Remote Kill Flags Surface In Kindle 630
PL/SQL Guy writes "The Kindle has a number of 'remote kill' flags built in to the hardware that, among other things, allow the text-to-speech function to be disabled at any time on a book-by-book basis. 'Beginning yesterday, Random House Publishers began to disable text-to-speech remotely. The TTS function has apparently been remotely disabled in over 40 works so far.' But what no one at Amazon will discuss is what other flags are lurking in the Kindle format: is there a 'read only once' flag? A 'no turning the pages backwards' flag?"
Remote kill or flag change? (Score:5, Interesting)
I think the first is more likely - although the second could be useful in other ways (the Kindle could automatically correct errors in books as they are found).
Killflags... (Score:5, Interesting)
...and they are internet capable? I'm going to laugh my ass off when some hacker reduces every ebook on every Kindle in the world to a useless pile of bits.
As my wife says, "Fuck 'em." (Score:5, Interesting)
I was going to get my wife a Kindle for her birthday. She asked, "What's the point? The books are almost as expensive, and I can't send them to my mom or sister when I'm done. And what happens when the hardware breaks, and I need to get a new one? I don't want to be forced to get a Kindle just because those are the books I bought before. Fuck 'em."
My wife, the non-geek. She gets it.
Re:forget it (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm curious what other ebook readers you're looking at. So far, I've used a Foxit eBook reader, Sony PRS-700, kindle, iPhone and various computers.
The Foxit totally sucks. It's got a nice formfactor, but it's slow and difficult to read PDFs without having the text get wrapped and lose all spacing (sometimeswordsgetjumbledtogetherlikethis).
The Sony reader is pretty good except that the glare totally sucks and when reading PDFs, it's only got pre-set zoom levels; no fit-to-width, so the text is constantly either too small or it's the right size, but wraps all over the place.
I was waiting for the PlasticLogic to come out (something like mid 2010, last I heard). It's a good size, so PDFs will render well and it seems fast and very sturdy.
I haven't had a chance to check out any ePub books, yet, but I've heard good things. The only problem is that Amazon has a HUGE selection of eBooks for the kindle and ePub doesn't have that many commercial books; at least, I was only able to find 1 book I wanted in ePub format and 2 or 3 in PDF format.
Considering that books from O'Reilly, Pragmatic Programmers and other tech publishers are available only in PDF (since the kindle format doesn't support fonts for code snippets), I feel like the new KindleDX is the perfect solution--not only does it allow me to buy the most widely available eBook format but it also allows me to read PDFs on an acceptably large screen.
I tried to hold off, but I HAD to preorder the KindleDX... I'm a little concerned that it's not gonna be as good as I hope, but I think it'll be a good purchase in the longrun. I really hope that amazon/publishers come to their senses and stop with this garbage of disabling TTS or other features.
Re:They asked for it (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't smoke marijuana; however, I know plenty of people who do. This situation has existed since before I was born. People, and politicians (they don't count as people), have discussed making marijuana legal. It may never happen in my lifetime. That does not stop people from recognizing bad law.
Copyright is there to protect the artist. I see little artistic protection in copyright law. I see corporate protection. I don't think I am the only one who sees this, hence all the downloads.
People will NOT obey an unjust law. When corporations declare that they sold you a license instead of a product and start turning off access to what the customer paid for...well, you reap what you sow. There are not enough lawyers out there to sue everyone who downloads. Ask the RIAA if you don't believe me.
Besides, downloaded stuff just works better. I hate to tell all those coke-sniffing, mistress pampering executives at all those corporations that their business model sucks donkey-dick, but I have to. Downloads don't pester people with advertisements. They start up immediately. They play the entire content. You can change direction when you want. You can shift the content to other media. Shit! What's not to like? Except that we do cheat the artist. That cannot be denied. We must find a way to support the arts, and dump the middle-man. That middle-man is getting in the way of culture.
Lawsuit? (Score:5, Interesting)
Can't one of those Blind Advocacy groups sue them for discrimination?
Re:They asked for it (Score:5, Interesting)
It was never cashed, but I feel good about it anyway.
