The Life of Honinbo Shuei

[Vesa]

Bought it. Read it. Again wonderful material from JF.

I've gone through the most popular games of Honinbo Shuei many times, but as my Japanese is adequate only for the basic go commentary, I've missed a great deal of the story.

[Edit] I use Kindle on two laptops and my Android phone without any problems.

Cheers,
Vesa

[PeterHB]

He does NOT make significant money for these efforts, yet he has to take all this abuse. 3 hours was all it took this time before folks take a shot at him.

Could you manage to thank him for his efforts, and encourage him or offer to help him pursue other formats - something he states he is evaluating, before you attack him?

"People like" John Fairbairn deserve our thanks.....

Hear, hear. I look forward to the commentaries in part 2 and 3. JohnF has books in SmartGo, Kindle, CD, website and paper form. Let him be, and once he sees which formats sell best, he will probably move them from one format to another. He has done a lot for the availability of good Go books in comprehensible English. My inclination is towards the extra interactivity of the SmartGo format, but the Kindle version may turn out to be most popular. Time will tell.

[ez4u]

I bought it and am reading it on Kindle for Mac.

I have neither an iPad nor a Kindle.

Bummer man!

Thanks, JF!

[oren]

Bought it and so far enjoy it quite well. Thanks JF!

[Boidhre]

Bought, looking forward to it.

[RBerenguel]

A book in a format that not everybody can use.

How come? You can install the Kindle application in almost anything:

From Wikipedia:

Amazon released a "Kindle for PC" application in late 2009, available as a free download for Windows 7, Vista, and XP.[54] This application allows thousands of books to be read on a personal computer in color, with no Kindle unit required, as e-books can simply be purchased from Amazon's store.[55] Amazon later released a version for the Macintosh, in early 2010.[56] In June 2010, Amazon released a "Kindle for Android" version. With the Android application release, versions for the Apple iPhone, the iPad, Windows and Mac computers, and BlackBerry cellphones are also available.[57] In January 2011, Amazon released Kindle for Windows Phone 7.[58] In July 2011, Kindle for HP TouchPad (running under WebOS) was released in the US as beta.[59] At this writing (November 2011) Amazon has expressed no interest in releasing a similar application for Linux. In August 2011, Amazon released an HTML5 based webapp supporting Chrome and Safari Browser called Kindle Cloud Reader.

[RobertJasiek]

"Kindle for PC"

Ah, I did not know!

It does not make me happy though. I dislike using software from Amazon and using software for just a few files.

[RBerenguel]

Well, you can buy it and do something which is almost legal, removing DRM from your file and converting formats. I have not checked Kindle for PC, but the Mac version is quite a good reader (good, legible and smooth font)

[RBerenguel]

Btw, just bought my copy. Looking forward to reading it this afternoon

[RobertJasiek]

you can buy it and do something which is almost legal, removing DRM from your file and converting formats.

Uh, so there is DRM at all? Having to act semi-legally (if you are right) is also not nice. As a consumer, I do not want to feel like a permanent criminal. (That's why I do not buy BlueRay films.) As a consumer, I want to have the right to consume what I have bought in the way I want (when consuming for myself) and not only in the way the industry wants me to behave. - But it still means that I need an extra software just for a few files, and software from a company whose software I do not trust well. Besides I agree with what somebody has said: One should not support the commercial approach associated with Amazon Kindle and the implied monopol. (Amazon may be a nice company for other purposes, but it does not make proprietary formats any better.)

[Boidhre]

you can buy it and do something which is almost legal, removing DRM from your file and converting formats.

Uh, so there is DRM at all? Having to act semi-legally (if you are right) is also not nice. As a consumer, I do not want to feel like a permanent criminal. (That's why I do not buy BlueRay films.) As a consumer, I want to have the right to consume what I have bought in the way I want (when consuming for myself) and not only in the way the industry wants me to behave. - But it still means that I need an extra software just for a few files, and software from a company whose software I do not trust well. Besides I agree with what somebody has said: One should not support the commercial approach associated with Amazon Kindle and the implied monopol. (Amazon may be a nice company for other purposes, but it does not make proprietary formats any better.)

