The Kindle Kerfuffle: Just rent a book?

One of the more distressing issues raised by the total recall of those books by Amazon.com was not the fact that they could do what they did – anyone who thought that purchasing wirelessly, and requiring a sync ever so often, was without a ‘red destruct button’, is a blithering idiot - but the fact that every book you purchased from them was rented.

I like to think of myself as a gadget-type guy, though not in the same league as some of my peers such as Andru (GearLive.com), Judie (GearDiary.com), Steve (BostonPocketPC) and more, I’m pretty with it.

However, I couldn’t grokk the Amazon.com Kindle distribution model.

For me, it always seemed like a hopelessly DRM-d rental. which was proven to be the fact this past week.

As a book lover – I have over a couple thousand books, and I have given away several thousand over the years – I still couldn’t bring myself to purchasing a unit, even now when a Kindle would help me read more when I roll into the rack after putting the kids to bed. It violated my principle of ownership: I’m a collector.

While Amazon.com may have been technically right to perform those extractions, they were morally wrong to do so.

Imagine the if any of the ‘physical’ books I have purchased from Amazon.com were found to have run afoul of licensing covenants. Are you telling me that Amazon.com would even as much as send me a snottogram, to talk less of invading my abode in order to retrieve the offending book(s)?

Are you freakin’ kidding me?

For me, eBooks are going to remain a flight of fancy until the current back-asswards DRM schemes currently in force, which assume that you’re guilty before you even commit a violation, are abolished.

BTW, CEO apologies or not, the draconian action by Amazon.com definitely requires some action by an enterprising medical emergency vehicle pursuer.

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