• Schorsch@feddit.org
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    2 months ago

    “your” ebooks. – You never owned them in the first place. And if buying isn’t owning, questionably acquired ebooks aren’t stolen.

      • TheMinions@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I mean authors don’t see money anytime someone rents an ebook do they? Libraries just need to pay for licenses to the publisher annually from what I’ve read on reddit/Lemmy.

        I can understand renting ebooks so that your library continues to fund a digital library, but if the book is available in paper form that doesn’t really benefit the author either.

      • yenahmik@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I download books from my library to my kindle. It goes through Amazon though, so I assume I am also impacted by this BS.

        • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          It shouldn’t. The DRM is on the Amazon book file format. The books I get from my library are usually epub format.

    • circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org
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      2 months ago

      Even after years and years of this being discussed, it shocks me how many people keep dropping money into services which force them to own nothing.

      Convenience is a helluva drug.

      • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        It depends, sometimes you can “buy” digital ownership from these places in the form of DRM-free files. If you are able to download the DRM-free file and make a reliable backup of it, then I could call that actual ownership. This is how I approach my music and ebook libraries. I don’t do subscriptions for streaming anything but TV.

  • ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 months ago

    I wonder if this is a response to someone jailbreaking all kindles ever the other day

    Fuck kindles, get a different brand of ereader that just runs stripped android

    • IonAddis@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Some have speculated it’s complying in advance with stealth editing of books to remove whatever content has been decided to be censored. If you can’t download the original copy and keep it, they can change the one you have and make it seem like the original text never existed.

      • mac@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        Lol, my girlfriend just had all of her sideloaded books removed from her kindle today. She just opened her kindle and they were gone

  • GooberEar@lemmy.wtf
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    2 months ago

    Here’s my purely capitalistic problem with Amazon:

    A decade+ ago, I realized that major brands were using the site as their outlet store. I’d buy a pack of socks, and they’d be hideously deformed. I’d buy a few pants for work, one pair would be too small, one too large, and one would fit just right. I’m not fucking Goldilocks.

    The final straw for me was when my coffee maker broke. I ordered a new one via same day shipping, which at the time had a minimum order of something like $50. The coffee maker did not cost quite enough, so I added something random to the order so that my same day shipping would be free. Ultimately, the coffee maker arrived late (i.e. not the same day) and the decanter was broken.

    When I contacted Amazon about the issue, the agent said they could reship, but they wouldn’t send it same day so for that specific item it was going to take 3 - 5 days to arrive. They also tried to hassle me with a straight up return, telling me I had to take it to a UPS store, which at the time was 30+ minutes away.

    Ultimately, I pulled a Karen and told them to cancel my Amazon Prime, which they did. Only problem is, I was 2 or 3 months into the year long subscription and assumed I’d get a pro-rated refund. I did not. When I got back in touch with customer service, they told me that Amazon adds up the value of the “free” shipping I received, the rental value of the movies and shows I watched on Prime, and the value of all the other services included with Prime and if that total exceeds the remaining value of the Prime subscription, then no refund.

    They basically stole almost a year of Prime from me with no recourse.

    Scum company. I got a lot of hate for saying this back in those days. But at least now, a decade+ later, people are finally starting to wake up. Not everyone, obviously. But at least I don’t get hateful responses and DMs quite as much as I used to.

    • Prehensile_cloaca @lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      Straight up theft. In a more functional government, there would be an agency with real teeth that you could report them to for that kind of behavior, with something other than fines-as-the-cost-of-doing-business.

      • TunaLobster@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I keep a Win10 VM kicking for things like this. Sure I could probably do it with Wine, but sometimes I just take the easy route.

      • techforwhat@lemmy.today
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        2 months ago

        What do you mean? The guide OP mentioned has instructions for MacOS. Also, the software referenced (Calibre and DeDRM plugin) are available on Linux systems as well.

        • madjo@feddit.nl
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          2 months ago

          The Kindle app needs to be a specific version, and sadly the one needed for MacOS to grab the by Calibre dedrm-able files from Kindle doesn’t work anymore.

  • Kyrgizion@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Good thing then that I never, ever in my entire life have given Amazon a single cent, nor will I.

  • Macaroni_ninja@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I think with applications, like Calibre its relatively painless to save the whole library, if someone is ready to jump ship. Now its the perfect time.

    I personally use a Kobo without the online features, which is fantastic, but there are many great Kindle alternatives without the corporate spyware bullshit.

  • Geodad@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    I borrow them from my library through the Libby and Hoopla apps. If I want to support the author, I’ll buy a copy through some other means. Directly from them, if possible.

    • techforwhat@lemmy.today
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      2 months ago

      I’m planning on buying a pocketbook soon!!! I’ve been trying to get a sense of what the PocketBook interface is like on the device but haven’t found anything online. You don’t have a picture of the home / library page do you? Also, can you disable discover / suggestions on the PocketBook?

      • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        The UI is super simple, it’s based on Linux so it’s much closer to using a tablet computer, you access your books via folders

        Default UI

        Library is a file Explorer

        UI without recommendations (I never bothered turning it off because I’m never on the front page)

  • archomrade [he/him]@midwest.social
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    2 months ago

    As someone who likes to have a fallback way of purchasing digital content that I can remove DRM from, this annoys me.

    I can still purchase mp3 and flac files from various online retailers, and I can rip bluray for my movies and tv shows, but now I need a new place to purchase ebooks that are downloadable. Anyone have any recommendations? The first few independent retailers i’ve found seem to require their own apps.

    • Optional@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Where do others buy epubs? (Besides the library) In many cases my obscure authors only use Amazon.