Amazon should have Kindle sales events like Steam

Amazon should take a cue from Steam and run limited-time specials on Kindle ebooks and send me email when books on my wish list go on sale. I'd end up buying more books, I'm sure, just the way I've bought a lot of games from Steam that I don't have time to play.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Perhaps their publisher agreements don't allow that.
PPS - Which is the equivalent of "we don't like money", but that's their loss.

Ebook textbooks and multi-page zoom

I've noted before that textbooks as ebooks would suck, mostly because you just can't flick through the pages as quickly, glimpsing dozens per second until you see what you were looking for. In an ebook, it's page-by-page flick, flick, flick, maybe two pages per second, which gets tedious very quickly. There are advantages to having digital textbooks, but the usability needs to be addressed.

It turns out that's not too hard. You could have a function for digital textbooks to zoom out so that you can see thumbnail versions of lots of pages at once and flick through them that way, then zoom back in when you find what you're looking for. I'm sure someone is working hard on the problems of digital textbooks and soon enough they will be the standard rather than the experimental novelty.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Next problem: note taking.
PPS - Not as critical and not as hard either.

Beyond plain ebooks

With ebooks on tablets, we could easily have video or interactive elements as the book cover. There's no need to stick to the static image format we find on printed books. Of course, there's no need to stick to the static text format for the main body of the book, either, which is where the traditional notion of a "book" starts to break down. The medium changes the message, or it can.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - There is an emerging group of "book-like" apps, especially on the iPad.
PPS - Obviously they're harder to produce than textual books.

Displaying ebooks on a shelf

People complain about being unable to display ebooks like paper books on a shelf, but if you really wanted to do that, you could always download the cover art as JPG files and show them on a digital photo frame. There, I fixed it.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Of course you'd want an automatic system to gather cover art so it's not a chore.
PPS - And, depending on your reading habits, you might want an approval step to make sure you show only the classiest of your library entries to guests.

Kindle's slightly broken bookmark sync

A problem with the Kindle platform is that you might ruin the progress sync by opening a book on a different device before it is synchronised. The platform sees two bookmarks and chooses the latter, which is wrong. I've done this between my Kindle and my phone, because my phone didn't have a data connection right away to load the latest bookmark online.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - An unreliable network connection should have been designed for.
PPS - Because our wireless networks are significantly unreliable.

Ebook format war

With Google, Apple, Amazon and others all selling ebooks, you need different software for each one. This is because each seller has their own DRM to lock you in, and you either need a different device for each store or a general-purpose device with apps for each store. And you'll notice that each vendor does provide free apps for desktops and phone operating systems, too. That tells you the devices and software are not the major revenue stream; it's the books themselves. So each camp wants to get you hooked on their format and locked in so you only buy books from them, and book sales is where Amazon rules the roost.

Cross-compatibility would help any one camp win the format war. It is in Amazon's best interests to break or even support ePub DRM, making the Kindle compatible with Google Books and the Apple iBookstore, but the Digital Millenium Copyright Act means they're not even allowed to try. However, if someone were to publicly demonstrate that the ePub format is cracked, publishers might be less willing to support ebook sellers other than Amazon.

Now, for publishers, before any one format emerges as the winner, it is worth their while to support them all, and that's pretty easy, so they'll keep doing so. That means there's no differentiation between the ebook stores. Since there's no incentive for publishers to support one store over another, you can bet each store will be negotiating for exclusivity deals with publishers. That's when the wheels start to fall off for consumers. If some books are only available from certain locked-up ebook stores, but you want them all, you'll end up having to work with both, in much the same way as dedicated gamers own an XBox, a PlayStation and a Wii.

I really hope we can sort out this format war sooner rather than later, and I hope in the meantime I don't spend too much money on the losers. I don't want to get locked to a format that will die in a year or two, with a ton of ebooks I can no longer read. In the end, I support Amazon, because even if they fail, they can just switch to the winning open format, ePub. Any books I bought before their victory should be converted and still available afterwards on the same platform.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I really don't like that situation.
PPS - But what can you do besides not buying any ebooks?

