Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Can't buy my own book

A friend just wrote and said he has purchased my book for his Kindle. I took a look at the Kindle website myself and could not even find that my book was available. I told my friend that he had probably bought the wrong book, but he sent me back a different link, and I suddenly saw the problem:

"This title is not available for customers from your location in: Europe"

So we have this digital world where we can send around little bits of light everywhere, but we have copyright restrictions that prevent us from doing so. In this case, I cannot get my own book. (I own a Kindle.)

The iTunes store is also a blast. Because I only have credit cards with German banks, I can only sign into the German store. The German store sells movies that always have the German soundtrack but do not necessarily have the English. I cannot access the store in the US at all (nor the one from the UK, Spain, France, or anywhere else), so I simply cannot buy a legal digital copy of any number of movies with the English soundtrack.

Of course, I can always buy a DVD (and sit through the parts warning me not to steal the DVD I just purchased; if I want to skip over such bits, I have to get a pirated version) and switch languages, but if I want the movie as a file when I am traveling, I'm out of luck.

Essentially, they do not want my money. But they do get pissed off if you pirate something.

And before I forget, Ken Silverstein, one of the main writers over at Harper's, said he would try to help me get a paid (!) subscription, but I haven't heard back from him.

4 comments:

  1. After 10 years we finally have Netflix in Canada. I'm surprised our media distribution and copyright systems have been so slow to adapt to our changing circumstances. The incumbents don't seem to have anything to say except, "Pirating is a crime... Don't! Stop!"

    With a terabyte portable drive you can carry over 1000 movies. At 10 TB you're at 10,000 movies. At some point (probably well before 10 TB) you're carrying around all the movies that are worth watching. How much more space do you need for all of your favorite TV and Music? Oh yeah... and the top million books worth reading too. The hardware isn't there yet but I've come to expect 10 TB as a done deal - just a matter of waiting really.

    There's something strange about having the ability to carry around more media than you can watch, listen and/or read in a lifetime. All of the classics along with all of the B sides in the palm of your hand. Bizarre.

    Stop! Don't!

    ReplyDelete
  2. After 10 years we finally have Netflix in Canada. I'm surprised our media distribution and copyright systems have been so slow to adapt to our changing circumstances. The incumbents don't seem to have anything to say except, "Pirating is a crime... Don't! Stop!"

    With a terabyte portable drive you can carry over 1000 movies. At 10 TB you're at 10,000 movies. At some point (probably well before 10 TB) you're carrying around all the movies that are worth watching. How much more space do you need for all of your favorite TV and Music? Oh yeah... and the top million books worth reading too. The hardware isn't there yet but I've come to expect 10 TB as a done deal - just a matter of waiting really.

    There's something strange about having the ability to carry around more media than you can watch, listen and/or read in a lifetime. All of the classics along with all of the B sides in the palm of your hand. Bizarre.

    Stop! Don't!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm not so concerned about carrying every movie worth watching with me, but rather with having a few things to watch while I'm on the road. Once I have packed my laptop briefcase with cables, a camera, a dictation device, and a powerpack, I don't really have space for even one DVD, much less four or five. And I take a business trip of about a week generally every year. What's a guy to do in a hotel room?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is software (or, I should say "freeware") to "rip" your DVDs into all kinds of file formats so you can carry them around with you. (Mac the Ripper is one example). I know, you posted this ages ago, but I got here from a link in a more recent post.

      Delete