Should Amazon buy Calibre?
Amazon is an empire.
It’s not just that they have sites Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the USA.
You may think of them just for Amazon.com (and those other country sites).
However, they are a lot more than that.
It’s not just Amazon Web Services.
It’s those other non-Amazon branded sites they own, including:
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IMDb (Internet Movie Database), one of the very best movie/TV information sites on the web
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Audible.com
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Shelfari
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Zappos
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Woot
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Lovefilm
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Mobipocket
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Joyo
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CreateSpace
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Box Office Mojo
and others.
It’s important to note that the above sites were acquisitions.
Amazon didn’t develop them initially…it bought them.
Calibre is not an empire.
Like many of the sites above, it is a home-grown destination with a great reputation.
Reputation for what?
E-book management.
There are lots of things that it does that Kindle owners would appreciate.
How do I know?
Kindle owners recommend it quite often in the Amazon Kindle community.
Some of the features:
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Easy conversion from one e-book format to another (those without DRM, Digital Rights Management)
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Library management
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News feeds
It works well.
It’s not always the most user-friendly in its explanations (neither is Amazon, honestly, but Amazon is better)…but it has close to three million users in 200 countries, so that’s not stopping everybody. 
Calibre (pronounced like “caliber”, even though the “libre” part is from “freedom”) provides a solution for many concerns people have with Kindle management.
If it was integrated with Amazon, that would presumably allow your Kindle books to be automatically managed by Calibre, if you chose
I have no doubt that it would be a big plus for Amazon, and a big plus for Kindleers.
What about the impact on Calibre?
Well, it would a considerable shift…and not one to which they would agree lightly.
Kovid Goyal has said on the site:
“…one of my goals has always been to prevent either the fragmentation or the monopolization of the e-book market by entities that care solely for short-term goals.”
While Amazon is arguably not just interested in short-term goals (you don’t spend as much time as they did not making money on a site, or sell bestsellers below cost if you don’t have a longer view), I suspect being owned by a huge corporation might not be the first choice. 
When I use IMDb, I see very little influence from Amazon. Some, but not much.
Could the same be true with Calibre?
My guess? Some deal could probably be reached. There would have to be increased integration with Amazon, and they might need to remove this “fight DRM” page:
http://drmfree.calibre-ebook.com/about#drm
That doesn’t mean that Calibre couldn’t be used with e-books you got other places, or that it would even be obviously branded as Amazon.
Amazon already directs people to e-book collections outside of its own shop, and Kindle apps can be used on a wide variety of devices. While there used to be the idea put out there by some people that Amazon was a closed ecosystem, I (and many others) read things from other places on our Kindles frequently. Amazon owned CDNow while it was selling CDs on its own site, I believe.
I know it’s not up to us, and Calibre may already have been approached and declined.
I also presume many of you would think this is a really bad idea, that you like the idea of extra-corporate entities. Hey, one of my favorite magazines used to carry the subtitle, “Still not a part of AOL Time Warner”.
This does seem like a good match, though. If you are going to influence how people read e-books, having the power of Amazon involved gives you a boost. Of course, a boost isn’t always good…steering a rocket is a lot harder than steering a tricycle.
Anyway, I’m just musing…feel free to tell me what you think.
This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog.
April 28, 2011 at 2:35 am |
I don’t know as though I like this idea. If Amazon bought Calibre, it would likely no longer remain a freeware application. I love my Kindle, and I love Calibre, too. But I wouldn’t be so keen on paying for the program when I have so many other things my money needs to go to. It would be a shame to lose Calibre to the paid software route.
April 28, 2011 at 2:41 am |
Thanks for writing, Erika!
Oh, I don’t think it would become a purchased program! IMDb didn’t change, I don’t think…there is a premium option, but I think that was there before.
This would so much more tie people into the Kindle (and thereby Amazon), that, just as Amazon doesn’t charge for
http://kindle.amazon.com
I don’t think you’d pay for this.
April 28, 2011 at 6:53 am |
This could be good: calibre is a very useful programme, and Kovid does a great job, but it could be even better with more programming input, I suspect, especially for the Mac, on which it’s amazingly slow to load.
It might also mean that Amazon addressed one of the biggest drawbacks of the Kindle, which is its clunky “collections” system. Being able to organise the library in calibre and have it show up like that on the Kindle would be great.
April 28, 2011 at 11:58 am |
Thanks for writing, Bruce!
I agree.
I don’t think it’s likely to happen in the near future, but being able to create your Collections on your computer is something people want…and Amazon wouldn’t have to develop it separately.
April 28, 2011 at 11:24 am |
Here’s what I like about Calibre:
Free (although you can, and I did, donate)
Ease of use
File conversion
Open source
Plugins, tweaks, and customizations
Amazingly fast responses to questions and requests
Frequent updates
All thanks to Kovid Goyal and the Calibre team, it’s a great program.
