DYSPEPSIA GENERATION

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Amazon Announces It Sold More Kindle Books Than Physical Books On Christmas… But Doesn’t It Mean Rented?

28th December 2009

Read it.

But, again, since this is the Kindle we’re talking about, shouldn’t Amazon make the distinction between purchased and rented? When someone buys a physical book from Amazon, they then own that book and can do pretty much what they want with it, including reselling it or giving it away. When they “purchase” an ebook from Amazon, that’s not the case at all. They’re quite limited in what they can do with it. They can’t resell it. They can’t share it with a friend (unless they give up their entire Kindle and all the books on it). And, of course, Amazon can make the ebook disappear at will — though, it insists it will never do this again. Even though it can. So, congrats to Amazon, for renting more books on a day when such rentals are to be expected and when physical book sales are probably at their very lowest.

Perhaps ‘leased’ would be the most correct term.

2 Responses to “Amazon Announces It Sold More Kindle Books Than Physical Books On Christmas… But Doesn’t It Mean Rented?”

  1. Steve In Tulsa Says:

    Um, I had the first kindle and was using it for a while. I had a number of books on it and intended to continue using it without buying books. So I took it off my Amazon account and it turned into a brick. I cannot even turn it on anymore.

  2. Tim of Angle Says:

    And there you are.