Tech From an E-booker’s Viewpoint

For some reason my site has not been working. My host server did have several outages over the weekend and extended into yesterday. I had just upgraded to Word Press 2.3.1 and that may have caused more problems on my end. I don’t really know. I plan to call service support after my morning class. So if all goes well today I will post my son’s reaction to the Eee PC late this evening.

Ellen

This topic has been on my mind for quite some time, but I have been somewhat reluctant to write about it. My reluctance stemmed from not wanting to end up in a “How-to get on the e-book dark side” situation.  The following is something that happened and I would love to know what others think (Disclaimer: This is not exactly as it happen, but as I understood it).

A couple of months ago, someone (I’ll call her Jan) created a script that stripped the DRM of a certain e-book format (I’ll call the format .nbb).  The .nbb format had never been broken.  On top of that, the company responsible for the format had just experience a server failure that lasted a few weeks.  So many people were excited at the news of being able to free their books.  At first the script worked on its own, but Jan had to remove parts of her script to avoid conflict with the original writer of some of the files she used.  This new version required that the user had certain files available to him or her.  The files needed were not easily obtained, but depended on possession of a Software Development Kit (SDK), or the device the SDK supported. Fast forward about a week.  Jan gets a letter from the .nbb lawyers.  Needless to say that it was a cease and desist order along with some threatening to sue type of correspondence.  So in compliance the script was removed from her website, but what about the downloads prior to the removal? 

Forget about the legalities; just think about the ethical dilemma for the following:

1. Should the people who downloaded the script delete it from their PCs? 

2. Were they wrong to have used it in the first place; even if it was used on books that they bought with no intention of “sharing”?

3. Knowing why the script was deleted from the web, would someone be wrong to start distributing it among friends, newsgroups, forums, etc? 

4. After the three week down period, there was no real explanation or apology from the .nbb folks, and many people are now circumspect about buying this format.  They no longer trust the .nbb folks.  Does this matter?

5. Suppose, instead of being down for a few weeks, the company was gone altogether, like Gemstar.  There is no way to convert these books, so when the device dies, so does the library.  Does this change the game rules?

6.  What about Jan who freely gave this script to help people?

7.  If all this is wrong, why is it that using Convert Lit seems to be acceptable?

I’ve always considered myself an ethical person. I know that not everything is black and white. Those cases take care of themselves.  It’s that gray portion, that makes me think about the common good versus the universal wrong versus the slippery slope versus fair use.

Back in the day Palm used to sell expansion packs.  Expansion packs were MMC cards with a collection of games, productivity software, or e-books.  These cards were copy-protected and for the most part were not too expensive.  I have the dictionary and the SciFi ebook pack.  I don’t know if these expansion packs were ever popular, and I gave up using the couple I had because the card took up my memory slot.  Now that devices come with more internal memory, additional card slots, and memory cards have gotten so much cheaper, I wonder if some sort of e-book expansion pack could be of use today.  Let’s say I buy a new hardback book written by my favorite author.  Included with that book would be an MMC or SD card.  On it, the publisher could include a few of the author’s older titles on the SD card.  What would be better is if the book I am buying is included. That way I could give away the paper copy and keep my digital edition.  I believe that this could boost sales of hardback books.  The publishers then could include first chapter excerpts of other works in the same genre.  Then once a book goes to paperback, the publisher could sell the SD alone, or bundled with the paper book and charge more. 

Textbooks could benefit from this tactic too.  Either the book could be included on an SD card or a CD.  If it’s on a CD the publisher could allow viewing on a PC and one download to another type of device.  The student could sell the book back and keep his digital copy for reference.  The book that’s used in my literature class came with a CD.  Most of the students haven’t used it.  So those who buy a used copy that doesn’t have the CD or SD card probably wouldn’t care.  If it does matter then they’ll have to buy a new book.

DRM should not be an issue since the text is tied to the memory card or CD.  If it can’t be copied then what’s the problem?  Format could be an issue, but if the text couldn’t be copied then how about HTML?  Or do the right thing and put the e-books in different formats?  I think I could be happy with prc and pdb.  Chances are this is not a new idea, but I keep thinking that there has to be a compromise where we get most of what we want.  Ideally, I just want e-books to be successful.

