Kindle Is Making It Harder to Switch to Rival eReader Brands.
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C'mon United States, do the anti-trust thing! You used to be so good at it!
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Did they? There have been a few cases, sure, but in general they've not been good in this regard.
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Same. Most news sites treating this change as a "Kindle issue" is borderline disinformation. This is an "Amazon issue". Kindle the device isn't changing and there is no reason to switch if you already own one (just please don't buy a new one).
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Ok, the latter might actually be worth it. I’ll have to look into that.
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Uneducated 2 cents. afaik the publishers have some kind of “part ownership”, where they can pull it out from the store whenever. The “anti-piracy” feature you get with DRMs is why many publishers actually like them tho. The part ownership thing is just icing on the cake. So no, a good chunk of publishers won’t be furious at all. DRM gives what publishers want and more, at the expense of the consumers in a way that most wouldn’t realize.
And if anything, I think it makes more sense to think that these publishers are also just granting Amazon some kind of “license” to sell their e-books.
Amazon would absolutely be destroying their relationship with a publisher though, if they decide to block the selling or access of a book to large group of people who are would-be buyers. But, at the end of the day, publishers want to know how much they’re making from putting their e-books on Amazon, and as long as that revenue is enough to satisfy their needs, they don’t need to care too much about the odd customer who had their book revoked, and they would generally be pretty shielded from any sort of disputes as long as Amazon is making those revoking calls.
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I have a first generation kindle that I bought 16 years ago. They used to be awesome, and Amazon shaped the way ecommerce worked. The lesson here is not to be fully dependent on one supplier, not to boycott everything just because it's big.
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Most services are forced to carry DRM only versions of Ebooks. But there are ways of legally removing the DRM - it's a faff but doable. I buy epubs and don't use Kindle (haven't for a long time) as it's much harder to remove the DRM and actually own your books.
But way I look at it - if I bought the Kindle version of a book, I can just download a DRM free version by sailing the seas. Fuck Amazon.
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I love how hackable Kobos are. I put KOReader on mine and it's honestly just the best experience I could ask for.
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No, the files are mostly owned by the publisher. That's why you sometimes have stories where books disappear from Kindles because the rights holders revoke Amazon's license to sell their books. It's what happened with one version of Orwell's 1984, ironically.
It's ridiculous, if you ask me, but that's the reality with Broken By Design DRM ebooks.
That's why it's prudent for any buyers of ebooks to download them as soon as you can, and put them in a library like "Calibre", that way, even if Amazon loses their license to sell those publishers books, you still have access to the ebooks you bought with your money.
And that's why it's bad that Amazon is removing the option to download the files yourself. And why I recommend people to take their business and wallets elsewhere! Stop giving Bezos your money. -
It is very easy to remove DRM from kindle Books.
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The Nova 3 released in late 2020, it hasn’t existed for 8 years.
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I think you are missing the point of using an e-ink device.. I don't think anyone would use one because of "how powerful" it is.
I don't want to read for hours on end on my phone or computer. With this, I can turn backlight off and use a lamp, like a normal book. Better for my eyes and relaxing.
Also, having dedicated devices for certain activities will change how you interact with them when using them. If I read a book on my computer I am tempted to look things up, get some work done or play a game. This is just for leisurely reading, and so when I pick it up that is what I do with it.
If you read a lot (books, not documentation which requires looking things up) then it really is a lot better for your eyes and a better experience to use e-ink.
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Absolutely the reason I bought mine too. While we are probably a small niche, looking for this functionality was how I found Kobo in the first place.
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Yeah, they were great back then. I have the first generation Kindle Paperwhite (12-ish years), though at this point I only use it to read fanfics lol
AO3 let's you download entire fics directly in the EPUB & AZW3 format, doubt they're ever gonna change that
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Sure, it's the same problem with most of electronics, it's the console business model, or ink printer, where the device itself is "too" cheap and companies make money on content. Unfortunately it comes with shackles. I'm all for breaking the shackles but unfortunately has to be aware of what they are getting into, not just the trouble but also potentially supporting the company promoting DRMs and more.
I work in XR and Meta/Facebook is the embodiment of that problem. The Quest is too cheap compared to alternatives like Lynx (standalone designing in France, unfortunately still running on Android but at least rootable) or even the "old" now Valve Index, which in addition to its price also requires a gaming desktop.
So... it's a money making machine for corporations. Hopefully recycling is done in a way that provide 0 support for the corporations locking down its device, promoting its marketplace BUT also, sadly less realistic, doesn't also prevent companies who try to sell genuine alternative that do NOT promote such business model from existing.
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there’s a reason why the kindle is as cheap as it is,
Indeed, cf https://lemmy.world/comment/15163037 unfortunately too cheap usually comes at a non financial cost.
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TL;DR: get a 2nd hand reMarkable, PineNote, Bookeen, etc…
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Better reader, PDFs with reflow.
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I am sorry, what?
Turn on PC or phone. Download ebook from torrent site. Enjoy.
It's not difficult to switch?
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I've had three ereaders, all three were kobo.Yet I wouldn't recommend them anymore. There's a mandatory online activation now. There are ways to bypass it but it's not great.
Many models are unstable with KoReader so it's not even an alternative anymore.
The day I replace my eReader is going to be a hard day.
