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Worldwalker · 08-02-2010, 10:19 AM

I simply don't buy DRM-restricted ebooks. It's not that I can't strip the DRM ... I just don't want to support that business model with my purchases. Principle, mostly. Since there's no shortage of books I want to read, if I have to skip one book because it's DRM'd and read a different one that's DRM-free, it's no hardship; if anything, it helps trim the to-be-bought list down to an affordable size, and sometimes nudges me towards books that I should read (the Harvard Classics, for instance) rather than whatever random new-release bit of mind candy happens to catch my eye.

I'm still enough of an optimist to hope that in a few years, publishers will see the success of Baen, et. al., and authors will see the advantages of Smashwords, and a wave of sanity will wash over the publishing industry.

I wish some publisher would take up my ebooks-for-pbooks idea: you'd mail in your pbooks (or perhaps turn them in at some big chain bookstore that's a partner in the project) and get a code entitling you to a free ebook of that title. The pbooks would be marked so that they couldn't be turned in again and donated to schools, libraries, city reading programs, military bases, or any charity with a need for books -- there are plenty. The publishers would get a big tax write-off somehow (I'm sure their accountants could do something with the fact that they're swapping a $15-ish ebook for a $2.99 cover used paperback), the charities would get a windfall, the people those charities serve would be helped, and my bookshelves and floor joists would thank me.

08-02-2010, 10:19 AM	#60
Worldwalker Curmudgeon Posts: 3,085 Karma: 722357 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: PRS-505	I simply don't buy DRM-restricted ebooks. It's not that I can't strip the DRM ... I just don't want to support that business model with my purchases. Principle, mostly. Since there's no shortage of books I want to read, if I have to skip one book because it's DRM'd and read a different one that's DRM-free, it's no hardship; if anything, it helps trim the to-be-bought list down to an affordable size, and sometimes nudges me towards books that I should read (the Harvard Classics, for instance) rather than whatever random new-release bit of mind candy happens to catch my eye. I'm still enough of an optimist to hope that in a few years, publishers will see the success of Baen, et. al., and authors will see the advantages of Smashwords, and a wave of sanity will wash over the publishing industry. I wish some publisher would take up my ebooks-for-pbooks idea: you'd mail in your pbooks (or perhaps turn them in at some big chain bookstore that's a partner in the project) and get a code entitling you to a free ebook of that title. The pbooks would be marked so that they couldn't be turned in again and donated to schools, libraries, city reading programs, military bases, or any charity with a need for books -- there are plenty. The publishers would get a big tax write-off somehow (I'm sure their accountants could do something with the fact that they're swapping a $15-ish ebook for a $2.99 cover used paperback), the charities would get a windfall, the people those charities serve would be helped, and my bookshelves and floor joists would thank me.