Borders has closed. This is a shame and a travesty. In an era when there is more being published and more of the population is literate than ever before, why is a bookstore closing? One issue that has risen out of this is something that I alluded to in an earlier article on eBooks. Namely: what happens to your content when the content provider closes up shop? Thankfully, in this case, Borders had been transitioning its eBook clients from their servers to Kobos, so they weren’t left high and dry with no access to their purchases. Will all eBook providers be this kind when they, as with the vast majority of businesses, either close up shop or give up on one technology and move to a
DRM Archive
In recent days I have been made aware of three developments in the eBooks industry. One is a philosophical development, two are commercial. Two, in my opinion, are good news. One most definitely is not. They show that people from all aspects of the book industry are looking at eBooks; some objectively, not as something that is to be hated and feared, but as a new development which will change the industry and needs to be properly considered, others as a way of earning more money and locking in consumers. The first is a blog post that was brought to my attention entitled “The eBook User’s Bill of Rights.” (Hereafter referred to as EUBOR because I’m a lazy typist) A librarian wrote this, and I