Books

[RevM]

When I buy a real book I get a nicely produced and printed item. It looks good on my bookshelf and reminds me that I own it. It is a joy. AND I can read it in my study, my living room, my kitchen, my bedroom, or anywhere I choose to take it. I can also lend it out to people who can also read it wherever they like.

 

However ...

When I buy an eBook on Accordance for the same money I get nothing physical, just the text of the book. Very useful yes, indexing to texts etc. makes it arguably more useful than a physical book. But, I can only read it in Accordance. I cannot read it on a eInk eReader (Kindle) and, more to the point, I cannot use it in other Bible software (in my case Logos). Nor can I lend the book to anyone. I know this is something to do with copright restrictions. But why? I've paid for the book, let me use it! Some years ago there was the STEP standard which aimed to make etexts transportable. Why has this died?

 

I find this situation deeply frustrating and a real barrier to investing eBooks.

 

Mark

[ukfraser]

Mark, i hear you but am virtually the opposite to you.

 

I can read my library on my phone, tablet or computer even when im waiting unexpectedly in a coffee shop.

When i buy a book in accordance, i can search it and am not restricted to an index and the hyperlinking just takes their resources to another level, particularly for lexicons and dictionaries.

I find the ipad so much more convenient to read on due to its size and the fact that im not fighting a spine. Also it is so easy to change between translations, original languages or resources to compare that i dont need to be at a desk with multiple volumes spread out, each one randomly changing from the relevant pages i originally opened them to.
If im in a group or discussion, i have my useful library with me so i can quickly look something up which i couldnt with physical book sitting at home on my book shelf. 
i can also change the font and the size of the font making it much easier to read. 
 

granted i can not lend it so we have retained or do buy a few duplicates in accordance and as hard copy.

But with the loss of so many descent bookshops, i am kept better informed on the forum of relevant titles so dont miss browsing so much. I bought a couple of nivac commentaries on kindle when they were on offer but the formatting made them unusable so i only tend to buy novels in kindle these days. 

 

I would never have been able to get wbc in hard copy so am so thankful for the accordance sales. but ive virtually stopped buying books now and am even prepared to wait till accordance gets it. (Jewish annotated Apocrypha  is at the top of my list.)

 

;o) 

Edited October 13, 2022 by ukfraser

[Abram K-J]

2 hours ago, RevM said:

When I buy an eBook on Accordance for the same money I get nothing physical, just the text of the book. Very useful yes, indexing to texts etc. makes it arguably more useful than a physical book. But, I can only read it in Accordance. I cannot read it on a eInk eReader (Kindle) and, more to the point, I cannot use it in other Bible software (in my case Logos). Nor can I lend the book to anyone.

 

This is, of course, not unique to Accordance. You can't read a Kindle book in Logos, or a book you purchased through Apple Books on a Kindle reader. 

 

Sometimes publishers are generous with their licensing. E.g., if I buy an ebook straight from the publisher's Website (IVP, for example, or at least it used to be this way), I would have access to both an .epub and .mobi version, so could read in both Apple Books (formerly iBooks) and Kindle. But not also Accordance, Logos, Olive Tree, etc., because they all add their own markup to a text, which costs them money.

 

2 hours ago, RevM said:

I've paid for the book, let me use it!

 

This is the crux of the issue. When you buy a print book, you've actually bought the book. But when you buy an ebook (no matter what format or from what vendor), you've only bought a license to that book. I guess you are aware of this, but it has at least helped me reframe my expectations of ebooks over the years, to realize I'm buying a license.

[RevM]

I get all these points, but I still can't help feeling the restrictions are unnecessary and restrictive. What do i do if:

1. Accordance goes out of business (may it never happen!)?

2. I want to use Logos books in an Accordance study (or vice versa)?

3. I want to give one of my books (licenses) to someone else, having finished with it?

4. I want to bequeath my library to my son in my will?

[Andrew Patterson]

41 minutes ago, RevM said:

I get all these points, but I still can't help feeling the restrictions are unnecessary and restrictive. What do i do if:

1. Accordance goes out of business (may it never happen!)?

2. I want to use [The Competition] books in an Accordance study (or vice versa)?

3. I want to give one of my books (licenses) to someone else, having finished with it?

4. I want to bequeath my library to my son in my will?

 

2. Why would Accordance (or The Competition, for that matter) want to subsidize the purchase of competing software?

3. This is a legitimate sacrifice for digital files that you make for the lower cost and space saved. I really feel you on this one. Similarly, you cannot sell books you don't like.

[ukfraser]

3&4 there is a mechanism to transfer licences. Please see this page

 

https://accordancebible.com/legal-information/#transfer

 

 

i also hope my daughter will use my library one day. 
 

 

 

having been involved in clearing physical libraries of readers and ministers, especially books that are over twenty years old, there are very few who want them due to paper and binding deterioration.

[Steven S]

1 hour ago, RevM said:

1. Accordance goes out of business (may it never happen!)?

 

One possibility here is the use of virtual machines. I'm still enjoying software written in the 1980s (by a company now defunct) for 8-bit hardware (also by a company now defunct). In a more serious vein, at my last job, we ran mission-critical software from a company that went out of business in 1994 for hardware that was no longer produced after 2006 in a virtual machine for about six years before we finally rewrote the software so it could run on contemporary hardware. I presume a similar solution could be used for Accordance if active development ever ceased (and as evidenced by the fact that multiple forum users are already doing this today).

[Abram K-J]

11 minutes ago, Steven S said:

 

One possibility here is the use of virtual machines. I'm still enjoying software written in the 1980s (by a company now defunct) for 8-bit hardware (also by a company now defunct). In a more serious vein, at my last job, we ran mission-critical software from a company that went out of business in 1994 for hardware that was no longer produced after 2006 in a virtual machine for about six years before we finally rewrote the software so it could run on contemporary hardware. I presume a similar solution could be used for Accordance if active development ever ceased (and as evidenced by the fact that multiple forum users are already doing this today).

 

I remember that when BibleWorks (RIP) stopped active development a few years ago, a number of users recommended they make their code open source. Didn't happen, likely not to happen.

[Schulschlus]

I think you can also export text from accordance as a pdf and then read it on a kindle. It is not quite the same as a kindle book, but I think I played around with it a while ago.

[Erhard]

On 10/21/2022 at 2:18 PM, Abram K-J said:

I remember that when BibleWorks (RIP) stopped active development a few years ago, a number of users recommended they make their code open source. Didn't happen, likely not to happen.

At least so far, BW still works on both Windows 10 and 11.