Comment on Next week, Amazon is stripping away your ability to download your ebooks.

Schorsch@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

• circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Even after years and years of this being discussed, it shocks me how many people keep dropping money into services which force them to own nothing.

  Convenience is a helluva drug.

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  • RaoulDook@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    It depends, sometimes you can “buy” digital ownership from these places in the form of DRM-free files. If you are able to download the DRM-free file and make a reliable backup of it, then I could call that actual ownership. This is how I approach my music and ebook libraries. I don’t do subscriptions for streaming anything but TV.

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    • circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      True, though such services are in the extreme minority at this point.

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      • RaoulDook@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Bandcamp is great for music downloads

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• disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Check if it’s available on your library website first, for the sake of the author.

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  • yenahmik@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I download books from my library to my kindle. It goes through Amazon though, so I assume I am also impacted by this BS.

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    • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      It shouldn’t. The DRM is on the Amazon book file format. The books I get from my library are usually epub format.

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  • TheMinions@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I mean authors don’t see money anytime someone rents an ebook do they? Libraries just need to pay for licenses to the publisher annually from what I’ve read on reddit/Lemmy.

    I can understand renting ebooks so that your library continues to fund a digital library, but if the book is available in paper form that doesn’t really benefit the author either.

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    • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Authors receive 25% of the ebook sale to a library in the US.

      janefriedman.com/what-do-authors-earn-from-digita…

      Libraries in Canada and the UK pay royalties for each lend.

      societyofauthors.org/…/public-lending-right-plr/

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      • TunaLobster@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        It’s not a great deal for the libraries. They ebooks can come with a limited number of checkouts and cost far more.

        I switched to Kobo and have been very happy so far. I was able to download my books from Amazon and mumble and then I was able to read them on my Kobo device and store them in my Calibre library.

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      • TheMinions@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Good to know! Thanks! I’ll start using my e-lending again, ever if that just means I instantly return the book.

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