Amazon and Kindle’s surprising capabilities

If you haven’t already heard, Amazon removed unlicensed copies of 1984 from Kindles to rectify their mistake in allowing them to be purchased in the first place.

What Amazon did was amazingly stupid. Illegal? Maybe, maybe not; I didn’t see anything in the TOS that gave Amazon the right to remove any kind of content from your device. The question is, was it really on your Kindle?

“Buying” an e-book from Kindle gives you the right to download a copy of the original material. But does the content remain on your Kindle after you’ve read it? I doubt it. I don’t own a Kindle but I find it hard to believe that it has enough memory to store every publication you might purchase. An easier and simpler solution would be to allow those who purchased the copy unlimited access to it via their Kindle, which I would be willing to bet, is what Amazon does. Again, I don’t own a Kindle but this just seems obvious in hindsight.

Notice I wrote, “in hindsight.” Even if I had gotten around to obtaining a Kindle, I would not have given much thought to the process by which the material appeared on my screen as long as it performed as I expected it to. So now we know. We have all gotten a crash course on the mechanics and capabilities of this gadget.

But Amazon always knew. They are familiar with its products and services and should have been familiar with the perception of the Kindle by its owners as well as the customer’s perception of their relationship to the digital content downloaded to it. It was Amazon’s duty, not legally or morally or ethically but as good business practice, to be explicitly clear on the actual technicalities and what they mean in regards to the consumer’s rights and reasonable expectations, or, done its utmost to ensure that the end result of “buying” a book for a Kindle satisfied customer expectations.

Someone at Amazon made a big mistake and heads may roll, but all they’ve really done is exposed the man behind the curtain. Let’s see if they admit the Kindle is not a great and powerful library in and of itself or if they try to shift the blame to the consumer for not realizing that what appeared to be happening was not what was actually happening.

I never expected them to be perfect, however, and if they’ve learned from this snafu, I’ll probably still buy a Kindle.