MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Which of the Populare E-Book Stores Allow You to Direct Download the File to Your PC?

wallcraft · 12-26-2012, 07:59 PM

So far as I know, all ebook stores, except possibly the Apple store, allow downloading to a PC.

The majority of ebooks still have DRM, although there are significant exceptions such as Baen and TOR for science fiction. Stripping the DRM is possible, typically via a 3rd party Calibre plugin, see Apprentice Alf's Blog for more information.

For the Kindle, you have to use Kindle for PC unless you have a Kindle device (in which case you can select "Transfer via Computer").

For Kobo, you must explicitly download "Adobe DRM EPUB" and the transaction requires opening the .acsm file in Adobe Digital Editions (or some other compatible Windows Reader app) in order to get the ePub. Other sites that support Adobe ePub (i.e. most of them) are similar.

For B&N, you can download an ePub directly but if it has DRM it is only readable by entering your credit card number into a compatible Reader app (which now includes Adobe Digital Editions under Windows). Previous CC numbers are remembered as a secure 1-way hash, so you typically enter each number just once.

The B&N approach has the fewest steps going from DRM-ridden download to DRM free ePub, but all store's downloads are relatively straightforward.

12-26-2012, 07:59 PM	#4
wallcraft reader Posts: 6,975 Karma: 5183568 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Mississippi, USA Device: Kindle 3, Kobo Glo HD	So far as I know, all ebook stores, except possibly the Apple store, allow downloading to a PC. The majority of ebooks still have DRM, although there are significant exceptions such as Baen and TOR for science fiction. Stripping the DRM is possible, typically via a 3rd party Calibre plugin, see Apprentice Alf's Blog for more information. For the Kindle, you have to use Kindle for PC unless you have a Kindle device (in which case you can select "Transfer via Computer"). For Kobo, you must explicitly download "Adobe DRM EPUB" and the transaction requires opening the .acsm file in Adobe Digital Editions (or some other compatible Windows Reader app) in order to get the ePub. Other sites that support Adobe ePub (i.e. most of them) are similar. For B&N, you can download an ePub directly but if it has DRM it is only readable by entering your credit card number into a compatible Reader app (which now includes Adobe Digital Editions under Windows). Previous CC numbers are remembered as a secure 1-way hash, so you typically enter each number just once. The B&N approach has the fewest steps going from DRM-ridden download to DRM free ePub, but all store's downloads are relatively straightforward.