How much of that do you think we’d still have available if Amazon controlled Calibre?
April 28, 2011 at 12:08 pm |
Thanks for writing, KM!
I agree with you: Kovid and the Calibre team are great!
How much of it would we have if Amazon controlled it? Pretty much everything you’ve listed there, I think. Much of it aligns with what Amazon already does.
Free (although you can, and I did, donate) [We get Kindle.Amazon.com for free, 5 GB free of cloud storage]
Ease of use [Reading on the Kindle is easy, but that's why they would buy Calibre, to make the other parts easy]
File conversion [Already available for several file types (for free) on the Kindle...this would expand an existing roster]
Open source [This might go away, with an API instead like they do for the Amazon website...hard to say]
Plugins, tweaks, and customizations [Tougher one to say: we could customize sleep mode pictures on the K1, but this is where we might see more lockdown]
Amazingly fast responses to questions and requests [Hallmark of Amazon's highly-rated Customer Service...love that "have them call you" feature, where my phone rings in seconds and I talk to someone within a minute]
Frequent updates [We've gotten several updates on our Kindles since I've owned them...frequent might not be entirely accurate, but the changes are bigger with Amazon, I think. The capabilities have been greatly expanced over time, though]
Generally, I don’t think the experience would change much…Amazon isn’t known for buyiing a site and messing it up.
Let me revise that a bit: I don’t think the experience for users of the program would change much (maybe some advantages, like direct import of Kindle store purchases), but it might change for developers, with less of a Wild West environment. That would mean less innovation, and less risk.
April 28, 2011 at 6:26 pm |
I think it’s a horrible idea. Probably the first thing Amazon would do would make various plugins ineffective. I don’t share my files, but I break DRM in order to maintain accessible backups of my books.
Amazon doesn’t *have* to own the entire media universe.
April 28, 2011 at 7:45 pm |
Thanks for writing, anon!
I figured some people would feel that way…I appreciate you expressing it.
Breaking the DRM (Digital Rights Management) is generally illegal, although there are circumstances (including the accessibility issue in the case of an e-book being published with no “read aloud” capability in any edition) where exceptions are designated by the US copyright office. Since those exception exist, it is legal for Calbre to provide the plug-in, basically…but if the plug-ins contradicted Amazon’s Terms of Service (which can legally be more restrictive than the law), Amazon might change what is allowed.
I always like to see different opinions.
I also like to see competition…you’ll see me write nice things about the NOOK from time to time.
I just like to kick around hypotheticals…consider the pluses and minuses.
Thanks again!
May 6, 2011 at 5:43 am |
I was going to reply to this when you first posted, but then “things” intervened. I wonder whether Kovid would sell. He recently got his PhD from Caltech, and I seem to recall he took a job with some entity in NM (perhaps Sandia or Los Alamos?), but then I thought I recalled a podcast interview where he said Calibre is “all” he was doing. He has very firm views, and I’m not sure Amazon’s interests are congruent with his.
BTW, I recently learned the “correct” pronunciation. I’ve always thought it was “koolibre” — accent on the “koo” — always gives me the mental image of rum and coke
. I’m not sure I like “caliber” — too much the mental image of guns for me.
Anyhow, my main reason for replying at this late date was this WSJ article:
http://www.emailthis.clickability.com/et/emailThis?clickMap=viewThis&etMailToID=1567102402
which takes a different tack on acquisitions Amazon should pursue (Sony or Netflix). Also some interesting thoughts on the strategic business decisions facing Amazon going forward. Don’t have much of an opinion on this — just wish they would announce the darn tablet already!
May 6, 2011 at 12:42 pm |
Thanks for writing again, Edward!
For me, the “caliber” pronounciation suggests strength, power (as in being of “high calibre”). However, in my head, I do pronounce it as “cah-LEE-bray”, because I saw the “libre” part as Spanish (“free”).
I think Kovid’s natural, immediate response would be a very loud NO! It’s just a question of balancing the possible futures…and what sort of guarantees of behavior he could get.
I’m flinching at Amazon buying Netflix, because I like Netflix the way it is. I also think Amazon doesn’t need their infrastructure…Amazon can do the streaming and the DVDs (for as long as that’s going to last) without buying Netflix.
Sony seems like a very odd choice. I suppose they could just buy parts of it, but when I hear Sony I think hardware. While Amazon has done very well with the Kindle and I thnk they could do great with a tablet, I don’t think they are designed to manage the marketing and servicing of a wide variety of hardware. Where Netflix is nimble, I see Sony as having a lot of inertia.
Could Amazon buy a movie studio or TV network? I could see that…those are content companies, and while Sony has that it’s only part of the picture. Buy Sony Pictures? Maybe. Make VAIOs? That seems like a difficult fit.