I know they were bought out or reorganized or something, and relocated from Boston to North Carolina?, but after the initial site redesign, things seem to be getting stale.
In the past, they've always been responsive, and I'd seen posts and interviews on PPC sites from at least one person that worked there talking about plans for the site and app, but nothing lately. The contact page on ereader.com is still there where you can submit questions, but my last couple have gone unanswered. I kind of miss the feeling of having real people instead of a faceless website.
Today I got the weekly newsletter, with last week's discount code (expiring today).
This all makes me a little nervous, because unlike software, which I expect to become obsolete, I'd like to think my ebooks are a more permanent investment. I hate to think that just because an ebook-seller goes out of business my books might become unreadable on future operating systems. It's a good reason to have some sort of ebook format standards (even if they have to include some not-too-awful DRM).
I sent them an email a couple of months ago sugesting that the Bookshelf section in eReader Pro allow you to put your books in Subfolders for series Books, and allow better organisation
I got a reply thanking me for my suggestion and that it was already being worked on for a new version of eReader Pro.
I doubt they are going out of business they must be one of the largest ebook sellers.
This all makes me a little nervous, because unlike software, which I expect to become obsolete, I'd like to think my ebooks are a more permanent investment. I hate to think that just because an ebook-seller goes out of business my books might become unreadable on future operating systems. It's a good reason to have some sort of ebook format standards (even if they have to include some not-too-awful DRM).
If there is any sort of DRM, there is a great risk for losing access to *your* books - the books are encrypted with your credit card number. The same applies if you change to a non-Palm or non-PPC: Sharp are beginning to make nice machines, the Symbian operating system may become interesting again. Or you may want to read books on your iPod or whatever.
Buy multiformat books from Fictionwise. Otherwise, you cannot be sure to be able to read your books in 10-20 years.
That's what I do. I get the news letters from ereader.com, but do all my purchasing at fictionwise
It would be nice if you could, but the eReader books you buy at Fictionwise are identical to those from eReader.
Sometimes one desparately wants a particular book, in which case one has to buy it in whatever awful format it comes in. If you buy a book with DRM, just know and accept that you may one day not be able to read it.
Or - as I suggested - take a look at the multiformat books and see if there is something you like.
Ah, but most books in ereader format are available in other secure formats on Fictionwise.... some people could use utilities like convertlit so DRM was no longer an issue...
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"Abort or retry, there is no ignore." - Yoda DOS
That's true, and I wasn't advocating anyone break the law, but it's an option for those who want to be able to read the ebooks tjey buy at any time in the future and on any technology that may come about, which is sadly lacking with current DRM formats.
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"Abort or retry, there is no ignore." - Yoda DOS
while i feel the same way ("i bought the book and i want to be able to read it again in 10 years"), i just realized i never read books twice.
not my ebooks, not my "real" books, not any kind of book (except maybe a dictionary )
so actually, it's only important to have access to the ebook while you're reading it, or if you bought it in advance. for me, anyways.
and the "classics" that "one must have in his/her library" are all available at project gutenberg, since classics are really old
I have read my favourite books many, many times: Many of the books (paper-books - your grandfather will probably be able to explain what books on paper are like) by Silverberg, len Deighton, Gibson, Rex Stout, Woodehouse (Jeves / Lord Emsworth), Mark Twain, Edgar Wallace, Morris West, Clarke, Eric Ambler ... (in no special order) Many of these are 20-30 years old (as you may guess, I am ).
Everything is a matter of price. If I pay more than, say, for the arguments sake, $3 for an e-book, I expect to be able to read it again in 20 years time. This said: books by my favourite authors I would not want to "rent" but buy on paper.
I say $3 as you cannot buy e-books secondhand or sell them like you can with paperbacks. Reference books may be more expensive.
ereader.com?
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