Thanks to Swordmaker for the ping!
Posted on 04/02/2019 1:48:12 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
Microsoft has a DRM-locked ebook store that isn't making enough money, so they're shutting it down and taking away every book that every one of its customers acquired effective July 1.
Customers will receive refunds.
When I was a bookseller, nothing I could do would result in your losing the book that I sold you. If I regretted selling you a book, I didn't get to break into your house and steal it, even if I left you a cash refund for the price you paid.The idea that the books I buy can be relegated to some kind of f---ing software license is the most grotesque and awful thing I can imagine: if the publishing industry deliberately set out to destroy any sense of intrinsic, civilization-supporting value in literary works, they could not have done a better job.
(Excerpt) Read more at boingboing.net ...
“The same thing can happen with digital copies of movies. You sit down to watch Blazing Saddles (or some equally non-PC movie) one evening, only to find that PC police have removed it from your library.”
Just wait until the films and movies start CHANGING in peoples’ libraries. Won’t happen? It already has!
Expect lots more of this sort of thing with all these wonderful “cloud” based vaperware computing solutions. I miss the good old days when you get disk(s) of the software when you bought it.
Never, never put anything that you “own” on the “Cloud”.
Thanks to Swordmaker for the ping!
I have bought only a few ebooks from Amazon, and none in the last couple of years. But of the ones I do have, I have always found ways to rip them to pdfs. The trick was to get them locally for offline reading, and then run the easy to find software to convert them.
If they have clamped down on encryption, then a solution would be to cook up a script that turns the pages on the reader software, and then screenshot them. The screenshots could be used as is, or run through OCR to get text.
“and the government doesn’t have to know about it”
If only... I”m pretty sure they know if they want to know.
“A NEGRO EXPLORER AT THE NORTH POLE”
It’s on Internet Archive. They have an audio version, too. All free.
Your comment made me get on Amazon and purchase the entire Mel Brooks Collection on DVD. I make it a point to watch Blazing Saddles every few years because it never gets old. Now I can feel comfortable that it won’t go away, at least for me and Mrs Dayglored.
And I bought Airplane on DVD, same reason. No matter how many times I watch it I still laugh my azz off. As I approach old age, the more of my azz I lose laughing, the better.
From the forward:
“On that bitter brilliant day in April, 1909, when the Stars and Stripes floated at the North Pole, Caucasian, Ethiopian, and Mongolian stood side by side at the apex of the earth, in the harmonious companionship resulting from hard work, exposure, danger, and a common object.”
R.E.Peary
What a stark contrast to the rantings and ravings going on 110 years later. I’m gonna have to read this one.
Yes!
I downloaded it from Gutenberg.org, they are a large org, that specializes in old, out of copyright works.
IIRC it is run by the U of Il.
All free!
The screenshots could be used as is, or run through OCR to get text.
Yes, doable, but more trouble than it is worth.
Most of the time for me, it is the library or a used book.
I have several Ryan Adams songs in my Apple Music iCloud (a streaming service that I pay $15/month to enjoy). When Adams found himself in all that recent #MeToo hot water for basically being a dick to girls, I half expected his songs to magically disappear. They haven't yet but the thought that Apple could easily do this made me reminisce about the days of buying CDs.
Boy, a part of me hates to say, “I told ya so,” but the other part mocks in hysterical laughter at those who trusted MicroThief would ever do such a thing!
Another favorite of mine is “My Cousin Vinny”
An interesting and quick read.
Also, note that it is very cold and the nights are long...
The incredible story of Inuits fathered by a U.S. polar explorer and his aide who are making their way into a globalised world
Polar explorer Rear Admiral Robert Peary and chief aide Matthew Henson fathered sons by Inuit women on their travels in Greenland a century ago
You LOSE your money with E-books. The library is a declining asset. You buy back your books for dimes on the dollar you originally paid.
You paid $5.00 for an ebook years ago.
The book is now $10.00.
Any edited censored books keep losing value.
My many paper books all retain value. But are only worth the resell price. Ebook prices keep going up.
I like the real thing. Give me pages to flip and I have the book.
I also like CD’s and DVE’s for the same reason. I have the hard copy. Always.
I can pass it on to whomever I wish.
Mr. mm keeps telling me CD’s and DVD’s are on their way out, just like VCR tapes did.
But I Plan on keeping every one and acquiring some more of the ones I want so I have the hard copy.
I find it more relaxing to listen to a book that is audible than to read a book. In audio mode it is easier for my mind to envision what I’m hearing too.
That was one of my favorite Ray Bradbury books.
He was quite prophetic in many ways.
DVD’s
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