I have a very extensive library of digital books. Most of them were either free or 99 cents. If I can get a hard copy of the book cheaper than the digital book, I will get the hard copy because it doesn’t make sense to pay more for a digital copy. I also frequent second hand book stores to minimize costs. I love books, I collect them, but I also just love to read. If it is a series I can get cheap as a digital copy I am going to go for that, especially in today’s economy.

Amazon is changing up how they allow readers to enjoy the books you buy for your Kindle. Before you could download the book and keep a copy on your computer or USB drive, where ever you see fit. February 26th they are changing it up where you are no longer allowed to do that, and are going to be forced to read the book on your Kindle. There are also Kindle apps, I use the app on my phone and my iPad. Personally, this will not effect how I read my books as I have always just read them on my Kindle or with the app. I do see where this could cause an issue with some though, and I understand that this makes it feel like we do not own the digital books we have bought.

This leads me to my next thought. Nothing digital is really ours. At any moment the internet can go down, the power goes out, all systems crash. Every piece of digital information we have could become beyond our reach. It is a risk that we have all taken and I think very few understand how fragile that information is. My hard copy books, the ones on my physical bookshelf are going to survive if the internet crashes. I will still be able to read by candle light should the power go out.

Side thought, if there is a fire in my home, those physical books go up in flames. Nothing is safe.

I have seen so many people talking about the new way Amazon is approaching their digital books, and I get it, we all hate Amazon. A love hate relationship. I know many friends that have jumped the Amazon ship and refuse to use it. I understand why people are upset about the change. What I don’t understand is why are we presenting this information all doom and gloom, like it is the end of the world? I can only read my digital book, bought on Amazon, with my Kindle? Okay…that was the only way I was reading it anyways. I was never going to download the 1000 books on my kindle library for backup. If those books disappear…bye? I have put money in digital things that have been disappearing for years. I can’t even tell you how much money I have spent on Sims, or the 3D chat site IMVU, or Second Life, or the number of games I play on my phone. We are just throwing money into the wind at this point.

Everyone is so up in arms about Amazon forcing readers to read on their Kindle. If you didn’t want to read on your Kindle…why did you buy a digital book from Amazon? There are other platforms that have similar prices. You can just borrow the book from the library and not even spend a dime on it.

In the grand scheme of things, digital copies of anything are just…air. We can’t really own it. Digital doesn’t exist.

I don’t even know where I am going with this to be honest. I am just so tired of story after story of people trying to strike fear into others. This time we are fear mongered because big bad Amazon won’t let us read our books somewhere other than Kindle?

What are your thoughts on the situation?