4 ms·

I like not having to make room for all of my books in my house, but when you can't access the book you bought, that kind of makes the whole thing not work. I ha

I like not having to make room for all of my books in my house, but when you can't access the book you bought, that kind of makes the whole thing not work. I have bought hundreds of ebooks, but I still am uncomfortable with not really owning them. I de-drm my books so B&N can't just take them back (without a refund) whenever they feel like it, but it sucks that you have to break the rules just to have any rights to your own purchases. On another note, I like to go to B&N to browse and just hang out. The last time I was there, the coffee shop lady hassled me. It was a very unpleasant experience. I heard from a friend of mine that she had the same experience. Apparently, if they see you there and not spending enough money, they start harassing you. Ironically, I was in the process of buying a book on my laptop when she came by to inform me that I needed to make a purchase if I wanted to keep using the internet there. Were they going to kick me out if I didn't buy coffee? I was only there for my lunch break, so I never found out. I think in the future, I'll just go to Starbucks where they still leave me in peace.

techrat 12y ago
>The last time I was there, the coffee shop lady hassled me. It was a very unpleasant experience. I heard from a friend of mine that she had the same experience. Apparently, if they see you there and not spending enough money, they start harassing you. I'll take "Things that will make me spend even less money in that store" for $800, Alex. Between this and shuttering DRM based services after promising you can buy the tracks you love, etc... I really have to wonder why companies haven't stopped and asked themselves why what they are doing isn't working. Nah, it can't be us, they'll think... so let's double down on the restrictions, pressure selling tactics and blame the dirty pirates when our bottom line continues to slip. Meanwhile, those dirty pirates aren't dealing with any of this bullshit.
- VLM 12y ago
  "those dirty pirates" There is an interesting analogy between "dirty pirates" and teens in malls. Pretty much everyone younger than myself has had the experience of mall security severely hassling them as a teen or even as a young adult, pretty much just because their rentacops have a license to be jerks. Well, here I am a rather well paid dude with fat stacks of cash, but the mall doesn't want my type there, so it never even appears on the radar anymore. Malls are dead to anyone younger than perhaps 40. Not surprisingly they're generally not doing so well financially. Lots of dead / dying malls across the country. If a company hates their primary and future customers enough, eventually those customers WILL go away permanently. With B+N it might be location based or racial harassment etc because my screaming little kids (is there any other kind?) and I shop there and they don't mess with me. Then again I pass for a non-minority middle aged reasonably well dressed middle class dude. I suspect that is the key to their unwritten harassment policies.
  - leephillips 12y ago
    "the mall doesn't want my type there" What happens when you go to the mall? What type are you? I sometimes visited malls while under 40 and I never got hassled, so I'm curious.
    - VLM 12y ago
      What I'm getting at is perhaps 20 years ago there was hysteria about teens in malls being disruptive / troublemakers therefore rentacops to chase them away so the financially valuable moms and dads can shop in peace and comfort. I knew about the crackdown so I never even bothered going to the mall as a teen. As a young adult at lunch hour at my first real job, a business formal suit and tie establishment, I bought some nice expensive clothes, walking thru the mall to my car after obviously shopping at my lunch (I took off the sports coat of my business suit) and got severely hassled by a rentacop about what I'm doing there and where are my parents, etc. Pretty much like I heard they treat teens except they didn't call the cops and issue a loitering ticket to me. Never went back there again. The long term problem with treating teens like dirt, is they eventually grow up into adults some of which have fat stacks of cash and would make fantastic customers, however there's no way in hell they're ever going back to that place again. It appears mall security was very effective there. Nothing left in there but urbanware clothing, tennis shoes, cell phones, and really cheap jewelry left. Its not that the neighborhood has done downhill, can't count how many million dollar condos within a mile.
- GrinningFool 12y ago
  " I really have to wonder why companies haven't stopped and asked themselves why what they are doing isn't working." That's the problem. These are the conclusions they're reaching after they ask that question - which hints that they're having problems before enacting these policies, which lead to these policies. (Which will only make things worse...)
jeremymcanally 12y ago
That must be one really dumb employee at your particular store. I use their Internet without making purchases for hours at a time pretty often and no one says a word to me. I buy a good bit of stuff from there on other occasions, so I don't feel bad about it, but I've never been hassled or anything by their coffee shop folks. I'd report them to their manager if I were you. They're costing the store money.
- niels_olson 12y ago
  My experience with that tactic has been that if every seat is full (e.g. Saturday at 11 am in a university town), and a paying customer with no seat complains there are obviously non-paying students reading books clearly not from B$N, then they'll ask the person least likely to fuss to move.
  - JackFr 12y ago
    Indeed. Most of the Cafe areas in B&N's have a specific sign that the seating is for those buying food and coffee. Typically there is seating elsewhere in the store for just sitting and reading. If the Cafe area is full, and you are not buying, or have not bought food or coffee, you are preventing them from selling it.
ctdonath 12y ago
Of note from the blog: This ensured that my books would be available even when I didn't have a network connection (as happened yesterday during a wind storm which cut the power to the DSLAM which connects me to the internet). The thought of being unable to read a purchased ebook on the seller's reader just because I don't have an internet connection is preposterous. I'm most likely to read ebooks exactly when I _don't_!
- robk 12y ago
  You can immediately sync it to your device when you purchase. But of course that requires you remembering to do it. Annoying, but if you're online to purchase you can sync to device then as well.
  - eclipsor 12y ago
    I'm not sure there's a way for B&N to revoke titles either. The DRM seems to just be keyed off of Name and Credit Card Number. I may be a minority, but I have several hundred titles that fit with room to spare on one of the later gen Nooks. Now as far as getting an actual file.... Maybe you'll just have to get a first gen Nook. Surely the desktop application stores an epub locally at some point though?
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
waylandsmithers 12y ago
I actually bought a few books at B&N just now. I enjoy the experience of browsing and being able to flip through a book before actually buying it. Is it worth paying 50% (in this case) more than Amazon? I don't know, but I would prefer that real bookstores exist for at least a little longer. Of course, while paying, I had to say no three separate times to joining whatever club or credit card they try to pressure you into, thus completely ruining an otherwise pleasant experience and making me question why I ever go there anymore.

