HackerMoJo.com
Ceci n'est pas une blog
by Glenn Franxman, Django Developer / Stunt Programmer.
posted: 2003-06-19 08:38:24 perma-link, RSS comments feed
It looks like e-books are finally dying, which is sad. I've owned a Gemstar e-book ( the 9 x 12 model with leather cover ) for about 4 1/2 years, and really liked it, but it had some serious flaws they were reticent to fix. Here's the letter I received and some thoughts on what could have saved them.
-----------------------------
To: Our Valued eBook Customers
It is with deep regret that Gemstar eBook Group Limited must announce that we are scaling back our eBook operations and that we will ultimately be winding them down. We are both proud of, and grateful for, your support and would have preferred to continue our business in its present form. Unfortunately, however, we are not able to do so under today's difficult market conditions.
We are writing now to explain the changes we are making immediately and to describe the services that will continue to be available for at least the next three years. Effective immediately, we will no longer be selling eBook devices. To enable current users to purchase additional content, we will continue to sell content until 5 PM PDT on July 16, 2003, at which point we will cease to sell all books and periodical issues - either directly to customers or through Powells.com. During this period, we will reduce the price of most books (including Hillary Clinton's popular new memoirs) to 40% off the publisher's suggested list price in appreciation for your continuing support and in recognition of the limited period (described below) during which your Online Bookshelves will remain available.
Subject to these changes, for at least the next three years, users will be able to continue to use their eBook devices and content under the same arrangements as they do today. Specifically, to promote your continued use and enjoyment of your existing content, we will continue to maintain and store purchased content on your private Online Bookshelves at least through July 16, 2006 so that you may download content to your eBook device. We will also continue to provide the newly released Personal Content feature available through the web bookstore (http://www.gemstar-ebook.com and then click "Personal Content") at least through July 16, 2006. We will decide prior to July 16, 2006 whether to continue to operate the eBook servers that support these services or to shut the servers down after that date and will provide you advance notification of any such shutdown. Whenever the servers are shut down, your content will need to be stored locally on your eBook device or in supplemental expansion memory that you would acquire from third party sources.
With regard to your eBook devices, we will continue to honor the warranties we provided on the GEB 1150 and GEB 2150 devices that we sold. Users who purchased devices from other suppliers should continue to seek warranty service from those suppliers pursuant to the warranties they provided.
To permit you to continue to enjoy your eBook content even if your out-of-warranty device should fail, we will provide a replacement device from our current inventory for so long as existing supplies last during the period our servers remain in operation. In some cases, these replacement devices will be a different model than your current device. Such replacements will be available to all eBook users, not just those who purchased their devices from us. In appreciation of your support, these replacements will be made available at no charge to you other than a $30 shipping and handling fee and accordingly will not carry any warranties (either express or implied). For more information on how the replacement program will work, please see our web site http://www.gemstar-ebook.com.
Some of you purchased GEB 1150 and GEB 2150 devices from SkyMall or our eBook online store under a 60-day refund policy. If you purchased one of these devices, you may obtain a refund by sending an email containing your name and the address to which the device was shipped to refunds@ebook.gemstar.com within 60 days after your date of purchase. Refund checks will be sent in six to eight weeks.
Some of you have also paid for content not yet received through subscriptions for periodicals or through the Monthly Content Plan. As soon as possible after July 16, 2003, we will refund any bookstore credit balances that may exist for undelivered periodical issues, Monthly Content Plan contracts, or other service credits. We will first attempt to issue credit to the credit card of record for your account. If we are unable to issue a credit card credit, we will then attempt to send you a refund check. It is therefore important that all customer account information including name, credit card information, and address is accurate and current. To verify and update your account information, you may:
1. Go to the online eBook bookstore at www.gemstar-ebook.com
2. Select Log-In from the top navigation bar
3. Enter an eBook ID and password and then review and update your account information
For further information on our plans and services, please see our web site http://www.gemstar-ebook.com.
Thank you for your support for the eBook business. We hope you will continue to enjoy your eBook devices and content under the arrangements we have described above.
Sincerely,
Gemstar eBook Group Limited
--------------------------------------------
Sadness indeed. I tried repeatedly to get access to a developers kit. They wouldn't open the platform to anyone. Period. From their view the device was a Point-Of-Sale terminal. You consumed content, you bought new content. That was all.
They had at one point some schemes for allowing you to put your own content on it, but only as flat text files ( and limit html - bold tags, h tags, and br tags ).
It was almost useless. If they had opened it so that your own content could have been as rich as the books they were selling, if you could distribute ( non purchased ) files between users, it would have been handy. If it had its power port on the bottom so that a cradle could have charged it, it would have been more useful. But most of all, they should have licensed PalmOS for it. THat would have changed everything. That's all I suspect I really wanted out if it. Instead, I'll be looking at tabletPC.
It's sad to see them go, but as bull-headed proprietors of a completely closed platform, I can't say I'm surprised or terribly sorry.
NithaenglandMuse commented, on September 21, 2012 at 9:17 a.m.:
I'd wait until you had 10 to 12 Stories, just seems/feels like a better nuebmr.As far as the .99 or Free thing, it kind of depends what you're trying to use the Book for If you want to use it as what I call a Shoehorn , a term I created a while ago, which basically means it's designed to get people in the door so to speak, and then see if perhaps they Buy one of your Novels Etc.I wouldn't worry about weather you Charge for it or not, meaning if your Main Focus as a Writer is Novels/Children's Books Etc., than using your Short Stories as a Shoe Horn to expose people to your Writing in General, isn't such a bad thing At least in my mind.In a certain way, that's what Blogs could often be considered, when Writers, Photographers Etc. Post their actual work on a Blog Mass Exposure, but we're not Charging People to Look or Read it And if at some point I decide, like I'm now considering with my Poetry Book, to actually Publish it, then at that point some Revenue might be Created Or I may just Write something Completely Different than anything I've Written thus far, and simply let my Fan Base know that I have Or, in my case, I may develop a Fan Base, but simply Self Publish and get my Books into a Local Book Store that has recently Reopened, and sell them there.Weather anyone who ever visits my Blog actually ever purchases anything I ever Publish isn't all that important, as I may generate my Revenue from people that go to this Book Store, or others should I get it into more Book Stores.But in my opinion, the more that Read your Work, the Better Not only does it give you Exposure, but in my Opinion it potentially instills Confidence within yourself, which is an inherently viable thing, in the pursuit of any given career.Good LuckDarkJade-
wvhzzszb commented, on September 23, 2012 at 10:53 p.m.:
Yx6ZWl <a href="http://nfetvlzvwwlh.com/">nfetvlzvwwlh</a>
|
error sifting isotopes local variable 'maxk' referenced before assignment error making suggestion 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'category_label' |
hosting: slicehost.com.
powered by: django.
written in: python.
controlled by: bzr.
monsters by: monsterID.
Shilesh commented, on August 20, 2012 at 10:04 a.m.:
Great advice, one thing that I have never altcauly done is tried to hit up the big giveaway contests such as the rising stars giveaway or easter JV giveaway, I will have to get in on one of those now that I have a free ebook of my own to give out.