I consider myself an average person. I may be a little more into geekery and tech toys than the average Kindle user, but don’t consider myself to be too out of the norm. The purchase of my Kindle forced me into the shadowy world of torrents, piracy and software hacks.
I got my Kindle 1 in April of 2008 and updated to the Kindle 2 the day it came out. While reading my 1st Kindle book, I unconsciously vowed to never go back to DTBs (dead tree books). I’ve since consciously made that decision and I can say that I have kept that personal promise.
But oh, the things I had to learn and do to keep that promise. My problems?
- Not all books are available in electronic format
- If available as an ebook, they’re not necessarily available for the Kindle
- Sometimes the Kindle book has TTS turned off
I understand that Amazon is a business and that they’re out to make money. They want Kindle users to buy Kindle content from them and them alone. I hope, but doubt we’ll see library or other external access any time soon because obtaining content elsewhere means no sales for Amazon.
That being said, when I purchase an ebook, I consider it mine. Mine to do with what I want, read how and where I want. I draw the line at sharing with others because unlike a physical book, electronic books can be given to hundreds of others simultaneously–depriving an author of deserved royalties. So here I am, Kindle in hand, ready to read.
What if the book’s not available, or not available for Kindle?
The first place I look for any ebook is Amazon. I can get books wirelessly with a click of a button, no credit card info to input, etc., etc. If a book is not available, I do my due diligence, click to send my Kindle request to the publisher and if I want it bad enough, I add to my wish list in the hopes that I’ll see it someday.
But what if I really, really want to read it? I then have to try to find it. Usually, googling the book title and ‘ebook’ gives me a good indication on whether or not its available in electronic format. If I can get an ebook elsewhere, I’ll do so, but I have to be careful. The only books I can purchase without any issues must be DRM-free. For the most part, those books are older, free but generally not on my ‘gotta have now’ list.
I purchase DRM-ed files for .LIT, .MOBI Mobi, .EPUB and Adobe because I have the ‘applications’ (read hack and see descriptions here) that allow me to get those books to a state where I can convert them to Kindle format. Not exactly Easy, Peasy, but do-able.
What if the book is not available in ebook format at all?
So what do I do if no ebook is available for purchase? This is gray territory to a lot of folks. If I buy a book in physical or electronic format, I consider it mine and don’t think that the publisher/seller has the right to tell me how I can use it. As long as they’ve gotten their money for the purchase, why should they care whether I read it on my Kindle, my iPhone or computer? That’s just stupid, in my opinion. I would prefer to see an option similar to iTunes that allows for shareing (anywhere/any type) by a set number of devices.
Stepping off my soapbox–so what do I do if a book is not available in ebook format for purchase? I search the torrents. Before you condem me outright, I do go out and spend the money for the book in physical format. My method gets money to the author/publisher and lets me read the books that I want to read on my Kindle. Plus I can sleep at night knowing that I haven’t ‘stolen’ anything.
What do you think?