I have been reading a lot lately about how manufacturers seem to think that when we buy something from them, we don’t really own our purchases.  In other words we are simply licensed to use the product, and can only use it how they see fit; for example, the iPhone update that would brick your hacked device.  So could DRM not really be about preventing piracy, but rather to keep us tied to one source of software?  That restriction would also keep the consumer tied to the seller.  Isn’t this just an updated version of the main drawback of the original Rocket e-book?  Then, all books were tied to the device.  So instead of my books dieing with my reader, my reader dies if I decide not to buy books from the seller.  I don’t get the thought process behind this.  Isn’t it enough that an e-book reader is $300? Why would the average person pay that much for a device that has only one source of material?  Would the iPod be as popular if the only way you could get songs were to buy them from iTunes? 

Yes, you can add pdf, doc, and other files to the reader, however that takes work.  I have yet to format a file that looks professional on my reader.  I don’t have the time to sit and learn and I doubt new comers would even consider it.  The Sony pdf how-to guide is 43 pages. The box doesn’t say you have to.  It should work without tweaking your documents.  After all, didn’t you just shell out $300?  It just seems that the people who make these decisions want the reader to fail.  The Sony reader would be so much better if there were another choice of format.  The current selection of BBeb formatted books is inadequate.  The prices of their books are not always competitively priced.  Why would I choose to buy a book from them that costs much less somewhere else? 

Also I have noticed that Sony still has not expanded their selection of RSS feeds. I am beginning to suspect that they don’t want us to have free material to read.  So instead of augmenting and improving the Connect store, they restrict outside material capabilities.  Does this work?  For us old timers no it doesn’t.  We find a way.  For the average consumer, it may work for awhile, but as they become frustrated and reject e-books, no. The real question is, why do we the consumers allow manufacturers treat us this way?  The e-book readers I have bought belong to me.  I paid for them.  I should be able to buy from wherever and read whatever I want on them.

My cable went out Friday afternoon and I spent the next seven hours trying to get someone to come out and fix it.  Apparently, when it was installed they never covered the cable outside.  The guy who cuts my grass also cut my cable.  Time Warner said that was a very low priority in the world of repairs.  My you I also have digital phone service along with TV service and Internet.  So my being without a phone wasn’t their concern.  It wasn’t until I told them to cancel my service that I suddenly became a priority.  So suddenly instead of one week they were at my door yesterday.  I have had enough of Road Runner.  I am changing to a new service called Embarq.  Satellite here I come.  My only reservation is that I will have DSL.  If any of you have it, let me know how good it is compared to Cable (Broadband).

Now that my husband’s Nokia N770 is in for repair, I have now begun to second guess my decision to buy it from Woot.  My cost per tablet was 132.48. A really good price, but that comes with no warranty options.  So does that make the offer still good?  Usually I am not a fan of extended service plans and at the time I purchased the tablets I was unaware of the device’s possible screen failures.   So really this is not an issue for this purchase, but I will keep it mind for the future.  I was at Tiger Direct this morning and they are selling the tablet for $139.99 plus shipping for a total of $148.48.  That’s a bit higher than what I paid, however Tiger Direct offers insurance.  Their extended service plans start at $21.99, but only start after the manufacturer’s warranty ends.  So I would’ve still had to go to Nokia.  They also offer a 2 year Accidental Damage coverage that starts from day one.  It’s expensive at $42.99, which is roughly one third of the tablet’s price, only slightly higher than the $37.99 two year replacement option.  But when I really think about it, will the N770 be around in two years?  For that matter will it be around by the end of this year?  So what would I be buying other than a chance to get two-thirds of my money back? Most devices I buy, I only expect to use for about a year, and maybe less if I get bored with it.  If it lasts until then I am satisfied if only for the excuse it gives me to buy something else.  This whole thing has made me cling tighter to my dedicated e-book devices.  My original Rocket e-book is still going strong after seven years.  I have taken with me during Army field exercises to include a month in the Mojave Desert (in a zip lock baggie) and the cold and snow of Alaska.  Imagine if I had an extended warranty on that, not that it was offered, but it would have been a total a waste of money. I may not be able to buy best sellers for it anymore, and when it finally does pass on to a better place, it will take my purchased books with it.  But I have enjoyed it through the years and it has never let me down.  I am not saying that dedicated devices are made better.  What I am saying is that I only depend on it for one thing—reading.  If any of my e-book readers die, I will not lose game playing, video, music, email, and web browsing.  The Nokia tablet was a multi-function device and it’s sad to see my husband going through Internet Tablet withdrawal.   So the moral of my story is that second guessing does no good.  When we get a new tech toy, we should enjoy it, use it for all its worth, and not worry about whether it was a good deal or not.