The Kindle and other ebooks

While I was on Christmas vacation I happened to stop into a Barnes & Noble and as I walked in I spotted a large group of people gathered in one area of the store. My heart raced a little thinking that maybe I had stumbled upon some book signing by some popular author. But alas as I approached I discovered it was a class teaching people how to use a Nooke. I thought to myself that is just silly, needing to know how to use a product to read books.

I am diametrically opposed to the Kindle and all e-readers for a multitude of reasons. The first being a matter of practicality because I think it is completely ludicrous to shell out $100 or more so that you can then be able to read books that you have to buy. Of course there are free books you can download but really, why are they free? And I highly doubt that the latest Harry Potter book will be in the free down load books.

I am also opposed to the Kindle because what do you do with it if you take it to the pool and decide you want to get in the pool? With my paperback I leave it on my towel and go get in the water without a care. I usually buy them used for next to nothing and if someone steals it oh well. But if they steal my Kindle I'm out alot of money.

Other issues that the Kindle and other e-book readers pose is durability. If I drop a book it could damage the spine if it gets wet the pages may curl and stick together but it is still readable. But what about an e-book reader? Maybe it will survive a drop out of my hand but what about a flight of stairs, being stepped up, giving a good swat to a naughty child or killing a bug? And what about highlighting a favorite passage?

But the biggest objection I have to the e-book reader is it's impact on property ownership. With any e-book you have surrendered your rights to own a copy of that book. As far as I can tell you can never lend that book, nor sell it to someone else nor even give it to someone else and at some time if the makers of the Kindle, or Nook or whatever platform you read the book on decide that they need more money from you so that you may enjoy the book they can render it unreadable by you until you pony up more money.

Now I'm speculating but I'm guessing that with e-books if you look at the fine print you have not purchased the book but only a license that gives you certain permissions for the book. In short it is a step in the direction for the entertainment industry to move to a pay per use system of distribution. In short the entertainment industry wants nothing more then to be able to charge you every-time you watch a movie, listen to music or read a book. In fact I believe they would love nothing more then to be able to charge you per person just like at the theater.

Now some will think I'm being hysterical or am some conspiracy theory kook. But if you look at some recent court decisions as well as how the entertainment industry determines piracy you might agree with me to some extent.

First the industry measures piracy by subtracting actual sells from what they would like their sells to be. So if actual sells are $100,000 and they want sells to be $200,000 then piracy loss is $100,000. And they take that number to our elected officials and lobby them saying you have to do something about this theft is 100% of sells.

The other has to do with some recent court decisions. One dealt with ebay in which a seller had several copies of a C.A.D. program for sell. I believe the copies had never been installed. The company who had produced the programs sued the seller and forced him to take them off ebay basically because, "he did not have a right to resell them". The other case concerns Omega S.A. maker of Swatch watches and Costco. Costco bought some high end watches that where not to be sold in the U.S. from a third party that were manufactured by Omega S.A. Costco then sold the watches for less then the suggested retail price in the U.S. Omega S.A. had printed a special emblem on these watches to some how mark them. Omega S.A. sued Costco basically stating that Costco had violated copy right law. Costco filed a counter motion and won legal fees however Omega S.A. appealed and on that appeal the 9th circuit court of appeals (big surprise there) reversed the lower courts ruling and agreed that Costco had violated Omega S.A. copy right.

What does this have to do with the Kindle and other e-books? Purchasing those devices and other hi-tech electronics devices only gives the companies more money in which to further erode property rights for individuals. We are financing our own inability to own anything.