It's really about the books...

[Baldrake]

So I'm thinking my choice is going to be based on availability and portability of books. The Kindle/Amazon combination is unacceptable because of their DRM - I'm not willing to buy books that can only be read on a Kindle. EPub devices look like a good choice for portability between devices, but there don't seem to be that many real bookstores that sell Epub books. (I really want the selection of a big bookstore.)

So is there a viable choice that gives a good selection of books without device lock-in through DRM? To be clear, I don't mind paying for books and I don't mind reasonable DRM, I just don't want my entire library to be locked in to one vendor's hardware.

[Elsi]

If it's about the largest availability of books -- the answer is Amazon/Kindle if you live in the USA.

The eReader format is locked to a credit card number, so would allow you to use it on as many devices as you want -- but there are not yet any e-Ink devices that use the eReader format. ePub appears to require you to authorize through Adobe Digital Editions and I don't know exactly how it works with different devices, or changing computers, or reinstalling ADE. The DRM formats for LIT, Mobipocket, eReader, and ePub all appear to have been cracked, so you should be able to strip DRM to allow you to put the books onto any device you own.

Or hold out for non-DRMed books and buy only multi-fiction books from Fictionwise and Baen/Webscriptions.

[wallcraft]

For maximum choice, you really need to strip DRM. Not everyone agrees, but this is probably legal in the US for the personal use of ebooks you bought. Then (if you have a Windows PC) you can buy ePub, LIT, MOBI and eReader and format shift to whatever format is best for your current device. This is the approximate order of ebook quality, although the difference between ePub (best) and eReader (worst) is often not very much.

Even with this strategy, it is hard to beat the Kindle for price and selection. I prefer to buy from FictionWise, but about half my ebook purchases still end up being from Amazon. Note that Kindle AZW ebooks are MOBIs and their DRM can be stripped using mobidedrm. Kindle TOPAZ ebooks are locked to the Kindle, and typically are not available in any other format. You need a Kindle, or an iPhone, to buy Kindle ebooks.

If you want to keep the DRM in place, then MobiPocket was until recently the obvious choice in the US but Amazon (who own MobiPocket) seem to be killing it off. Barnes and Noble now own eReader (via FictionWise) and this is likely to become dominant, unless B&N try to lock it down. In the UK, ePub is dominant and likely to remain so. Overall, it remains impossible to pick a single DRM scheme for the long term.

[sassanik]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

Overall, it remains impossible to pick a single DRM scheme for the long term.

This is very true, because often times books will be released in one of the DRM'd formats, but not all of them. So you might be able to buy it as a mobi or a pdf, but not in any other format. Which can be a headache and basically forces people to remove drm or not be able to buy all the books you want.

Amy

[Baldrake]

Bah.

Just to be sure, does this mean that I can, say, get a Sony reader, buy books from Amazon, and convert them for reading on the Sony? That seems like the likely best choice for now.

Another question - are any of the book stores blocking out of region sales? For example, amazon.com sells books considerably cheaper than amazon.ca.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by Baldrake

Just to be sure, does this mean that I can, say, get a Sony reader, buy books from Amazon, and convert them for reading on the Sony?

You can only buy ebooks from Amazon if you have a Kindle or an iPhone (with the Kindle app).

Originally Posted by Baldrake

Another question - are any of the book stores blocking out of region sales? For example, amazon.com sells books considerably cheaper than amazon.ca.

All the US ebook stores are nominally only selling geo-restricted ebooks to US buyers. Some stores, notably Sony and Amazon, only sell to US customers (and Canadians in the case of Sony). There is usually (always?) a work around that allows access from outside the US. The UK ebooks stores are not restricting sales, but have far fewer titles at present.

[Baldrake]

Ok, so bottom line, sounds like I'm going to have to wait until the Kindle is available in Canada, and rely on DRM stripping to ensure I am not device-locked. Or wait for some unlikely tectonic shift in how ebooks are sold.

Dang! :-)

Thanks for your very helpful replies.

[sassanik]

You can check out Fictionwise and Books On Board, and Diesel Ebooks, they have good selections of ebooks and in variety of formats. They do have some geographic restrictions, but I think having a paypal account can be a work around for that problem?

Amy

[Ea]

Originally Posted by sassanik

You can check out Fictionwise and Books On Board, and Diesel Ebooks, they have good selections of ebooks and in variety of formats. They do have some geographic restrictions, but I think having a paypal account can be a work around for that problem?

Amy

For Fictionwise, just set a USA address connected with the credit card. Actually, some say it should be enough to set the country. There's an address connected with one's PayPal account - I'm not sure it's possible to use a different country. I wouldn't like to do it anyway, as I use my PayPal account for other things.

