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Amazon's apology isn't enough
Jeff Bezos gave a very frank apology today for his company's policy on withdrawing books, but it may not be enough to pacify his customers.
Amazon was amazingly unfortunate that the two books it was asked to withdraw were by Orwell. Any journalist or PR operative worth their salt could have told them this was a nightmare waiting to happen. From a story perspective it was perfect.
But two things could really harm Amazon in the longer term. Firstly Bezos didn't actually rule out doing this again, or at least not as firmly as his customers would like. It raises the spectre in the minds of potential buyers that maybe lashing out hundreds of dollars on a Kindle isn't such a good idea.
But more importantly existing Kindle owners are still furious. When it comes to e-readers for once the bookish sorts are in the vanguard of a technological wave.
You don't buy a Kindle unless you read a lot of, and presumably value, books. Most are the kind of people who, on entering your house for the first time, won't check out the gadgets or the decorating but the bookshelves. They have large libraries of books and look after them.
So the idea that a bookseller could, as one owner put it, sneak into their house overnight and take back a book they had bought is an anathema. Getting their support is going to be a long, hard road.
Spanish
Fortunately I am old enough to have bought virtually all the books I will read so I am not tempted by electronic books. Until DRM (Digital Restriction Management) is dropped I would advise everyone to stay with paper.
I know all the arguments about piracy and I would like pirates prosecuted but some method must be found which does not treat the honest customer as a potential criminal. I have DVDs, bought honestly, which start with a warning about the criminality of copying and other possible misuse of the product. This is in addition to the methods incorporated in the DVD to prevent copying yet I get this annoying and unavoidable warning every time I play the DVD. I will not buy any more.
Posted by: misceng | July 29, 2009 3:42 PM
I for one will not buy a Kindle, nor any other e-book reader that contains DRM. I'm not opposed to the notion of DRM, but as we've just seen, it can be manipulated to remove rights to any particular media. I have quite a collection of physical books, many more have been donated to the VA Hospital, and yes, quite a collection of e-books. They are mine to read on whatever device I care to use them on. [The author and publisher granted that right.] No device that resticts that right will ever be seen in my hands. Period.
Posted by: Brian J. Bartlett | July 30, 2009 6:42 AM