The Reading Vent & Rant Thread

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

VESA mount with rotate capability.

But your TV is large enough that 2 column mode should work well.

That may work. It's a 65" TV.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Why does Amazon penalize authors who are at no fault for having their books pirated?

I suspect it might be some automated system.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I suspect it might be some automated system.

If it is, I would call it very poorly written.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Why does Amazon penalize authors who are at no fault for having their books pirated?

Because they have violated their exclusivity agreement with Amazon.

Evidently authors are eager to have their books pirated so they can earn no income from them. One author made a comment that Amazon with it's billions of dollars can't stop ebook piracy but they expect authors to be able to do so. That author has a company that looks for pirated copies of her books and sends the cease and desist notices for the little good they do.

For starter reads on the issue, see Amazon Punishes Authors Whose Work Is Pirated, Due to Aggressive Exclusivity Clause or Amazon Can Penalize Authors Because Of Ebook Piracy.

One quote from the second article is:

While it has millions of ebooks in its Kindle store, the number is of no consequence.

Its bots can scan millions upon millions of locations every day in the hunt for duplicated ebooks.

All its bots need to find is the same title, a similar book description and cover, and the same text in the first 300 to 500 words to locate a match.

[Quoth]

Crazy.
The scanning and the exclusivity both need to stop.

[John F]

Originally Posted by theducks

This is AD-manship striking again. How do you make a number look BIGGER?
...

I was trying to have a little fun.

Originally Posted by DNSB

... Given that Kobo used to quote the battery life for reading 30 minutes per day, that number is pretty decent. ...

So either the battery only lasts for 30 minutes and you need to charge it, or the battery never needs to be charged when you read 30 minutes a day.

Some pieces of information are missing: 30 minutes for X number of days (light setting(s), no wifi, ...).

[hildea]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Crazy.
The scanning and the exclusivity both need to stop.

Agree. It's weird that it's legal for such a dominating actor to offer exclusivity agreements, any halfway functioning anti-trust law should prohibit it.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by hildea

Agree. It's weird that it's legal for such a dominating actor to offer exclusivity agreements, any halfway functioning anti-trust law should prohibit it.

Amazon should have the same anti-piracy rules in place for ALL eBooks. But they won't because they'd lose a lot of top sellers.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Crazy.
The scanning and the exclusivity both need to stop.

Meanwhile, the Mary Sue article that DNSB posted argues that Amazon should "put more research/resources into anti-piracy measures"... except that almost invariably results in it harming/inconveniencing legitimate customers worse than the pirates. There's no mention that perhaps the exclusivity clause is the problem.

[Quoth]

The only anti-piracy Amazon should be concerned with is books or products published dishonestly on their own site. Elsewhere is none of their business, unless they are owning the copyright.

Edit:
Indeed the Mary-Sue article states issues and amazingly fails to conclude that the issue is the Exclusivity clause. They seem ignorant of how easy piracy is. Copying ANY system of DRM to a DRM free version is trivial. The only anti-piracy that works is government law enforcement closing the operators. Even that can't eradicate piracy.
Amazon can't stop content on their site being pirated. The conclusions of the article are delusional.

Amazon are treating the KU content as if they own the Copyright and that somehow the content providers to them are doing the piracy. Both of those are wrong.

[ownedbycats]

When it comes down to it, there's no way to prevent someone from pointing a camera at a screen.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Jon, as a Sage owner, I would like to point out that I do not find the battery life to be rubbish. Yes, it is not as good as my other Kobo ereaders but it lasts me 2 to 3 days reading an average of 4 to 5 hours a day. Given that Kobo used to quote the battery life for reading 30 minutes per day, that number is pretty decent. About ⅔ of what I see on my Clara HD or Libra Colour—4 hours for 2 days is equivalent to 16 days using the reading 30 minutes per day with frontlight and WiFi off. Not all that bad for a 1,200mAH battery though I still wonder what some of Kobo's designers were smoking when they gave the power hungry CPU on the Sage the same battery as the Forma.

By comparison, one friend of mine has a Kindle Paperwhite Signature edition. This has a single core CPU and a 1700mAH battery. Amazon rates the battery life at 10 weeks with the usual reading 30 minutes per day (so 35 hours of reading), no WiFi. Real world testing says that after a few deep discharge/charge cycles you will see the equivalent to a 6 week battery life since most people read with the frontlight on and seldom remember to turn WiFi off.

To quote your first response:

Originally Posted by John F

WOW, only 30 minutes per day! That makes the Sage look like fantastic battery life.

To quote your second response:

Originally Posted by John F

So either the battery only lasts for 30 minutes and you need to charge it, or the battery never needs to be charged when you read 30 minutes a day.

Some pieces of information are missing: 30 minutes for X number of days (light setting(s), no wifi, ...).

Have you never noticed how Amazon and Kobo use 30 minutes per day to get their weeks of life numbers. And if you had bothered to read the entire message you responded to and quoted from TWICE, it would take a certain effort not to notice that information. To quote myself:

4 hours for 2 days is equivalent to 16 days using the reading 30 minutes per day with frontlight and WiFi off.

Amazon rates the battery life at 10 weeks with the usual reading 30 minutes per day (so 35 hours of reading), no WiFi.

I saw no need for more information other than for those who are being deliberately obtuse and/or unable to do simple arithmetic. To repeat twice, suggests that both may be applicable.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Why does Amazon penalize authors who are at no fault for having their books pirated?

The same reason YouTube does for a copyright claim hit. (Music, not under their control, is playing (eg mall) in the area (not the actual tube content).

They keep the ad MONEY.

[ownedbycats]

eBook publishers changing the covers for seemingly no good reason. Especially when they change it to a generic stock-photo cover. Yuck!

[John F]

Originally Posted by DNSB

To quote your first response:



To quote your second response:



Have you never noticed how Amazon and Kobo use 30 minutes per day to get their weeks of life numbers. And if you had bothered to read the entire message you responded to and quoted from TWICE, it would take a certain effort not to notice that information. To quote myself:




I saw no need for more information other than for those who are being deliberately obtuse and/or unable to do simple arithmetic. To repeat twice, suggests that both may be applicable.

Lighten up, Francis.

Of course I took it out of context.