Kindle and Amazon wish lists

How come I can't access my Amazon wish list through the Kindle store on my phone or even my Kindle, for that matter? It only shows recommendations, but I already have some recommendations for myself. Apparently those aren't good enough. Also, if I don't mind whether I get a book from my list as a Kindle ebook or a print version, why can't I specify that on my wish list? As it is, I have to add the print and ebook editions to the list, then remove one version if I get the other one.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - The second feature is not affecting my life much.
PPS - But it might be handy.

Kindle and DRM

I have a kind of hard line about buying anything locked up with DRM. I don't buy it, because it only encourages them to tighten their hold, and I don't like paying that much for things I can't keep. I am breaking this rule for books on Kindle. If I am unlikely to read a book a second time, then I don't necessarily need to keep it, and the ebook versions are half the price of paper versions. That's a win.

Also, I would accept them as gifts, because it doesn't feel like directly supporting a DRM scheme, even though it really is. Somehow it just seems different if it's not my own money going to Amazon. And there are other advantages as well, such as instant delivery, no matter where you are in the world. They take up no space and are with me everywhere. The disadvantage of ebooks as gifts is that there's nothing to wrap up and physically hand over, which does make it feel less like a real gift.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - So owning a Kindle hasn't made me change my mind about DRM.
PPS - I've just changed my rationalisation.

Libraries and ebooks

How do ebook libraries work? When you think about them in the same way as a traditional library, with physical books, things get complicated quickly. If you send an ebook to a patron's device, how do you make sure they eventually delete it? How do you ensure the devices people use obey the library rules and don't allow copying? Instead, you need to think about access, not possession.

The library itself is a collection, akin to an Amazon user account. And when you're talking about accessing their collection, you either need to think of devices or linked accounts. The digital library can function perfectly well if they have a collection of Kindles they can physically lend out, as long as those Kindles can't buy anything on library credit. Alternatively, since the Kindle is supposed to be controlled via DRM, you can just allow any patron to link their account to a public library and gain access to any books contained there, on any device that supports the Kindle software. If they are unlinked from the library, they lose access to those books.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - If your DRM is as good as you say it is, this should be easy.
PPS - I'm pretty sure they wouldn't allow this, "for security reasons".

Amazon and region restrictions

The maddest I have ever been at Amazon is when it told me I was not allowed to buy a particular ebook because it was available only to UK customers. It is only available in electronic format, and I am prevented from reading it because Amazon says so. Why? Shut up and get out, that's why. We don't want your filthy Australian dollars, thanks. But I discovered later that I can buy it from the US Amazon site. So what I really have here is a fractured user experience. Is Amazon one global company, from which I can buy what I want, or is it a a few companies obeying local laws? I was on the UK site because they have free shipping to Australia now for orders over $25, but I'm not allowed to buy everything there, because the UK site is only for UK customers. Or Australians who want free shipping, but not ebooks. No, for those exact same ebooks, you need to go to the American site.

I guess the problem is that it is very clear to me that I am not buying a book here. I am using a website that represents a publisher that has certain regional interests that need to be protected who happens to have a relationship with Amazon who has agreed to sell a book under certain conditions. There are so many layers and lawyers between me and the book that it doesn't feel like shopping any more. I need to navigate through the rat maze first, and then I get the food pellet. Hey, Amazon, I came here to buy a book. Do you want my money or not? Their answer, apparently, is "Yes, but only if you find out the right way to give it to us."

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I sincerely hope someone is working on this.
PPS - Because if I can buy something digital from one Amazon site, shouldn't I be able to buy it anywhere?

Reference ebooks

The Kindle was made for narrative books, to be read end-to-end, one page at a time. Reference books like textbooks were not designed to be used that way, so they don't really fit the Kindle model. For that, we need something different. We need a reference ebook format, or at least some software that more easily allows flipping quickly to a page, cross-referencing, highlighting and notes, and multiple open pages (so you can simultaneously open end-of-chapter questions and the pages to which they refer).

Mokalus of Borg

PS - That quick page-flipping is a tricky one.
PPS - You don't always know the page number, and going one page at a time is a pain.