techrat 12y ago

>The last time I was there, the coffee shop lady hassled me. It was a very unpleasant experience. I heard from a friend of mine that she had the same experience. Apparently, if they see you there and not spending enough money, they start harassing you. I'll take "Things that will make me spend even less money in that store" for $800, Alex. Between this and shuttering DRM based services after promising you can buy the tracks you love, etc... I really have to wonder why companies haven't stopped and asked themselves why what they are doing isn't working. Nah, it can't be us, they'll think... so let's double down on the restrictions, pressure selling tactics and blame the dirty pirates when our bottom line continues to slip. Meanwhile, those dirty pirates aren't dealing with any of this bullshit.

VLM 12y ago
"those dirty pirates" There is an interesting analogy between "dirty pirates" and teens in malls. Pretty much everyone younger than myself has had the experience of mall security severely hassling them as a teen or even as a young adult, pretty much just because their rentacops have a license to be jerks. Well, here I am a rather well paid dude with fat stacks of cash, but the mall doesn't want my type there, so it never even appears on the radar anymore. Malls are dead to anyone younger than perhaps 40. Not surprisingly they're generally not doing so well financially. Lots of dead / dying malls across the country. If a company hates their primary and future customers enough, eventually those customers WILL go away permanently. With B+N it might be location based or racial harassment etc because my screaming little kids (is there any other kind?) and I shop there and they don't mess with me. Then again I pass for a non-minority middle aged reasonably well dressed middle class dude. I suspect that is the key to their unwritten harassment policies.
- leephillips 12y ago
  "the mall doesn't want my type there" What happens when you go to the mall? What type are you? I sometimes visited malls while under 40 and I never got hassled, so I'm curious.
  - VLM 12y ago
    What I'm getting at is perhaps 20 years ago there was hysteria about teens in malls being disruptive / troublemakers therefore rentacops to chase them away so the financially valuable moms and dads can shop in peace and comfort. I knew about the crackdown so I never even bothered going to the mall as a teen. As a young adult at lunch hour at my first real job, a business formal suit and tie establishment, I bought some nice expensive clothes, walking thru the mall to my car after obviously shopping at my lunch (I took off the sports coat of my business suit) and got severely hassled by a rentacop about what I'm doing there and where are my parents, etc. Pretty much like I heard they treat teens except they didn't call the cops and issue a loitering ticket to me. Never went back there again. The long term problem with treating teens like dirt, is they eventually grow up into adults some of which have fat stacks of cash and would make fantastic customers, however there's no way in hell they're ever going back to that place again. It appears mall security was very effective there. Nothing left in there but urbanware clothing, tennis shoes, cell phones, and really cheap jewelry left. Its not that the neighborhood has done downhill, can't count how many million dollar condos within a mile.
GrinningFool 12y ago
" I really have to wonder why companies haven't stopped and asked themselves why what they are doing isn't working." That's the problem. These are the conclusions they're reaching after they ask that question - which hints that they're having problems before enacting these policies, which lead to these policies. (Which will only make things worse...)

jeremymcanally 12y ago

That must be one really dumb employee at your particular store. I use their Internet without making purchases for hours at a time pretty often and no one says a word to me. I buy a good bit of stuff from there on other occasions, so I don't feel bad about it, but I've never been hassled or anything by their coffee shop folks. I'd report them to their manager if I were you. They're costing the store money.

niels_olson 12y ago
My experience with that tactic has been that if every seat is full (e.g. Saturday at 11 am in a university town), and a paying customer with no seat complains there are obviously non-paying students reading books clearly not from B$N, then they'll ask the person least likely to fuss to move.
- JackFr 12y ago
  Indeed. Most of the Cafe areas in B&N's have a specific sign that the seating is for those buying food and coffee. Typically there is seating elsewhere in the store for just sitting and reading. If the Cafe area is full, and you are not buying, or have not bought food or coffee, you are preventing them from selling it.

ctdonath 12y ago

Of note from the blog: This ensured that my books would be available even when I didn't have a network connection (as happened yesterday during a wind storm which cut the power to the DSLAM which connects me to the internet). The thought of being unable to read a purchased ebook on the seller's reader just because I don't have an internet connection is preposterous. I'm most likely to read ebooks exactly when I _don't_!

robk 12y ago
You can immediately sync it to your device when you purchase. But of course that requires you remembering to do it. Annoying, but if you're online to purchase you can sync to device then as well.
- eclipsor 12y ago
  I'm not sure there's a way for B&N to revoke titles either. The DRM seems to just be keyed off of Name and Credit Card Number. I may be a minority, but I have several hundred titles that fit with room to spare on one of the later gen Nooks. Now as far as getting an actual file.... Maybe you'll just have to get a first gen Nook. Surely the desktop application stores an epub locally at some point though?

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

waylandsmithers 12y ago

I actually bought a few books at B&N just now. I enjoy the experience of browsing and being able to flip through a book before actually buying it. Is it worth paying 50% (in this case) more than Amazon? I don't know, but I would prefer that real bookstores exist for at least a little longer. Of course, while paying, I had to say no three separate times to joining whatever club or credit card they try to pressure you into, thus completely ruining an otherwise pleasant experience and making me question why I ever go there anymore.