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Microsoft announces it will shut down ebook program and confiscate its customers' libraries
Boing boing ^ | 2 April 2019 | CORY DOCTOROW

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 ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat
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To: metmom; DUMBGRUNT

There is only one DVD replicating plant left in the US.

Streaming is the future.


61 posted on 04/02/2019 7:29:52 PM PDT by marajade (Skywalker)
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To: caver

That’s what I’ve always believed...I’m even doing my own backup drives.


62 posted on 04/02/2019 8:33:14 PM PDT by goodnesswins (White Privilege EQUALS Self Control & working 50-80 hrs/wk for 40 years!)
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To: marajade

Wonder what Venezuelan’s are doing


63 posted on 04/02/2019 8:36:28 PM PDT by goodnesswins (White Privilege EQUALS Self Control & working 50-80 hrs/wk for 40 years!)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

gutenberg.org is a fantastic site!
On my to-do list: browse their selection and copy many of the classics onto CD-ROM.


64 posted on 04/02/2019 10:38:52 PM PDT by mumblypeg (I've seen the future, brother. It is murder. --L. Cohen)
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To: Magnatron

I’ve been telling people that for years. That is why I buy real books and DVDs when possible.


65 posted on 04/02/2019 11:46:29 PM PDT by YogicCowboy ("I am not entirely on anyone's side, because no one is entirely on mine." - J. R. R. Tolkien)
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To: gaijin
It's possible. Amazon Kindle has mass-deleted customers' books when they deemed the title was plagiarized, or constituted child porn etc. Nothing technical prevents Amazon for mass-deleting "alt-right nationalist hate books" in the future. That's why I encourage folks to buy dead-tree versions.

I just got off my last Facebook 30-day suspension, so I'm not posting there anymore. I just posted this and left it up.


66 posted on 04/03/2019 4:43:10 AM PDT by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Skywise

If folks bothered to read the boilerplate that comes with anything ebook related, they’d already know this.


67 posted on 04/03/2019 4:45:50 AM PDT by mewzilla (Break out the mustard seeds.)
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To: DUMBGRUNT
This is why you should never by DRM books through one of these silos. Same goes with music. I only use sellers that will, in the case of an ebook, allow me to download a non-DRM encumbered book in whatever format I prefer. If you like science fiction, I strongly recommend Baen Publishing for exactly that reason. Jim Baen came right out and said that this was his business model because he didn't believe his customers were thieves. So far that belief has worked out for the company.

It has been obvious for quite some time with the license keys, the phone-home crap and other similar stuff that they most emphatically do believe their customers are thieves, and they treat you accordingly every chance they get. I do not understand why anyone does business with them who doesn't have a gun to their heads.

68 posted on 04/03/2019 6:19:44 AM PDT by zeugma (Power without accountability is fertilizer for tyranny.)
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To: discostu

Yeah, if is isn’t paper it isn’t a book.


69 posted on 04/03/2019 6:52:23 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: DUMBGRUNT
I downloaded it from Gutenberg.org, they are a large org, that specializes in old, out of copyright works.

Gutenberg has been around for quite some time. They are excellent. There is also a PG-Canada and PG-Austrailia that have some books that you can't have on the main PG site, because the U.S. Copyright sucks so bad. For instance, if you're interested in the works of C.S. Lewis, you'll find a bunch of them on the PG-CA site, because the copyright has expired there, and won't for many years in the U.S..

Also, if anyone is interested in helping to proofread public domain books for Project Gutenberg, you can go to the Distributed Proofing site and lend a hand. Each book is proofread at least 3 times, which is why PG books are pretty high quality compared to other sources of public domain books. Just proofing 3 pages a day, which will take just a few minutes makes a big difference. So far Distributed Proofreading has produced over 37,000 books that are available for free download in multiple formats.

70 posted on 04/03/2019 6:57:42 AM PDT by zeugma (Power without accountability is fertilizer for tyranny.)
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To: mumblypeg

See post 70 for additional PG references


71 posted on 04/03/2019 7:01:06 AM PDT by zeugma (Power without accountability is fertilizer for tyranny.)
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To: SeaDragon

Download and convert - then you have your own copy - been saying that for years.

SD - for your perusal.


72 posted on 04/03/2019 7:31:11 AM PDT by RikaStrom ("To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize." ~Voltaire)
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To: zeugma

I remember the request for proofreaders, back when I used CP/M !

They had a BBS to DIAL into with your acoustic modem and download it onto the new 5 1/4 inch floppy.


73 posted on 04/03/2019 8:31:19 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT ("The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!")
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To: SeaDragon

Ping


74 posted on 04/11/2019 3:06:44 PM PDT by RikaStrom (When picking allies, 2 things to consider: 1) Can they shoot, 2) Will they aim at your enemies?)
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To: BuffaloJack

It’s long past time to take Amazon down. Period.


75 posted on 04/11/2019 3:15:12 PM PDT by RinaseaofDs
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To: RikaStrom

Well that explains the disappearance of my copy of Camp of the Saints by Jean Raspail.

Thanks for the ping.


76 posted on 04/11/2019 3:31:15 PM PDT by SeaDragon ("Life is tough ..... It's even tougher if you're stupid." - John Wayne)
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