Microsoft’s eBook Store to Close, Taking Your Books With It

While you’re bragging about how many eBooks you own, a move from Microsoft may serve as a stark reminder that you don’t own anything that isn’t physical. Because this week, Microsoft’s eBook store has announced that they are closing and they are taking all the books with it! even if microsoft is going to declare ms office 2016 product key, it won’t make much difference.

To soften the blow to readers Microsoft has promised to refund customers who bought books through the store, but the story shows that while eBook users may think they own the books they buy, that isn’t true at all in fact they are just buying access to the book. This fact is quite painful to consider when you think that eBooks can often cost almost as much as their physical counterparts and leaves the entire industry with a big question mark over it.

It seems in the days of ‘always online’ rules of ownership are more akin to the Goblin rules of ownership than what we are used to (Harry Potter fans will understand), in that you are only guardian of something and never truly own it. It’s not just books either, this goes for all digital purchases, which could be snatched away at any moment.

Microsoft were never one of the big eBook publishers, something that can probably be shown by how readily they refunded everyone’s eBook purchases. Kindle now have the market pretty much sewn up, but nothing is secure forever and even if you think Amazon’s Kindle market is strong, it could be snatched away at any moment as you only ever lease digital purchases.

While many discuss the differences, benefits and downfalls of eBooks over physical books, should Waterstones or Borders go to the wall, you could hardly imagine a book bailiff banging your door insisting you return the physical books you purchased because your local bookshop closed down.

But this is the situation that tech companies have created, making you think you own the 3,000 books on your device, when actually you only paid for the license to read them, and you often paid as much as you would for a physical book. We often hear people talk of how big their eBook library is, but with this information is it any more yours than the books in the public library? The only difference is you paid for them, quite substantially.