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I disagree with the author here. I think Amazon strikes a good balance for this v1 product. Unlike iTunes, digital media purchased on Amazon is stored in your account on their servers. If you lose your device in the future, you can download books from your library for free to a replacement device - in perpetuity (in contrast, if you lose an iTunes dowloaded song - Apple says "tough luck" - and you have to buy it again).
Amazon DOES support a minimum level of sharing of media - I have multiple Kindles in my account (for different family members). Since they are all part of our family's library, any one in our family can download these media to their Kindle to read.
I agree, it would be better to have an ability to transfer media to another user (delete from my devices and library, and add to someone else's). 20 years hence, I would imagine that my online digital library at Amazon will be itself quite a valuable personal asset. When I die, do I get to pass that on to my heirs? Can I sell my account to another person?
Once lawmakers understand how much is at stake for individuals (thousands of dollars of digital assets per person), I would hope they will be compelled to enact legislation protecting our investments.
Ugh. When will the disastrous, failed DRM experiment end?
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It's fine as long as you trust Amazon and as long as Amazon continues with that business model. A few years ago, I bought several ebooks from Amazon, which at the time was using the Adobe encrypted ebook drm. Amazon maintained your "digital library" online, where you were free to re-download these items if you happened to need to do that, as you sometimes did if you wanted to move the books to another computer. One day, I guess their business model changed (probably in anticipation of the Kindle) and the ebook functionality simply disappeared from Amazon. There was no way to re-download the books anymore. I have them now on an old laptop, but there is no way I know of to move them to any other computer.
Well, that sucks. It does seem odd that their is not an integrated eBook offering on Amazon - you should be able to purchase any ebook, and then download to multiple readers (Sony's, Kindle, PC).