Random ebook bits.

[temporus]

My wife's Kindle 2 got the update last night.  Very, very nice to be able to organize files.   Not sure yet whether the organization is on a per device fashion or if that will force us into all one uniform categorization.   (Which would be a tad annoying, because my wife is likely to want to mark the books differently than I would. )

On another front, it seems that Amazon and Penguin are still in the midst of their dispute.  This is annoying, as I still can't purchase my copy of the latest Jim Butcher novel Changes.  Now, this is mainly an inconvenience, as I borrowed the hardcover from a friend, and therefore I'm not missing out on reading the book.  I've read it, enjoyed it, had my fill of Harry Dresden for a while.  But, I'd still like to buy it, because authors should be paid for their work, and I prefer to do my part.  So I wait for it to become available, and once it does, I'll be buying it.

What annoys me about these disputes is not that they happen.  Well, not just that they happen.  I'm frustrated that the two sides can't come to an agreement, to be sure, especially after over a month.  No, what really gets my goat, is the vast number of idiots who love to hang out, and get all self-righteously entitled to have what they want, when they want it, and how dare anyone else in the world have a problem with them acting more selfish than my three year old son.  Um, sorry folks, you don't have an inalienable right to have the ebook on the day you want it at the price you want it.  And making threats that you'll just go out and pirate the book instead if Amazon/Penguin/Jim Butcher/ whoever won't instantly capitulate to your childish self important demands is counter productive.  People, if you want to know why the publishers keep demanding DRM, it's in reaction to attitudes like this. 

However, the most amusing thing about this, is some goober publicly complaining that he couldn't have what he wanted right now and so he stated on the Amazon boards in a post about this book that he went out and downloaded a PDF, and now no one is going to get the money he would have paid.  The very next post was by Jim Butcher pointing out how brazen it was to publicly admit that he was pirating the book on a board that Jim's been known to visit.   (Mind you, the account says Jim Butcher, and I think it is him, but can't prove it.  It could be someone else just posing as him, since I don't think Amazon prevents you from using any name you want.)  Smack down.  If it actually was Jim, well good for him!  I've been a Kindle user for a long time, and I don't think the lack of an available product, even one we know exists because it's available for Kindle users outside the USA, is an excuse to steal.  That's right.  I said it.  STEAL.  If you know you're supposed to be paying for something, and you go out and grab a pirate copy instead,  you are stealing. Why do you think it's called a pirate copy?  What do you think real pirates do?  They steal.  Play whatever self justification games you want, you are still a thief. You don't want to be called a thief?  Here's the solution.  GROW UP.  Stop acting like a spoiled brat.  Pay for what you want.  If its not available, wait.  You know what?  There are other books out there.  You could go read those in the meantime while you wait for the problem to be resolved.  You can borrow a copy from a friend as I did.  You can go to the library and take out a copy.  You can buy a different edition that is available.  Or you can wait.  Oh, I know.  It's just so hard to wait isn't it.  Oh.  Um.  It's actually not hard to wait.  In fact waiting is easy.  All you do is go about your life.   In fact, waiting is the status quo.  The default state.  The simplest thing in the world.  And if waiting isn't easy for you, you need to think about that fact, and maybe consider why that is.