Swindling Ass Kindle

Exactly how ironic is it that Kindle recalled all eBook versions of 1984? I was carousing the internet the other day, looking for interesting book-library-publishing news. (This is what we librarians sometimes do so that we have cool tidbits to share when we have awesomely dorkish conversations!) I came across a frightening article about just how easy it is for these huge media sales-machines like Amazon and iTunes to take back your stuff, even after you've purchased it, and believe yourself to be the proud owner of said merchandise.

I used to could defend these types of electronic devices. (I don't go ANYWHERE without my iPod!) My chief praise was how convenient these things are. I was a mess carrying around all of these clumsy CD holders everywhere. A few years ago, I was dodging the metallic debris when my car flipped on an old dirt road in rural Alabama. Imagine how much easier going to school could be. There would be no more use for a book bag if you could just download a copy of your textbook onto your kindle and bring it to class. Children would no longer have bad backs from all of the books and homework they lug around.

After finding out just how easy these companys can take these purchases back, I can press pause on doing a Farenheit 451 on all of my books and using my iPod and Kindle exclusively. Now we see why there is still a value in owning and purchasing a book.

With more and more things being bought and sold digitally, this drawback of eCommerce is all the more frightening.

I am a proud user of the Blockbuster-by-Mail system. Last year, to save money, I decided to place a hold on my account. This hold was supposed to keep me from closing my account, yet allowing me to take a break from recieving movies and thus paying the monthly fee. On January 1st, Blockbuster decided to "re-activate" by account and proceeded to take money out of my account without warning. Could you imagine them going into my pocketbook and forcing me to purchase a product against my will? This is in essence what they did. I find that once you give you credit card number out, a lot of companies will freely go in and out of your account. just like Amazon and iTunes can give and take back things you've purchased.

There used to be a time when a person could purchase a product. After you purchased if, you could do with it what you liked. Those days seem to be fading fast. Nowadays companies are tracking your purchasing history, taking back items you've purchased, going into your bank account, and probably doing worse things I couldn't imagine if I tried.