You are probably aware of my thoughts on the recent geographic restrictions problem that has hit people who like to read eBooks and who, by no fault of their own, live outside the US. eReader and fictionwise is now a pointless resource for those of us who want to read new books and despite their claims that only 10% of eBooks are restricted (which I don’t believe for one moment) we simply cannot buy new eBooks worth reading anymore.
After a few months of not reading eBooks at all I took the plunge and purchased the Peter James app from iTunes for my iPhone. It costs £4.99 and you get 2 full eBooks plus exclusive extras and the ability to buy more books in the Roy Grace series. I wasn’t particularly interested in the extras, but just wanted to read something new and this seems worth the risk. And well worth the risk it was- so far I am heavily engrossed in book 1 of the series and am fully expecting to go through the next 5 books throughout the year ahead.
I am no fan of the way eBooks are sold on iTunes because some of them are very expensive. For example, The Lost Symbol by Dam Brown is £14.49 and the reviews suggest that the eReading experience is not that good. I can buy the hardback for £9.99 everywhere else. However, eBooks are practical and allow me to read whenever I like and so I will continue to read them albeit it at a premium. If the number of eBooks on iTunes grows then this will be my first port of call for future purchases and the likes of eReader will lose my business forever.
It is not just the fact that the restrictions are in place because I understand why they are there, but the fact that they never respond to questions about it, they have not bothered to make their sites usable by only allowing me to see books I can buy and they seem to have no interest in helping loyal customers who have purchased hundreds of books from them in the past. Once again, Apple sneaks in while others drop the ball…
The sad thing is that I’m not entirely sure if Apple’s doing any actual sneaking at all!
I totaly agree about eReader never responding to questions asked. I never did read it anywhere else (about this problem) so I thought that maybe I was the only one. I’ve asked them several questions and always received a nice ticket number but never anything else. I also have bought many books form them and also I say: NO MORE EREADER!