a. Amazon needing to clarify the specifics- including the exceptions- rather than us finding out when we stumble upon it as I did initially.

b. Amazon acting without prior notification to those effected

c. Amazon pulling stuff OFF customer’s Kindles and iPhones. It is bad enough that they removed it from the device THEY sell (and that is bad) but from iPhones??

The future is ebooks but this undermines the transition big-time!

Sadly, while the Kindle seemed to signal a renewed interest in ebooks, it might at the same time end up killing them once more.

If you are downloading and transferring non DRM protected material it can be used repeatedly on any Kindle.

If the file being transferred to the Kindle is DRM protected by Amazon, then it will be tied to the single Kindle for which it was originally intended. You can transfer the file back to the correct Kindle from your computer without a problem. It’s when you try to transfer the file to another Kindle (even if also registered to you) that you’ll hit a snag.

You will have to redownload the file for that specific registered Kindle from Amazon to your computer (assuming you are not using OTA transfer any more). But if the book is no longer available (for whatever reason), then you will not be able to redownload.

Let me know if that answers all your questions.

Quote: You can connect your Kindle to computer via USB and save all files.

One follow-up question: Can I transfer content from PC back to the *same* Kindle via USB, without going through Amazon and risking that they will intercept the unapproved content? I was thinking if I need Amazon to convert the file back into Kindle format.

Regardless of their justification, the privacy and revisionist aspects are unsettling. Can Amazon reach into *my* Kindle to retrieve something (even illegal), without even police or a court involved? Second, does this raise the possibility that Amazon can revise content in the future (for benign reasons such as to correct a typo or misprint, to not so benign such as an attempt to censor undesired content)?

Is it possible to back up your Kindle contents on a PC? If yes, does Amazon’s removal affect the back-up copy when you download it back to the Kindle?”

Yes. You can connect your Kindle to computer via USB and save all files. Amazon can only remove items from your Kindle if the wireless feature is turned on, but they can’t touch anything you have stored on your hard drive. An issue WILL arrive if you were to eventually upgrade your Kindle. The DRM protected books will not transfer from one Kindle to another – even if they are registered to the same owner.

Quoting DavidB: “their DRM efforts do nothing to prevent pirates from getting the DRM’d content broken free anyway, so their DRM only hurts their honest customers.”

I have to agree. :-/

I totally agree with ritchie70s argument, as well.

As Pogue pointed out, you just can’t help but appreciate the irony of it being books by George Orwell that were pulled…

Under a digital model, it is easier to repossess and doesn’t require a huge effort. Therefore, legally, it is probably considered reasonable to do. Whenever there is any kind of legal infraction you are legally obligated to attempt to mitigate the damage. In the physical example you can only do a little. In the digital model your ability to mitigate is greater and so is your legal responsibility. It’s not about DRM either – it’s about the distribution mechanism.

All that said – I agree with Dan – the notification and explanation should have happened. Amazon’s failure is one of communication – not action. They did what they were legally obliged to do, but they did not handle their PR issue correctly.

But of course it is still ironic that is was Orwell’s books that were the ones in question. If I was more cynical I’d say it was all a big publicity stunt.

What if they sold what turned out to be a counterfeit Gucci bag?

My guess is they would do nothing, or contact the purchasers and offer a refund, or contact the purchasers and demand that the bag be returned in exchange for a refund.

They would NOT enter their customer’s house, take the bag, and leave, even if some click-thru license on the checkout screen had said they could.

They might involve the police as part of the counterfeit investigation.

What if they sold merchandise that turned out to be stolen?

Once again, they might do nothing, might pay the party from whom it was stolen, might request the return for a refund, might involve the police.

Once again, they wouldn’t enter their customer’s homes and retrieve the merchandise.

We need to get some personal property law issues resolved around non-tangible property like eBooks and songs from iTunes. Until that happens, this sort of stupidity is going to happen.

“At the end of the day, the book gods never go “poof” and make my books disappear.”

The issues surrounding this are huge and growing.

Amazon made a major major mistake which will be tough for them to downplay unless they change their Kindle software so as not to be able to erase anything remotely from the headquarters.

Are Amazon’s book revocations legal?