Paste a text block, hit TRANSLATE, repeat... · 7:21pm Oct 15th, 2014
Through MCR points spending and trades, I've built up an Ebook credit of roughly $30 US with a company which is, shall we say, kind of not Amazon in any way. I've been wondering what to do with it. And with all the good reviews on Gone Girl, I finally decided that a good choice for spending would be getting a copy. And sure enough, the online catalog has a single choice of edition. Admittedly, they want $29.46 as opposed to Amazon's $7.72, but it's all coming from freebies, right? So let's just check the rest of the details...
Published: Aug 20, 2013
Subject: Fiction, Literature
Language: Swedish
Format: Adobe EPUB
eBook File Size: 2 MB
...okay...
And then we hit the permissions.
Printing not allowed
Copying not allowed
Lending not allowed
Reading aloud not allowed
So not only am I forbidden from quoting a choice passage, but as long as the book is on the Kindle, I am legally prohibited from passing the tablet to anyone else.
Fine. Clearly this particular book isn't happening today. Now, what else have I not been reading? That's easy: a certain GRRM series. I've never felt the need. I already read one of his book groups where any character can die at any time, thank you, although the majority of that group can still claim some level of internal humanity. But still... I have to use this credit before the end of the year, or it'll just expire. So maybe it's a good time to get started on those. Search the catalog...
Oh, good. They stock those too.
In Portuguese.
Are those last two even legal?! And if so, what bureaucrat do I have to go punch in the face in response?!
These editions are sold by a company that's pushing various learner's language textbooks too, right?
Nu förstår jag inte alls vad du menar. Skulle det vara ett problem att läsa litteratur på svenska, detta eleganta världsspråk?
2534642 Read this article (Amazon Gives In To Ridiculous Authors Guild Claim: Allows Authors To Block Text-To-Speech), and weep for humanity.
2534678
At a guess, I am legally prohibited from asking you what the @#$$ you just said. (Although I think I got a little of it from the context.) I am sort of curious about the potential jail time if I showed you the Kindle's screen and asked "What's this word mean?"
(I am trying to think of everyone I know who speaks any amount of Swedish. I think it's going to be one grand jury charge for each time they glance over my shoulder.)
2534670
You tell me. I see no reason to protect this site's identity.
I'd like to see a language book with those 'legalities' attached.
God, that is so insanely stupid and unenforceable. In fact, all of those 'permissions' are as enforceable as telling someone they aren't allowed to breathe.
Well, I'll gladly continue to do whatever I wish with anything I purchase. So as long as I'm not actually trying to resell copies or pass the junk as my own, I can do whatever I damn well please with my books, physical or digital whichever the case may be.
2534721
I just get a nearly-blank page that says "restricted".
No, I'm not joking. That's actually all I get
I'm now wondering if this is actually a money-laundering operation...
2534733
Huh. Best guess would be that it's picked up your address as being outside North America and the various licenses for all these downloads apply to locals only. Who speak Swedish. Or, optionally, Portuguese.
Of course, this being the States, no one speaks English.
By which I mean 'The Queen's English'. Regardless, too late.
2534703 lol! Makes me want to get Natural Reader 11 and make eBook spams all over the place.
Novels on MP3. Get yours today! :P
I love how that "Because it's a billion dollar market" was 'justifiable' in stopping innovation the same way the big Oil Company stopped hybrid and electric cars here for over a decade. xD
Innovation? Buck that! We're 'MERICA! Land of the suffering, home of the 1%!
Capitalism > The people
2534743
Well, we can't sell Swedish books in places where people can actually read Swedish, right? Then people might actually read Swedish. And then the world would end.
2534723
Better question: how do they think their stopping people fronts reading aloud?
Well that's stupid and Ludditish.
I'm sorry but those last two "terms" are total bullshit. Not in the history of books til now has that been a thing (at least that I know of).
Uh, not to be excessively practical or anything, but I rather assume those are referring to functions of the ebook reader (with that particular title, you can't temporarily send it to a friend's ebook reader or use the reader's "read aloud" function, presumably for the latter because they want to sell an audio book version?), rather than what you, the consumer, are legally permitted to do with the ebook.
I apologize if I missed the joke.
2534990
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2534642
The restrictions are DRM. Some ebook systems have a lending functionality. The Kindle has such at system, in which the ebook can be loaned to another person (which gives that person two weeks to read the book, although they can "return" it early by removing it from their library, which implies that it locks the owner out while the book is loaned out). "Lending not allowed" means that that feature is disabled. "Reading aloud not allowed" means that text-to-speech is disabled.
2536124
Still pretty suspect. One of the best thing about real books is that you can lend them to other people and there's no one telling you what can and can't do with it.
2537791
There's nothing stopping you from lending your kindle to someone else. Well, other than the fact that it's more expensive than a typical book. You needn't even be cut off from your kindle library if you do that--the desktop, mobile, and tablet apps are still available to you.
2537830
Right, except that if Iend someone a book, it's just that book. It may not be the best example, but if lose an $8 book that's much cheaper and less of a loss than a kindle (sometimes people just misplace stuff that they've borrowed) and I'm not down my ability to read a different book on the go.
2538094
>I'm not down my ability to read a different book on the go.
If you have a smartphone or a tablet, loaning out your kindle wouldn't deprive you of your ability to read a different book on the go. It wouldn't even deprive you of your ability to read the same book on the go.
As far as the price goes, the technology itself isn't stopping you from loaning out a kindle. That's your personal preference.
2538165
I don't think you get the point.