PDF as solution? (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm interested in the DX because of its native PDF reader, and nothing else. I probably would never buy a book from Amazon to read on it, because everything I want I can get as a PDF, whether it be something technical or literature.
Because of this, theoretically, I'd be immune to these issues, right? They're my own, drm-free PDFs which can't be remotely deleted or somehow blocked.
I like the *idea* of the Kindle in that I can carry millions of pages of whatever on a very light device with a good screen. I was trying out my mom's Kindle and I was shocked at how much I *really* liked it; the screen was really great and, while I didn't care for the slow page redraws, it wouldn't be a deal-breaker. Thus I like the DX idea even more; bigger screen, and drm-free content.
Re:memento flag (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:forget it (Score:4, Interesting)
Also, there is a text-to-speech [kde.org] is a standard package in one of the most common desktop managers for linux. I use the text-to-speech sometimes while I'm doing the dishes, etc. It does about as well as most text-to-speech programs do. You don't have to use kde to do it, ktts is just the front-end, it uses the festival [ed.ac.uk] synthesis system, so a front end might be out there can use a less full-featured OS than kde, which might be faster and hence more suitable for an e-book reader device. I wonder if it's possible to get the festival speech synthesis system running on it and bypass amazon's DRMed solution all together.
Re:They asked for it (Score:3, Interesting)
Hmmm. Could that mean if they cash it they can't sue you, but if they don't cash it they have the option to sue you?
IANAL, but that sounds sinister to me...
Re:They asked for it (Score:3, Interesting)
Oh, give me a break. It has little to do with working better and more to do with people not having to pay for stuff and little chance of getting caught or punished.
In terms of being locked into something like the Kindle, I sure as hell would not pay money for something where the terms of my purchases can be changed after they take my money.
And I find it a bit ironic you trust pirates of all people to deliver you a product free of root kits and trojans.
The people who copy content aren't the ones who add that crap, it's just another attack vector for malware authors to use. i.e. They find out what a popular download is, then create malware to masquerade as that download.
Re:I'm done with Amazon (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:TFA About Reading-Disabled Students (Score:2, Interesting)
TTS is not the same as an audiobook performance, nor does it have that possibility any time soon.
For many intents and purposes, TTS *is* the same as an audiobook. Nobody really believes that TTS is actually copyright infringement; not even the folks in the book industry. They just know that eBook + TTS will compete with their audiobook offerings for the people who like to, say, listen to a book while they drive. Crying "copyright infringement!" is just the most convenient tool at their disposal to protect their bottom line. Now, I'm not saying that I'd be satisfied with a robotic voice croaking out the text of my book, but when faced with a choice between re-buying your content in audiobook format and letting HAL read to you for no additional cost, a lot of people will put up with HAL.
Re:They asked for it (Score:4, Interesting)
Oh, give me a break. It has little to do with working better and more to do with people not having to pay for stuff and little chance of getting caught or punished. Copyright laws may be flawed, but they are not completely unjust. The people who use things without paying their fair share are the unjust ones...not rebels against an unfair law.
It has a lot to do with both working better and being free. Copyright law is horribly flawed, to the point of being nearly completely unjust. I can't say that they're better than piracy at this point. It's just different people getting fucked in each scenario, either the public or the industry, but it's the industry that has brought us to where we're at through their constant lobbying for more and more monopoly powers over copyrighted works and durations that last generations. It's disgustingly corrupt and I think that's why people don't really respect copyright anymore.
And I find it a bit ironic you trust pirates of all people to deliver you a product free of root kits and trojans.
It's certainly not trust. Don't trust anything you download unless you verify that it's clean. There are some distributors that have earned a level of trust because they have consistently only distributed clean copies, but by and large you shouldn't trust anything you download. The fact that people will take the risk is simply due to the fact that the industry has ensured that they can screw us over with impunity.
I don't totally disagree with you, though. We do give the middle man too much and the artist too little. But pirating gives the artist less.
The artists have become collateral damage in a struggle between the middle men and the public. The middle men try to grab more and more power and control from the public and give the artists as little as possible. I think that they need to be killed off and copyright law reformed if artists are ever to get a fair shake and if the public is ever to start respecting copyright again.