The point of ebooks

The beauty of ebooks is not their durability, their price or their flexibility, though those are all contributing factors. The main appeal of ebooks to me is their availability. Without any extra bulk, I can carry hundreds of books with me all the time, and all I need is my phone, which I already carry everywhere. And if I find myself with a few minutes to spare, such as waiting for a train, I can pull out my book and read. They're not better than paper books, and in certain ways they're definitely worse. But that just means they're fundamentally different - a revolution, not a mere evolution.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I don't actually have hundreds of ebooks to carry.
PPS - Yet.

Ebook readers and lock-out

I can't choose between getting a Kindle and getting a Kobo, which are pretty much my two options for ebook reader devices. I don't mean that the choice is too difficult, I mean that I will not make that decision.

I need two things from my ebook reader: the Amazon store and the ability to read epub books. I can't get both in one device because Amazon refuses to support epub and nobody else is allowed to connect to Amazon. I won't buy two devices, because that's stupid. It would be like buying two phones because one can only text, while the other can only make voice calls. I shouldn't have to decide that, and it's not my fault that nobody can (or will) make the device I want. So I refuse to give my money to either manufacturer. In fairness, Kobo is only made bad by Amazon's stubborn, closed attitude. For now, the only realistic option for me is to use Kindle and epub software on my Android phone and wait for the right tablet device to appear.

I want to get excited about ebooks. Really, I do. But Amazon is making it very, very difficult.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - So far, on my phone, I kind of prefer the epub software.
PPS - I have so far only read free ebooks, though.

The trouble with e-books

The primary trouble with e-books, as I see it, is range, not device or price. Because publishers are so fearful that e-books will compromise "real" sales, they just don't offer most books electronically. That doesn't prevent them from being available electronically, though. It just prevents the publishers from being paid for electronic versions.

The second problem is that you can't even express interest in them without being treated like a criminal. The fear, again, leads publishers to demand DRM on what books they do offer. In most cases, the restrictions are so tight that you'll probably lose access to the book after you read it once.

Now, along with the iPad, Apple is trying their hand at e-book sales. I doubt apple's iBookStore will solve either the problem of range or open access, let alone price.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Apparently in some cases the iBookStore charges more than for a physical book.
PPS - That's because publishers set the prices, and they don't really want you buying books this way.

Middlemen, authors and the web

The web is great at cutting out the middleman. That's what Amazon was going to do with ebooks. Apparently their plan was to fix ebook prices across the board, then start going behind publishers' backs and appealing to authors directly. There's still a middleman in that equation, though: Amazon itself.

When the retail chain goes from author to publisher to retailer to customer, the author has to do very little for themselves except write. If they're selling directly to a retailer, they'll have to take over some of those functions themselves, like editing, proofreading and some advertising. Cut out the retailer (which is possible with the web) and authors also have to start managing sales, delivery and everything else. Although 100% of the sale price would be going straight to the author, some people would prefer to let others handle the non-writing part of the business.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - My guess is the more you want to do those things yourself, the more you're writing for the money.
PPS - But since I'm only ever at the customer end of the chain, I'm not well-informed.

I'd like to be using e-books, but...

There are three reasons I am not currently purchasing my books in electronic form. The price, the device and DRM.

For the price, publishers are currently charging equivalent costs for an e-book as they do for the paper copy, which vastly inflates their profit margin mostly because they don't want e-books to cut into hardcover sales. They would make more money if people bought the e-book instead, and more people would buy it if it were even a dollar cheaper.

As for the device, I don't have something that I have with me everywhere and allows me to use any e-book reader software. My phone is the closest, and I have, in fact, read two free books on it, but the experience did not convince me to go so far as to purchase anything. Frankly, I will end up using either my phone or my portable media player, assuming either one is capable and my other concerns are met.

DRM, or copy protection, is the final sticking point. I don't want to pay for e-books only to have them locked to my portable reader. If I wish, I want to read sitting at my PC, then transfer the bookmark to my portable reader to take on the train with me. When that reader wears out and my PC dies, I want my e-library to come with me without having to repurchase the books.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Textbooks on something like the Kindle would make a killing.
PPS - This rant mostly inspired by a long article on e-books.