I'm wondering if folks here know of many DRM-free outlets of books, especially ones that carry major authors/publishers. Kobo DRM is beginning to annoy me.
This continues an
existing conversation, moving onto a new thread because the old one (the kobo firmware features thread) wasn't really appropriate for the topic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ltr
I've purchased quite a few books since receiving my Kobo reader. I guess they must all be DRM versions. I've had no troubles downloading or reading them.
What type of problems are you experiencing with DRM version books that make them painful for you?
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As I mentioned, I'm working on tweaking the Kobo software and operating system. This means I land up having to erase my Kobo occasionally. Having to re-auth it with a DRM service is just one more step ... and it means my books don't download properly using Calibre, which is a pain. It's even more annoying because I use Linux on my laptop, so I have to pull out my Windows desktop to get any DRM'd books onto the Kobo, while everything else "just works" with Calibre.
My main issue with the DRM, though, is just that it
does absolutely no good because the books are already available in non-DRM electronic forms. Once a book is out - just once - then DRM doesn't prevent copies being made. Because Adobe Digital Editions DRM is easily broken, even if there aren't any scanned & OCR'd versions out there, it only takes one person to break the ADE on a copy and distribute that. Once that's done and one non-DRM copy exists, adding DRM to new copies makes no difference to the distribution of illegally-copied versions of the work.
I know several people who read mostly "unofficially sourced" books. Not only does this not cause them any inconvenience, but it means they can have their library on a variety of devices with no hassle and can convert their books for different devices. Choosing to do it legally like I do is
harder because of the need to activate devices with DRM systems and to download your books using ADE-supporting tools. Your purchases are also locked into one system, which is something I've repeatedly seen go badly with (eg)
Yahoo Music.
About the only thing I think DRM is OK for is for enabling "loan" systems where you have time-limited shared versions of a work. Even then, the DRM isn't really necessary, all you need is a flag in the book that politely asks software to obey the restrictions. If someone doesn't want to follow the rules, it's easy to get around them whether or not DRM systems are in effect.
I don't care if DRM'd books are available - so long as I can legally get a non-DRM version. I don't want to support DRM systems with my money. Publishers have seen sense with music (thanks Apple) and I'm wondering how long it'll take for them to realize that putting barriers in the way of legal use hurts them with book sales, too.