It's rather trivial to remove the DRM and convert to ePub or whatever you like for reading on your preferred device or platform. It's pretty common.

[RBerenguel]

you can buy it and do something which is almost legal, removing DRM from your file and converting formats.

Uh, so there is DRM at all? Having to act semi-legally (if you are right) is also not nice. As a consumer, I do not want to feel like a permanent criminal. (That's why I do not buy BlueRay films.) As a consumer, I want to have the right to consume what I have bought in the way I want (when consuming for myself) and not only in the way the industry wants me to behave. - But it still means that I need an extra software just for a few files, and software from a company whose software I do not trust well. Besides I agree with what somebody has said: One should not support the commercial approach associated with Amazon Kindle and the implied monopol. (Amazon may be a nice company for other purposes, but it does not make proprietary formats any better.)

It's rather trivial to remove the DRM and convert to ePub or whatever you like for reading on your preferred device or platform. It's pretty common.

As Boidhre says, it's quite easy to do. As for the legality, removing copy protection of legally purchased goods is not completely settled... But no lawyer would win a case against you (or me) for doing anything to your legally bought property, as long as you did not give it to anyone else.

As for the point of supporting Amazon's this and that... It's not exactly like publishing your papers in Elsevier. Amazon makes a s–t-ton of cash (dash added by me,) but ultimately the writer sets the price. They hold a monopoly? Yes, quite likely. But after all, all monopolies end up breaking. Wine was developed to clone Windows.

Publishing in a standard press has far higher markups. If I ever finish writing something (not by a lack of projects) I'm more likely to sell in Amazon than sell my own PDF for quite a lot of reasons (visibility, market share, creating paperbound book from it.) Even if I can typeset a nicer PDF file from it.

[Boidhre]

As Boidhre says, it's quite easy to do. As for the legality, removing copy protection of legally purchased goods is not completely settled... But no lawyer would win a case against you (or me) for doing anything to your legally bought property, as long as you did not give it to anyone else.

Indeed and I doubt anyone cares if I want to convert a Kindle file to ePub because I want to use a different reader. Or if someone with a Nook or whatever, wants access to the Kindle market but not buy a new e-reader like my wife for instance. Amazon and the author(s) get their money whether I convert or not so I really feel no guilt about it.

[tundra]

Indeed and I doubt anyone cares if I want to convert a Kindle file to ePub because I want to use a different reader. Or if someone with a Nook or whatever, wants access to the Kindle market but not buy a new e-reader like my wife for instance. Amazon and the author(s) get their money whether I convert or not so I really feel no guilt about it.

But if they don't care, why do they add DRM in the first place?

Having said that, if anyone knows how to convert these into pdf or djvu, I would certainly buy the kindle file.

[Boidhre]

Indeed and I doubt anyone cares if I want to convert a Kindle file to ePub because I want to use a different reader. Or if someone with a Nook or whatever, wants access to the Kindle market but not buy a new e-reader like my wife for instance. Amazon and the author(s) get their money whether I convert or not so I really feel no guilt about it.

But if they don't care, why do they add DRM in the first place?

Having said that, if anyone knows how to convert these into pdf or djvu, I would certainly buy the kindle file.

They add DRM because the average person on the street won't know how, won't be bothered or won't care to get around it. It doesn't stop serious piracy since it's easy to get around, similar to most DRM systems for games, but it stops casual piracy where two friends share ebooks with each other if neither is somewhat technical. Now in fairness to Amazon, you can read your Kindle books on a plethora of platforms and not just their (very reasonably priced) e-reader. So I'm not overly displeased with them. I think I've a right to consume media I buy in whatever format I choose, i.e. just as I can rip a CD to mp3 I should be able to convert .asw to .mobi, pdf or whatever so long as its for personal use.