I wasn't aware that BooksOnBoard even checks the address - usually I have been able to buy from them when I couldn't at Fictionwise (before I learned I could just set a different address).

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Baldrake

So I'm thinking my choice is going to be based on availability and portability of books. The Kindle/Amazon combination is unacceptable because of their DRM - I'm not willing to buy books that can only be read on a Kindle. EPub devices look like a good choice for portability between devices, but there don't seem to be that many real bookstores that sell Epub books. (I really want the selection of a big bookstore.)

So is there a viable choice that gives a good selection of books without device lock-in through DRM? To be clear, I don't mind paying for books and I don't mind reasonable DRM, I just don't want my entire library to be locked in to one vendor's hardware.

There are tons of providers for .epub. I regularly purchase from 10 different sources.
.prc (Mobipocket) and .epub (.pdf as well) can be handled on quite a few units. But is this really a criteria? In 2 years you may switch from .prc to an entirely new format and run in the same problem than switching from Kindle.
Important to know: Kindle is using .azw, which IS .prc. (They've acquired Mobipocket).
You can strip both of them of their DRM and convert to other formats.
Sony for the moment is the only major one, whose format .lrx isn't stripable yet. But even for Sony there's a solution: It can handle .epub.
So, usually you'll be able to strip your books from DRM and convert to whatever format you choose.
If you switch from, let's say, Amazon to Sony in 2 years, you can port your entire library.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Ea

For Fictionwise, just set a USA address connected with the credit card. Actually, some say it should be enough to set the country. There's an address connected with one's PayPal account - I'm not sure it's possible to use a different country. I wouldn't like to do it anyway, as I use my PayPal account for other things.

I wasn't aware that BooksOnBoard even checks the address - usually I have been able to buy from them when I couldn't at Fictionwise (before I learned I could just set a different address).

You CAN use a different location.
Very often, Fictionwise allows me that way to purchase ebooks, which Diesel and others refuse because of geographical restrictions. BooksOnBoard very often is "generous" as well.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Baldrake

Ok, so bottom line, sounds like I'm going to have to wait until the Kindle is available in Canada, and rely on DRM stripping to ensure I am not device-locked. Or wait for some unlikely tectonic shift in how ebooks are sold.

Dang! :-)

Thanks for your very helpful replies.

Kindle isn't available in Germany and won't be for a while (or ever). But I can use it without major problems. I only can't access settings, but that's a minor issue. But I can purchase from Amazon, download to PC and drag and drop to Kindle without any problems at all.

[maryd2303]

This has been a really useful conversation. Thanks all. I have downloaded most formats as at different times I have read my books on computer, phone, PDA and my BeBook (the love of my life). How to use all those different formats on my BeBook has been a puzzle and I have even thought of buying a second reader that uses a different format - but not Kindle as I am in Australia. My other major fear has been that I have begun replacing my 10 bookcases (hear my husband cheer - whole rooms will become available - the local library is loving the donations too) with ebooks and the thought that they will become unuseable has been making me fill quite ill. I too am happy to pay and use DRM but not at the potential cost of losing my library! Also many of the authors I am trying to replace appear to be sticking to one format - and it's not mobi.

Baldrake this conversation is the rumbling of the tectonic shift. Thanks to this conversation neither of us will get stuck with Beta instead of VHS, or Lotus!!

[maryd2303]

Originally Posted by Ea

For Fictionwise, just set a USA address connected with the credit card. Actually, some say it should be enough to set the country. There's an address connected with one's PayPal account - I'm not sure it's possible to use a different country. I wouldn't like to do it anyway, as I use my PayPal account for other things.

I wasn't aware that BooksOnBoard even checks the address - usually I have been able to buy from them when I couldn't at Fictionwise (before I learned I could just set a different address).

As an Australian buyer I've had problems with Fictionwise and BooksOnBoard this last fortnight - much to my annoyance. Neither of them identified at the outset the geographical limitations; both just wouldn't let my purchase go through and couldn't identify which book was the problem. Needless to say I abandoned both purchase of more than 6 books each! More fool them.

[Baldrake]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

Kindle isn't available in Germany and won't be for a while (or ever). But I can use it without major problems. I only can't access settings, but that's a minor issue. But I can purchase from Amazon, download to PC and drag and drop to Kindle without any problems at all.

But Kindle will be available in Canada at some point (at an inflated price no doubt), so it's worth waiting. Very likely that US Kindles won't work with the Canadian variant of whispernet.

But I think I'm still not completely understanding - if you can buy at Amazon and download to PC, is it not possible to download to PC, strip, convert to ePub, and then move to, say, Sony eReader? This seems to be what you're saying in one of your messages above, mgmueller, but I just want to be sure I'm understanding right.