Old news (Score:5, Interesting)
This is old news. The whole brouhaha over this happened months ago. The Kindle 2 came out, with text-to-speech. The Author's Guild whined like little babies claiming it would reduce audiobook sales (presumably they also want to charge you for reading to your kids.) They wanted the functionality removed completely. Amazon reached a compromise, that publishers could opt-out by requesting that it be disallowed on their books.
There's no point getting your panties in a bunch *now*. The horse is out of the barn. Nor is Amazon the one to complain to. The publishers and the Author's Guild are the ones to complain to.
If anything, Amazon deserves credit for putting the feature in in the first place without restrictions. Given their business model, you might have expected them to proactively design the feature to the publishers' requirements long before it was released. They might have been like Microsoft who preemptively crippled the Zune's sharing feature.
Re:They asked for it (Score:4, Interesting)
Except the artist, unless they happened to make anywhere near the "advertising fees" extortion.
Bands make money from concerts* and merchandise, not albums. Exceptions are indie and wildly wildly successful mainstream bands that make enough to pay back the fees and/or are popular enough to negotiate a fair contract.
* Often the things they sell there as well as the tickets, many times they keep a greater deal of profit sold at concerts.
And this a surprise? (Score:3, Interesting)
So I think I'll stick to paper, thank you very much.
Re:They asked for it (Score:1, Interesting)
Ta da!
There it is, that's the central reason you thieves should stop downloading music and other content illegally. If enough of you keep at it long enough, there won't be much good content out there. Just lots of mediocre, pandering crap.
Good lord, the perception of anonymity over the web turns people into amoral me-machines.
Everyone is upset about this, but not me. (Score:5, Interesting)
To me, this flagging ability should be viewed as a good thing.
All books should be available from the library FOR FREE. You go to the library, you borrow the book, and you return it in two weeks. You can re-check it out again for another 2 weeks if you want.
This flagging ability COULD allow this to be done without driving to the library. You COULD use this to NEVER buy a book. You simply "check it out" for 2 weeks and then it vanishes.
Now I'm skeptical that it will ever be allowed to work this way, but this is the way such devices SHOULD work. If I can go check out a physical copy for 2 weeks, why not a digital copy? If it's free, I don't mind if it vanishes in 2 weeks, just like a library loan would.
Re:They asked for it (Score:1, Interesting)
Oh, give me a break. It has little to do with working better and more to do with people not having to pay for stuff and little chance of getting caught or punished.
Maybe for some people, but not for me. I don't pirate music because I can get a non-DRM-encumbered CD that I can rip to mp3 (although I was severely tempted to start pirating when the record labels were experimenting with putting DRM on CD's). I don't pirate movies because I can rent all I want from Netflix so I have no incentive. In both these cases, the publishers have given me what I want. But I do pirate books.
Why? Because the few publishers that offer ebooks for sale do so with outrageous terms. They usually make me pay more for the ebook than the physical copy, or use non-standard formats that won't work on every computer, or restrict them to one device. What's the point of an ebook if I can't carry it around with me and read it on whatever computer I happen to be sitting at?
If they would offer their books in HTML (zipped if they need to include pictures or external stylesheets) at a reasonable price, I'd be all over it.
And yes, I do sometimes buy from Baen and others that give me what I want. I won't, however, buy from the online libraries that restrict the book to one device or use non-open formats that only work with special readers.
The publishers don't get to decide whether I get what I want. They can only decide whether they profit from it. I want to give them my money, but if they don't want to take it, I don't feel bad about getting what I want anyway.
So what do I want? I want to be able to read my books on whatever computer I happen to be sitting at, without installing special software. I want to have multiple backups so that I don't lose my library if I drop my Kindle in a mud puddle or my hard drive crashes. I want to carry my entire library on a flash drive so that I don't have to decide ahead of time which book I want to read.
So I convert all of my ebooks to HTML, which is the only universal standard for text that includes markup and pictures. From there I can convert it to PDF or other formats to work on the ebook reader du jour if I have to, but if I can't first convert it into HTML using scripts and only minimal manual work, I will not purchase it.
And I find it a bit ironic you trust pirates of all people to deliver you a product free of root kits and trojans.
