Human Brain EnthusiastCompanies should be required by law to completely open devices when they end support for them
If they don’t, the penalty should be that the CEO has to eat the bricked devices
richintheflow@thomasfuchs The best alternative is to buy a real book, it is almost the same price than a kindle book, does not require technical support or any DRM restricted implementation software. Just a simple book
Pete / Syllopsium@richintheflow @thomasfuchs Please recognise that 'almost the same price' only applies if you consider a 50% increase in price 'almost'. Ereaders don't take up much space. Ereaders can be waterproof. Ereaders can be backlit. Ebooks can be searched, and in the case of certain Kobo ereaders have non destructive highlighting, writing, and diagramming.
Ebooks can be bought and start to be read in under a couple of minutes.
etc.etc.etc.etc. There are advantages to print books, but there are a lot of advantages to ereaders.
@syllopsium I see far more drawbacks than benefits in e-readers, apart from the fact that they need to be recharged, otherwise they make reading impossible. Amazon’s specific DRM prevents anyone who inherits our library upon our death from accessing these e-books. Stuffing 1,000 books into an e-reader is also pointless; we might as well carry one or two books in our bag – they don’t take up that much space. As for the waterproofing of e-readers, I don’t see the point of reading in the rain.
Wilfried KlaebeI do see the point in taking a whole library on a lightweight handheld device onto a six-week holiday trip, and I do see the point in reading in the bathtub if I darn well want to.
@wonka @syllopsium And you're right, there's nothing better than being free to do what we want :) Let's be clear, I don’t see any objection to DRM when DRM-free formats such as DRM-free ePUBs already exist. If there’s to be a debate, it should also be about the free use of e-books. And when I say ‘book’, or 'ebook' I mean complete freedom – just as I might leave a book in a bar for anyone to pick up and read, without any DRM.