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Old 01-29-2009, 06:57 PM   #16
koland
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Originally Posted by dodgyville View Post
Amazon have some cheek! Making use of the copyleft movement when it suits them but doing everything they can to lock down large chunks of the public domain (see their attempted patent on "one click purchasing" and fairly locked down platform that is the kindle, charging too much money for editions of books long in the public domain (not the gutenberg stuff I know that's free)).

I hope they are contributing back to Project Gutenberg. I know companies are there to make profit, but there's the right way to do it, and the a**hole way to do it. Sadly, Amazon strikes as an example of the latter. Take take take, never give back.
If you have a complaint, it is with the French company Mobipocket - these are their publications, just moved over to Amazon (who has since bought Mobipocket, but did not own them when these started appearing there). No doubt there was a licensing deal where they contributed to the digitization effort in return for rights to sell copies (since that is often how these "free" services are funded).

Send some of your heat this way .... the winter storms are moving back in (at least the power is back up; off for 8 hours yesterday and few here use anything but electric for heat and other utilities, although we are set with wood and camping supplies).
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Old 01-29-2009, 08:06 PM   #17
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Amazon have some cheek! Making use of the copyleft movement when it suits them but doing everything they can to lock down large chunks of the public domain<snip>
Ok... take a deep breath. I think you are getting upset over nothing here. Or you are mis-understanding a few things.

1. These books are ALL free on Amazon. They are charging nothing. Not even a the small $.10 delivery fee they charge when you send yourself a document.

2. These books do NOT have any copy protection on them. I just downloaded one to verify this.

3. By Amazon adding these books to their Kindle library it does not remove them from the PG site or manybooks or feedbooks or any other public domain archive. These books are STILL in the public domain.

Please lets be careful with the FUD spreading.

BOb
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Old 01-29-2009, 10:21 PM   #18
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I assume this is a step towards the Feb 9th announcement. Keep in mind that those of us who search the net or hang in these forums are not the average consumer. The ease of purchasing through Amazon through whispernet is one of the things that helped make the Kindle so popular.

If "100 Free Books" could help sell the Sony eReader, now the Kindle can boast "Thousands of Free Books" to promote the Kindle.
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Old 01-29-2009, 10:25 PM   #19
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Originally Posted by Boston View Post
If "100 Free Books" could help sell the Sony eReader, now the Kindle can boast "Thousands of Free Books" to promote the Kindle.
Also, this is a step toward Jeff Bezos's goal of "Every book ever written" being available for the Kindle.

I hope these always stay free.

BOb
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Old 01-30-2009, 09:40 AM   #20
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Koland,

Your way of looking at the Amazon books works WAY better than my method. Thanks.
(Although Mobileread is still by far my favorite free book source -- with Feedbooks 2nd.)
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Old 01-30-2009, 06:36 PM   #21
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It's an interesting move for Amazon--challenging the razor/blades paradigm. If they want to make money on hardware, it's great. If they want to make it on selling eBooks, it's questionable. Overall, though, I think it's wise for them to increase the appeal. I don't think Sony offers free Gutenberg versions from their store.

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Old 01-30-2009, 06:37 PM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BooksForABuck View Post
It's an interesting move for Amazon--challenging the razor/blades paradigm. If they want to make money on hardware, it's great. If they want to make it on selling eBooks, it's questionable. Overall, though, I think it's wise for them to increase the appeal. I don't think Sony offers free Gutenberg versions from their store.

Rob Preece
Publisher, www.BooksForABuck.com
Good point. Sony offers horribly formatted ones for $1.99.
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Old 01-30-2009, 06:43 PM   #23
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Originally Posted by Nate the great View Post
Good point. Sony offers horribly formatted ones for $1.99.
What problems do you have with the format? I'm just curious because I like their versions (mostly because of the good sized margins on the sides). And your first 100 of those are free...
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Old 01-30-2009, 06:47 PM   #24
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A lot of folks actually don't like those big margins, feel they waste space that could be more profitably used to display text and the like.

The other usual complaint is font size, which is another preference thing. The most telling comment on the formatting is mainly that there's not really anything much done with the formatting: the books are largely as you can download them for free from Manybooks.net, and that being the case, many folks feel it's a bit disingenuous to charge for them.
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Old 01-30-2009, 06:51 PM   #25
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NatCh View Post
A lot of folks actually don't like those big margins, feel they waste space that could be more profitably used to display text and the like.

The other usual complaint is font size, which is another preference thing. The most telling comment on the formatting is mainly that there's not really anything much done with the formatting: the books are largely as you can download them for free from Manybooks.net, and that being the case, many folks feel it's a bit disingenuous to charge for them.
Does anyone actually pay for them?

I think I like their format better because all the other books I buy are like that and I love consistency.

And hey, if they actually do pay for them, some of that money goes to my Alma Mater
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Old 01-30-2009, 08:03 PM   #26
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Well, it's nice to know that the Manybooks "translations" of the Gutenberg "feeds" are available at Amazon.

I like Manybooks, though. Maybe it's just a loyalty thing :-)

BTW--is there a document for the Kindle that has whispernet-downloadable links to the MobileRead mobipocket books? I'd be grateful if someone could point me toward such a thing.
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Old 01-31-2009, 11:19 AM   #27
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lilac_jive View Post
What problems do you have with the format? I'm just curious because I like their versions (mostly because of the good sized margins on the sides). And your first 100 of those are free...
I have never collected my free 100 books from Sony (and I know the offer never expires, so perhaps one day), but I, too, like the way Sony formats its books. One of the things I dislike about some of the books uploaded here to MR is that they display screen margin to margin. Like Lilac, I prefer the good-sized margins, which makes me feel more like I am reading a traditional book than reading computer code. I find the screen margin-to-margin books claustrophobic .

Generally, I have no complaint about the fonts Sony uses, although I wish the base font size was equivalent to 12-point Times New Roman (not suggesting that TNR should be the font used, only setting a comparison base). I would say that of the books I have bought from Sony, I have had to increase 50% to medium and 3% to large, the rest being fine in small, in order to comfortably read. When I buy from Baen, nearly all have to be enlarged. And when I run .LIT books through Calibre, choosing 12 point is perfect every time.
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Old 01-31-2009, 12:08 PM   #28
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Well, it's nice to know that the Manybooks "translations" of the Gutenberg "feeds" are available at Amazon.

I like Manybooks, though. Maybe it's just a loyalty thing :-)

BTW--is there a document for the Kindle that has whispernet-downloadable links to the MobileRead mobipocket books? I'd be grateful if someone could point me toward such a thing.
At the top of this page, click on "E-Books" then on "Mobipocket Download Guide" and dl it to your computer. Then port it on the usb. The system tends to choke on trying to send it via Whispernet. After that, you click on it to bring up all the Mobi books available to us here. It is updatable from the Kindle after you have dl'd it and is a wonderful service.
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Old 02-01-2009, 12:42 PM   #29
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THanks for this... always nice to get some free ebooks to read. Otherwise I'll go broke, lol!
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Old 02-02-2009, 09:34 AM   #30
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Originally Posted by dodgyville View Post
Amazon have some cheek! Making use of the copyleft movement when it suits them but doing everything they can to lock down large chunks of the public domain (see their attempted patent on "one click purchasing" and fairly locked down platform that is the kindle, charging too much money for editions of books long in the public domain (not the gutenberg stuff I know that's free)).
I beg your pardon. This has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the "copyleft movement". These books which have been added are in the public domain, full stop.
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