Amazon Kindle: You only “rent” the content, you don’t own it

I freely admit that I like Amazon.com. I have ordered a lot of stuff from them (mostly books) over the years with minimal fuss and it’s always such a joy to see that Amazon package sitting on my front porch waiting for me when I get home.

I’m not saying Amazon is perfect, no large corporation is. But I can easily say I have been a satisfied customer and confident enough in the company to place their ads on this blog.

Ironically, the problem I have with Amazon is the one area of book publishing,distribution and consumption I’m interested in most – that is, ebooks. While I don’t doubt that the Kindle has thrown ebooks into the mainstream in a big way, I think Amazon is making some very fatal mistakes that can easily spell doom for Amazon and for ebooks.

Kindle DRM means you "access" books, don’t really "own" them

My biggest fear has come true. In this disturbing post yesterday over at Teleread, a Kindle customer, Michael, relates how he was banned from Amazon and blocked from the ebooks he legally purchased on the site.

In the letter Michael sent to Teleread, he states he was banned for a large amount of returns for various reasons. As a result, his Kindle basically became a brick and was unable to access his Kindle account and the books he purchased. In a subsequent comment under the post, it appears Michael’s account has been reinstated. Regardless, this incident brings up a point that really scares me when it comes to the Amazon Kindle, and I first wrote about it in this post.

The way the DRM is set up on the Kindle makes it so that customers don’t really own any of the content they legally purchase ("legally" being a key word here). You basically are paying for access to it. Get banned like Michael, and that access is immediately shut off.

This is probably the biggest reason why I have not, and will not for the foreseeable future, be buying a Kindle. I simply don’t trust Amazon’s DRM.

It’s all in the fine print!

To get an idea of the kind of power Amazon has over Kindle users, one just has to look at their fine print. Under the ominous heading of "Termination", this is what Amazon says:

Your rights under this Agreement will automatically terminate without notice from Amazon if you fail to comply with any term of this Agreement. In case of such termination, you must cease all use of the Software and Amazon may immediately revoke your access to the Service or to Digital Content without notice to you and without refund of any fees.