Borders Files for Bankruptcy, Will Continue to Sell eBooks
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Yesterday Borders filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a final attempt to save the company.
As part of the restructuring process, 30 percent of Borders retail stores will be closed, which equates to about 200 stores nationwide.
Borders will remain open for business, their rewards programs will continue to remain in effect, and the online store, including the ebook store powered by Kobo, will continue to operate as normal.
Even if Borders ultimately doesn’t come out of this, their ebooks and ebook store would essentially continue through Kobo, a completely independent company from Borders, so either way ebooks purchased in the past or future from Borders are safe—you don’t have to worry about them disappearing if Borders goes under, which we all hope doesn’t happen.
With all the retail stores closing down, clearance sales will probably start showing up really soon. Here’s a list via Publishers Weekly of all the Borders stores that are expected to close. There’s a possibility that as many as 75 more stores may be closed too.
Via: Publishers Weekly
Another example of why DRM is bad… I mean there should NEVER be a concern if you will still have access to a book you bought, regardless of the fate of the seller.
How many physical books would exist if they disappeared when the original publisher ceased to exist?
Sorry, just me spouting off.
Bruce: Not disputing your comment about DRM, but this isn’t a case that illustrates it. Borders e-books are Adobe EPUBs and will function just fine even if Borders goes away permanently.
As for re-downloadability, that has nothing to do with DRM. And in this case, Kobo has stated that they are ready to provide continuing re-download access to all e-book titles bought from Borders.
The websites of Borders are selling for $12. A Court hearing is scheduled to happen on December 20, 2011 where a judge will rule on what will happen with the websites. The sale of the websites will probably occur if ARIN consents to the sale.
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