No longer been able to download eBooks from books on board

[Ó Méith]

I recently tried to download some old Star Trek eBook’s that I bought years ago of booksonboard.com, when I tried to down load them I get this error.

“MobiPocket [PX] downloads are no longer available. We apologise for the inconvenience.”

I contacted their email support and got this reply:

Hello,

Thank you for shopping with BooksOnBoard. We are not denying you access to these files. This error indicates that the distributor for these files no longer sources these files to us. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but I am unable to establish these links. Please let us know if we may be of further assistance.

Regards,
Jack

BooksOnBoard Support"

I was wondering why this has happened, It was my understanding that eBook’s could be downloaded perpetually , not removed on the whim of the distributor, I have paid for these eBook’s and now have no access to them.

 

[Relayer1]

That sucks - it does, however, illustrate why the whole ebook thing is still a bit 'unseasoned'.

Until you own what you pay for and can get a guarantee of access to it, it'll remain dodgy.

I would say that BooksOnBoard probably have a legal responsibility to sort this out for you with the distributor. That's truly crap customer service !

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I'm not familiar with that eBook distributor. However, for most other eBooks you purchase, you don't actually own them. You just license them for your personal use. You're at the whim of the distributor and the publisher as to whether or not you can continue to access them.

 

[JD]

But I would think they would be required to provide you with the content that you paid for. It seems really crappy that they would wait until after you paid for the content to tell you you can't access it.

 

[Ó Méith]

Thank you for your posts regarding this matter.

I replied to the message they sent me explaining how I was not that impressed with their reply and received this message.

"Hi Sean,

Thank you for your reply. Amazon announced the discontinuation of the Mobipocket format back in January 2012. As a result, the distributors we work with have pulled all Mobipocket books from distribution, meaning they can no longer be purchased or downloaded. We still have a handful of non-DRM Mobipocket books available that we source ourselves, but the majority of Mobipocket books we used to have are now gone.

If you have any Mobipocket books in your order history that have not yet been downloaded from our site, we can either exchange those (if an alternative is available) or give you store credit for their value. Please let me know specifically which books have not been downloaded if any and I can take care of that as soon as possible. Unfortunately if the book has already been downloaded then we are unable to exchange. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

In regards to I, Claudius from order #288556, please follow these steps to enable download again:

1. Go to our website at http://www.booksonboard.com.
2. Click "Sign In" to log in with your username and password.
3. Click "My Account".
4. Click "Order History".
5. Locate the order containing the book you cannot download and click the green arrow icon next to it.
6. Click "Enter Missing Address Elements" on the book you wish to download.
7. Fill in the missing elements of your address in the template that appears.
8. Click "Save Changes".

Please note your address will need to be updated for each order you wish to download that is having this issue. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Regards,
Michael
BooksOnBoard Support"

Since I have already downloaded the book, I am debating whether to give up now or to struggle on.

 

[Ghel]

Welcome to reliance on the "cloud." This is precisely the reason why I download and back up everything. I will control my content thankyouverymuch!

 

[bfollowell]

Welcome to reliance on the "cloud." This is precisely the reason why I download and back up everything. I will control my content thankyouverymuch!

Same here. I immediately download to my computer, remove any drm and backup. I burn to DVD routinely. No more losing titles I paid hard-earned money for.

 

[Julio Angel Ortiz]

I'm not familiar with that eBook distributor. However, for most other eBooks you purchase, you don't actually own them. You just license them for your personal use. You're at the whim of the distributor and the publisher as to whether or not you can continue to access them.

*cough*That's why I remove the DRM*cough*

 

[Ó Méith]

In the end I did contact them again, saying that they made no attempt to tell me that these eBooks would no longer be available, and consequently no chance to back them up before they were removed. It seems that when pushed hard enough they will give way.

"Hi Sean,

Thank you for your reply. This issue has been reviewed and here's what we will do. According to the catalog, we no longer have the following books in any format: Star Trek: TNG: Q & A, Star Trek: TNG: The Sky's the Limit: Book 1, and Star Trek: TNG: The Insolence of Office, therefore I have credited your account with the purchase price of these books in Rewards Dollars, which can be used on future purchases.

We do have ePub versions of Star Trek: Enterprise: Kobayashi Maru and Star Trek: Destiny #3: Lost Souls, so I have exchanged those books to that format. You can download these at any time from your Bookshelf using Adobe Digital Editions as normal. I've also exchanged the distributor for I, Claudius and tested it to make sure it works, so you should be able to download that one now as well.

I apologize for any inconvenience caused by Amazon discontinuing the Mobipocket format. Please let me know if you have any other questions and I will be happy to assist.

Regards,
Michael
BooksOnBoard Support"

If I left some of my physical books in storage and they were removed by the owner of the storage without my notice or permission would that be not classed as stealing? Why should digital property be seen as any different and don’t get me started on DRM.

 

[iarann]

I immediately download to my computer, remove any drm and backup. I burn to DVD routinely. No more losing titles I paid hard-earned money for.

Just a heads up, DVDs wear out, mostly only lasting 5-10 years. Make sure you regularly upgrade or reduplicate your backups.

 

[Ian Keldon]

Buy physical books. They can't take THOSE away.

 

[JD]

Yeah, but they can be damaged or lost.

 

[zarkon]

Yeah, but they can be damaged or lost.

yes, but at least it's then your responsibility. you don't have to rely on companies to do a job that over the last ten years they have been pretty poor at doing.

 

[JD]

Good point.