Your point about rootkits and trojans is valid when you're talking about software, because it's executable.
But we're talking about text here. In order to put a trojan in a text file, you're going to have to wrap it in something else. In other words, anything that gives you the ability to add DRM also gives you the ability to add a trojan.
So yes, I would trust the pirate more than the "legitimate" distributor.
The same goes for music and movies that are distributed in standard formats (mp3, divx, etc) because they're not executable.
Sorry about the rant. I just had to get it off my chest.
Posted anonymously because I just confessed to copyright infringement.
Re:They asked for it (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Customer is always right? (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm surprised this 'feature' wasn't already known about and defeated by now....
Re:They asked for it (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:First post flag! (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:First post flag! (Score:2, Interesting)
Out of curiosity, did you actually ask them for a refund, or are you just assuming they won't give you a refund?
Re:They asked for it (Score:3, Interesting)
Sort of but you are forgetting some critical details.
That 15% that is expenses to produce and advertise the album, including those technical guys you mentioned who are paid from past profits... well the artist has to pay the studio back all of that from their cut. If an album is successful the studio pays NOTHING and their cut becomes 100% profit because the artist doesn't get anything until their advance plus all the expenses required to produce their music is paid off.
What if there aren't enough sales for the artist to pay back those things? Well they either get a job at Denny's to pay it back or file bankruptcy. That's really the only way a studio loses money, when they are unable to recoup the expenses because they have bankrupt the artist.
The studios collecting royalties on all internet radio and thus blocking independents from having their stuff broadcast and advertised without the studios is a crime.
Re:They asked for it (Score:2, Interesting)
No one cares man... get over it..
I work in the IT field and i write code all the time and I don't get some nice 200 year "it's mine" law....
It doesn't mater how much you complain about how wrong it is... no one cares... no one will ever care... you can sue everyone you like and take their Dr. pepper and pizza money but it isn't going to make any difference..
Normal people work and never get a right to demand that what they create is theirs..
Times have changed and you can cry and moan but no one cares,
Thank You,
ae
Re:They asked for it (Score:3, Interesting)
I earnestly want him to shuffle off this mortal coil because people like him directly harm me and my ability to make a livelihood, for the puerile benefit of free entertainment.
Can you explain how, exactly, this directly harms you? Can you even explain how it's indirect harm? And no, you're not allowed to assume they would pay for whatever it is you're selling if that was the only way to obtain it.
Re:They asked for it (Score:5, Interesting)
Now, I don't have a problem with the production company making money. That's a good thing.
I have a problem when they step on my rights to make that money. We can argue all day over what my legitimate rights are and get nowhere. I just think you should pop over to The New York Time's web-site before too long. On Monday they had a really cool article on how production companies are requiring artists to produce two CDs worth of material for every CD they market. It usually takes twelve songs to make a CD. The production companies are now requiring artists to produce as many as twelve additional songs so that Target can have two exclusive songs to match the two exclusive songs on the Best Buy version, and so on.
Wait a minute! Who's getting screwed here? I'm starting to lose track.
Re:Customer is always right? (Score:4, Interesting)
Let them get burned they are smart enough to take care of these things on their own. Sometimes I think these companies sell all this DRM crap because they know it will be cracked. This way a large portion of the suckers will get caught on the treadmill and the ones who other wise would have asked for the companies head on a steak, will default to cracking their device to get it to work and keep quiet.
I personally hope all of the tech savvy back away from this and for once let a company release something and let their customers suffer for a bit. When Jane Doe pays for something and finds out the company doesn't want her to have certain options available to her that's when you will have a good reason to fight back. It's not so easy to do that when you've already hacked the crap out of it and its downloading torrents while calculating your BMI after your breakfast reading.
Re:Kindle Content Return Policy (Score:3, Interesting)
Out of the 63 Kindle books I've purchased since Feb 08, only one has had TTS Disabled (Cesar Milan's "A Member of the Family," purchased Nov 2008)
The return policy states quite clearly seven days, not seven months, but I've submitted a return request on the basis of TTS anyway.
I'll let you know what happens.
No Kindle DX for me. (Score:1, Interesting)