the mean time have downloaded their software (it’s free) to my Blackberry for reading. The books are on my phone and in my account with B&N. If you purchase books through B&N (via phone or the Nook) it should solve your issue of changing devices and losing books. Just go back to B&N and download your book(s) to your new device. Apparently Kindle doesn’t allow this? Like I said I’ve just started looking into e-readers and decided to not purchase one until later this year to see what “the competition” comes up with.

By: Dave Deitrick

Dave Deitrick — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:23:15 +0000

I have purchased e-books for the past 4-5 years to read first on my Palm device, then my Palm Treo phone, them my iPhone & iPod Touch and now on my Kindle. Since I paid for the books already, I don’t think I should have to pay for them again just because I have changed devices, sometimes because the previous device quit working.

Writers and publishers are entitled to earn something for their efforts. That is why I pay for the books I read. I do not believe, however, that they are entitled to more money just because I changed the device on which I read their work.

It matters little to me if a file has DRM associated with it or not. What matters is that the purchases I make are portable from one device to another.

Register a device with a vendor, use a password mechanism, limit the number of devices that a book may be on at any one time, whatever. Just let me move my purchases from one device to another. Don’t punish me because I have provided financial support to the creators of reading material.

It seems to me that all of the current DRM mechanisms for electronic books violates the fair use principle. It is time for the publishing industry to get creative, not become punitive to those who provide them with their living.