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The ebook saga continues
Sunday, February 28th, 2010 08:48 pmI bet you are all eager to hear the continuing saga of my complaints regarding ebook quality. (Previous entries here).
W H Smith have been curiously silent since my complaint, except to tell me that they'll let me know when I can download an updated version.
Mobipocket's customer care is handled by Amazon, for values of 'handled' including 'we trim the useful bits out of your email and forward it'. It has so far taken me over two weeks to get a useful response from Amazon, and the useful response is 'contact Penguin Group'.
So I have.
[intro bit]
I have so far purchased four e-books which I believe are produced by Penguin Books, and two of those e-books have problems.
[details of ebooks, with examples of problems]
If I had bought these books in paperback or hardcover I would return them and ask for my money back: because I've bought them as e-books, I don't have that option and there doesn't seem to be any recourse for a customer unhappy with production quality.
It's taken me several weeks to get as far as being told I should contact the Penguin Group so I'd very much appreciate a speedy resolution.
What I should have included, of course, is how I shall be posting all over Teh Interwebs about how ebooks are Not As Good. I do like the concept, and reading on my PDA, and being able to lug the Baroque Cycle around without permanent musculo-skeletal damage. I like being able to grab all manner of out-of-copyright texts from Project Gutenberg, already in Mobipocket format: I like being able to copy text from anywhere online and roll my own Palm e-Book.
But ...
Why Commercial E-Books Aren't Good Enough (Yet):
- I cannot Bookmooch ebooks or flog 'em on Amazon if I want to get rid of them.
- I cannot even lend them to a friend.
- it is very often more expensive to purchase a new title in ebook format than in hardcover.
- it is apparently impossible to purchase an out-of-print title (e.g. Anthony Burgess' A Dead Man in Deptford).
- there does not seem to be any single online retailer from whom I can acquire all the titles I want: I had to try four or five different places for my Elizabeth Bear ebooks in Mobipocket format for a UK customer, and I ended up buying from two different sites.
- and, most importantly right now: I can't inspect the goods before I buy, and if they turn out to be faulty my rights are unclear.
W H Smith have been curiously silent since my complaint, except to tell me that they'll let me know when I can download an updated version.
Mobipocket's customer care is handled by Amazon, for values of 'handled' including 'we trim the useful bits out of your email and forward it'. It has so far taken me over two weeks to get a useful response from Amazon, and the useful response is 'contact Penguin Group'.
So I have.
[intro bit]
I have so far purchased four e-books which I believe are produced by Penguin Books, and two of those e-books have problems.
[details of ebooks, with examples of problems]
If I had bought these books in paperback or hardcover I would return them and ask for my money back: because I've bought them as e-books, I don't have that option and there doesn't seem to be any recourse for a customer unhappy with production quality.
It's taken me several weeks to get as far as being told I should contact the Penguin Group so I'd very much appreciate a speedy resolution.
What I should have included, of course, is how I shall be posting all over Teh Interwebs about how ebooks are Not As Good. I do like the concept, and reading on my PDA, and being able to lug the Baroque Cycle around without permanent musculo-skeletal damage. I like being able to grab all manner of out-of-copyright texts from Project Gutenberg, already in Mobipocket format: I like being able to copy text from anywhere online and roll my own Palm e-Book.
But ...
Why Commercial E-Books Aren't Good Enough (Yet):
- I cannot Bookmooch ebooks or flog 'em on Amazon if I want to get rid of them.
- I cannot even lend them to a friend.
- it is very often more expensive to purchase a new title in ebook format than in hardcover.
- it is apparently impossible to purchase an out-of-print title (e.g. Anthony Burgess' A Dead Man in Deptford).
- there does not seem to be any single online retailer from whom I can acquire all the titles I want: I had to try four or five different places for my Elizabeth Bear ebooks in Mobipocket format for a UK customer, and I ended up buying from two different sites.
- and, most importantly right now: I can't inspect the goods before I buy, and if they turn out to be faulty my rights are unclear.
