...because all really cool titles are already taken and I lack creativity today.
I never liked the idea of ebook readers. Not being able to put any book I want in, proprietary formats, DRM - all valid reasons not to like them. In fact the most important point for me is that I love the feel of the paper and cover, smell of a book and relaxing with a lecture in my comfy armchair. No ebook reader can provide that experience, not ever. The only reason for me to buy one is if I move abroad for extended period of time - having well over thousand of books, I can't easily move them with me. But if I chose to go for it, I won't be buying Kindle, that's for sure, even though XKCD loves it.
Other than the issues mentioned above, all of which apply, and the fact that Amazon wouldn't sell it to me (outside of US), I was somewhat worried that one day my content might miraculously disappear, what with Kindle being tethered to Amazon service. My tech-savvy friends would of course laugh at my concerns, but it turned out I might have been right after all - because this has actually happened. Here's how New York Times describes it and here's an excerpt from Wikipedia:
The outcry was indeed widespread and comparisons to 1984 unevitable: Some E-Books Are More Equal Than Others, Big Brother: Amazon Remotely Deletes 1984 From Kindles, Kindle's Orwellian Moment. See, I told you all good titles were already taken. Also, the irony stemming from the fact that it was 1984 that got remotely deleted is actually so much of a complete joke all by itself that I can hardly add anything. Except maybe a Mac commercial that is somewhat related to subject:
Also, if you want to read 1984 or Animal Farm, just go to George Orwell dot org and start reading. Or better yet, copy it on your computer, PSP or whatever, before it disappears.
[information found via Ultramaryna (PL)]
I never liked the idea of ebook readers. Not being able to put any book I want in, proprietary formats, DRM - all valid reasons not to like them. In fact the most important point for me is that I love the feel of the paper and cover, smell of a book and relaxing with a lecture in my comfy armchair. No ebook reader can provide that experience, not ever. The only reason for me to buy one is if I move abroad for extended period of time - having well over thousand of books, I can't easily move them with me. But if I chose to go for it, I won't be buying Kindle, that's for sure, even though XKCD loves it.
Other than the issues mentioned above, all of which apply, and the fact that Amazon wouldn't sell it to me (outside of US), I was somewhat worried that one day my content might miraculously disappear, what with Kindle being tethered to Amazon service. My tech-savvy friends would of course laugh at my concerns, but it turned out I might have been right after all - because this has actually happened. Here's how New York Times describes it and here's an excerpt from Wikipedia:
On July 17, 2009, Amazon.com withdrew certain Kindle titles, including Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) by George Orwell, from sale, refunded the cost to those who had purchased them, and remotely deleted these titles from purchasers' devices after discovering that the publisher lacked rights to publish the titles in question. Notes and annotations for the books made by users on their devices were also deleted. The move prompted outcry and comparisons to Nineteen Eighty-Four itself; in this novel materials in public archive found unsuitable by the ruling party are editted or destroyed after being published and the Memory Hole is a Newspeak phrase referring to a small chute leading to a large incinerator used for such censorship purpose. Customers who earlier downloaded those books and then found the books and their personal notes to have disappeared, couldn't fail to notice the resemblance of these events to the novel, and generally considered their own material to have also been "sent down a memory hole."
The outcry was indeed widespread and comparisons to 1984 unevitable: Some E-Books Are More Equal Than Others, Big Brother: Amazon Remotely Deletes 1984 From Kindles, Kindle's Orwellian Moment. See, I told you all good titles were already taken. Also, the irony stemming from the fact that it was 1984 that got remotely deleted is actually so much of a complete joke all by itself that I can hardly add anything. Except maybe a Mac commercial that is somewhat related to subject:
Also, if you want to read 1984 or Animal Farm, just go to George Orwell dot org and start reading. Or better yet, copy it on your computer, PSP or whatever, before it disappears.
[information found via Ultramaryna (PL)]
