Amazon Removes E-Books From Kindle Store, Revokes Ownership
On July 18th Amazon removed George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm from its Kindle e-book store. The company also went ahead and removed any digital trace of the books, too-striking them from both users' digital lockers and from Kindle devices. This disturbing, Orwellian move underscores how, in spite of comments otherwise, a purchase in the digital realm can't be compared to physical ownership of content. I've long considered digital more ephemeral than the physical. It is why I still, for artists I enjoy, purchase the physical CD of an album. It is why I prefer to purchase DVDs and Blu-ray Discs, as opposed to relying on the possibly here-today, gone-tomorrow offerings of electronic distribution. Why my advocacy of the physical? It certainly isn't because I enjoy storing it, that much I can tell you. It's because I have access to it when I want it, where I want it. I don't have to worry about content going out-of-print, nor do I need to keep track of wh...