AttorneyAtWar Posted March 25, 2016 Share Posted March 25, 2016 I have a Nook book and really like it, the only down side is Barnes and Noble has a notable lack of Ebooks compared to Kindle. Once my NOOK is gone I am thinking of switching over. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
76mm Posted March 25, 2016 Share Posted March 25, 2016 6 hours ago, Bud Backer said: One of the advantage of Apple's iBooks over the Kindle format is that I can back up all my Ebooks to backup drives. I don't have to redownload if I don't wish to. You can also do this with Kindle books, just download them to your computer...easy-peasy. And honestly I don't see why this matters; I've been using a kindle for 8 years and I've never had to redownload a book unless I wanted it on a different devise, and then it generally takes less than a minute to download a book. For all the doubters, you don't even need a kindle to read kindle books--just download the free app onto your smartphone or tablet, and start reading. And for people who travel alot, it is an absolute no brainer--in my kindle I regularly carry a library of about 30 books with me (I could carry hundreds), and I choose which to read based on my mood, how much time I have, etc.--try that with paper books... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonS Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 (edited) On 3/25/2016 at 6:53 PM, 76mm said: Yes, that happened exactly once as far as I know, and that was several years ago; A bit more than once, and the problem is ongoing http://boingboing.net/2016/05/07/kobo-upgrade-deprives-read.html http://boingboing.net/2016/03/16/barnes-noble-wipes-out-nook.html http://boingboing.net/2015/10/02/new-50-kindle-fire-wont-rec.html http://boingboing.net/2015/06/23/outstanding-paper-on-the-impac.html http://the-digital-reader.com/2014/02/03/adobe-require-new-epub-drm-july-expects-abandon-existing-users/#.UvC9jvgZWlP etc. They aren't all exactly the same issue, but they're all the same class of issue. Edited May 8, 2016 by JonS 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
76mm Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 um, yeah, but exactly none of those links have to do with a kindle... For those of you who are absolutely dead-seat against e-books and are looking for any excuse not to get a kindle, I'm sure you can think up any number of reasons not to get a kindle. I find them incredibly convenient and think that most others will too, but if not, please carry on lugging around your dead trees. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dynaman216 Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 I've lost FAR more dead tree books to a flood than I have lost Kindle books to being deleted. (the score is over 100 to zero). It is funny how the flaws in the new are so dreadful while the equal flaws in the old are just the way it is. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
76mm Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 Not to mention the biggest threats to paper books--being "borrowed" by friends. I think it might be possible to lend Kindle books somehow, but no one has ever asked me to do it... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 2 hours ago, 76mm said: Not to mention the biggest threats to paper books--being "borrowed" by friends. True. I lost count long ago of the number of books I loaned out and never got back. Many people just don't seem to get that if you have been loaned something it comes with the obligation to return it. 2 hours ago, 76mm said: I think it might be possible to lend Kindle books somehow, but no one has ever asked me to do it... I was thinking about this a day or two ago. How would it be possible to loan out a copy of an e-book? And would it be legal to do so? I'm guessing that aside from some kind of hack, the answer to the first question is no and in any case making a copy would almost certainly be a violation of copyright unless the provider has chosen to waive copyrights. I suppose that it would still be possible to copy and paste brief excerpts under fair use doctrine. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
76mm Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 11 hours ago, Michael Emrys said: I was thinking about this a day or two ago. How would it be possible to loan out a copy of an e-book? And would it be legal to do so? IIRC, this was some kind of official feature on Kindles, at least with some books (although I never did it, so could be confused). I think it involved "checking the book out" of your device and "checking it in" to another device. But as I said, I never used this feature, so could be confused, it might have involved a different devise and different kind of content altogether (maybe Audible audio books, etc.). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AttorneyAtWar Posted May 12, 2016 Share Posted May 12, 2016 Yeah my Nook has a few books on it that have a "lend" feature, you can let them borrow it on there account pretty much. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
76mm Posted May 18, 2016 Share Posted May 18, 2016 I was just looking at my Kindle books and noticed that some of them (20% tops) have a "Lend Book" option in the menu on Amazon's website. Not sure how it works, but it seems to be an officially supported feature for some books. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted May 18, 2016 Share Posted May 18, 2016 40 minutes ago, 76mm said: I was just looking at my Kindle books and noticed that some of them (20% tops) have a "Lend Book" option in the menu on Amazon's website. Not sure how it works, but it seems to be an officially supported feature for some books. It might be interesting to know what percentage of those books are free. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
76mm Posted May 19, 2016 Share Posted May 19, 2016 (edited) @Michael Emrys I took another look based on your question; I don't have many free books, but I have quite a few which cost less than $5 (self-published and out of copyright books mainly). Probably 90%+ of these books were "loanable". Of the rest of the books (I've got a couple of hundred), the "normal" books, other than the two categories described below, probably only 5%-10% were loanable. Two categories of "normal" books were mostly loanable: books for learning language (most were loanable) and books about computer programming (50-60% loanable); I guess "instructional" type books are more likely to be loanable. For me the topic is mainly academic, because no one has ever asked me to lend them a Kindle book. Edited May 19, 2016 by 76mm 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted May 19, 2016 Share Posted May 19, 2016 @76mm: Your answer reinforces my suspicion that most of the "loanable" books are those they wouldn't expect to make a lot of money on anyway. Amazon might as well view them as an investment in good will. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
76mm Posted May 19, 2016 Share Posted May 19, 2016 I don't know if the decision is Amazon's or the publishers, but I suspect the latter, although Amazon might encourage or even require publishers of books that cost less than $5 to allow lending. Moreover, you're right in that whoever's decision it is, they are not exactly incentivized to allow lending if it will cost them the sale of a new book--but that shouldn't surprise anyone. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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