Answers.Body: <p>I'd like to second Monicas advice, not to send the same content multiple times to avoid unused data transmissions especially on mobile advices.</p>
  
  <p>But alongside of not developing a whole registration and login system I would still recommend you to simply generate persistent download pages for your customers.</p>
  
  <p>But to prevent your download pages mutate to popular honey pots, I would implement a rather simple concept which is also used by lonely planet for example: Each file is limited to a maximum of 5 downloads - allowing the user to easily repeat the download when anything went wrong or even to retrieve the files years after the actual purchase. An important factor is that you clearly communicate display this behaviour to the user in such a way that the user is always aware of the remaining number of downloads. You are still free to reset the download counter for individual cases on request.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-04-27T19:49:15.433Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2015-04-27T19:49:15.433Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Daniel
Answers.Body: <p>Baen Books has an interface that I find works well (as a consumer).  When you buy a book -- or if it's one of their free books -- you get a download page with links for all the formats they support.  Here's an <a href="http://www.baenebooks.com/showproduct.aspx?ProductID=379&amp;SEName=1632" rel="nofollow">example</a> from their free library (so this link should work for everybody).  The page is persistent; if I buy a book from them and download, say, the Kindle format, and later I want to read it on a Nook, I can just go back to the page and download that format.  This does mean that users have to create accounts (to track this), but (a) you can make that lightweight and (b) you might have done that to support the purchase anyway.</p>
  
  <p>I would advise against sending all formats in a bundle.  For the phone case, in addition to the problem of users not knowing how to unpack it, you're sending several times the volume of data the person actually needed, which could annoy people with lower-usage data plans or frequent purchases.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-01-14T16:25:45.133Z
Answers.Text: If the link only works if the user is signed in, then it's only a honeypot to the extent that your user decides to share.  But you already had that risk.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Monica Cellio
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-01-14T16:33:54.833Z
Answers.Text: Oh, I didn't realize it was a small-scale operation.  In that case, you may be best off with short-lived download links.  As for signup, if you support OpenID or only require a name and password (you don't need anything else), that's pretty light-weight.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Monica Cellio
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-04-29T09:04:27.607Z
Answers.Text: @porton what happens if the buyer wants to download the book again e.g. if his phone is stolen?
Answers.UserDisplayName: mmmmmm
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-01-14T16:16:12.070Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2015-01-14T16:16:12.070Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Monica Cellio
Body: <p>I am going to sell my e-book in delivering it to every buyer in several formats (HTML, PDF, .doc), suitable both for PC and for smartphones.</p>
  
  <p>How should I deliver it: by email or by a temporary Web link? (Email is probably somehow easier to program for the programmer.)</p>
  
  <p>Is it OK to send all files packed into a .zip file? I am afraid that some users (especially of smartphones) may not know how to unpack .zip.</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2015-01-26T23:35:32.370Z
Comments.Text: Agreed, I think this would fit better on the ebooks site; sending it there.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Goodbye Stack Exchange
Tags: <sales>
Title: Format and media of e-book delivery
UserDisplayName: porton
ThreadText: # Format and media of e-book delivery
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2015-01-14)
  
  I am going to sell my e-book in delivering it to every buyer in several formats (HTML, PDF, .doc), suitable both for PC and for smartphones.
  
  How should I deliver it: by email or by a temporary Web link? (Email is probably somehow easier to program for the programmer.)
  
  Is it OK to send all files packed into a .zip file? I am afraid that some users (especially of smartphones) may not know how to unpack .zip.
  
  **Tags:** sales
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Agreed, I think this would fit better on the ebooks site; sending it there.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2015-04-27. Score: 1
  
  I'd like to second Monicas advice, not to send the same content multiple times to avoid unused data transmissions especially on mobile advices.
  
  But alongside of not developing a whole registration and login system I would still recommend you to simply generate persistent download pages for your customers.
  
  But to prevent your download pages mutate to popular honey pots, I would implement a rather simple concept which is also used by lonely planet for example: Each file is limited to a maximum of 5 downloads - allowing the user to easily repeat the download when anything went wrong or even to retrieve the files years after the actual purchase. An important factor is that you clearly communicate display this behaviour to the user in such a way that the user is always aware of the remaining number of downloads. You are still free to reset the download counter for individual cases on request.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2015-01-14. Score: 1
  
  Baen Books has an interface that I find works well (as a consumer). When you buy a book -- or if it's one of their free books -- you get a download page with links for all the formats they support. Here's an [example](http://www.baenebooks.com/showproduct.aspx?ProductID=379&SEName=1632) from their free library (so this link should work for everybody). The page is persistent; if I buy a book from them and download, say, the Kindle format, and later I want to read it on a Nook, I can just go back to the page and download that format. This does mean that users have to create accounts (to track this), but (a) you can make that lightweight and (b) you might have done that to support the purchase anyway.
  
  I would advise against sending all formats in a bundle. For the phone case, in addition to the problem of users not knowing how to unpack it, you're sending several times the volume of data the person actually needed, which could annoy people with lower-usage data plans or frequent purchases.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_3**: If the link only works if the user is signed in, then it's only a honeypot to the extent that your user decides to share.  But you already had that risk.  
  > **username_3**: Oh, I didn't realize it was a small-scale operation.  In that case, you may be best off with short-lived download links.  As for signup, if you support OpenID or only require a name and password (you don't need anything else), that's pretty light-weight.  
  > **username_4**: @username_0 what happens if the buyer wants to download the book again e.g. if his phone is stolen?  
  
  ---
  
  