I’ve recently bought several ebooks – well, more than several, but who’s counting – where this has happened.
Me: *looking, looking* *cover! author! blurb! excerpt! buy! yay!* *downloads and opens*
Me: Huh.
Me: *goes back to library bookshelf* *shrugs* *opens again*
Me: Weird.
me: *goes back to shop this time* *scratches head* *opens again*
Me: Okay, now I’m getting annoyed.
Me: *repeats* *unsatisfied that touch screens don’t allow you to smash keyboard buttons*
Me: WHERE IS MY BOOK COVER?! I BOUGHT A BOOK FOR WITH THE COVER! I CAN FUCKING SEE IT, BUT IT’S NOT THERE WHEN I OPEN THE FILE!
WHERE.
IS.
IT.
Apparently, I get a wee bit cross if I buy an ebook with a cover, but that cover is not there when I open the book. Who knew I was all about wanting what I paid for. Oh, and being superficial.
Kris + Books = Good. *Sometimes*. 
Makes sense to me. 🙂
See, I knew other readers would agree with me. Justified!
Your rage is perfectly justified. It’s like an ordering a paper book on-line and it comes without the cover. No. Sounds like it’s easier/cheaper to just do small images and not have to deal with the resolution or difficulty (no clue if there is any) of putting the graphic into the format.
Can you download it in other formats? Obviously not if Amazon (which is why I hate them). But if you can, might be interesting to see if other formats include the image.
I buy at ARe so you can only download it in the one format after you have made your initial selection. No joy there.
I thought about whether it had something to do with the size and type of the file, whatever, but I don’t get how that would work. Surely when you buy a stock photo than that’s it. Could licensing also restrict the number of downloads of an image? That would be pretty hard to monitor, especially after someone like a cover artist has got their hands on it and manipulated it. It’s weird.
And wrong. I paid for that cover dammit.
Sometimes the cover is the only good thing about it. It’s essential.
True that. At least if the book were crap you’d still have something pretty to make it worthwhile… hopefully…