Quote:
Originally Posted by Fbone
It really doesn't matter whether SW has DRM or not. You aren't permitted (per the T&C) to copy files to another device, format shift or place a backup in Dropbox. If you decide to switch from Sony to Kindle you can redownload the mobi from SW. I have all this confirmed in writing from SW. Some time ago I read their T&C and thought they were silly but no the nice CS woman said it's all part of their "honor" system.
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Smashwords' "honour system" may explicitly prohibit backup Dropboxing, silly as that is, but Amazon's T&C also explicitly prohibits DRM-stripping, which makes the reverse Kindle-to-Sony conversion hypothetically more iffy.
Not to mention, plenty of publishers include a boilerplate after the copyright saying "no part of this book may be yadda yadda including information storage and retrieval systems" etc.
I have this even on an e-book-only exclusive short story collection that's DRM-free from Kobo, and bit right after that acknowledges it's an e-book.
So, trade-off either way if you want to follow the letter of the agreements.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fbone
In any case, I don't want people to think that buying from SW and FW doesn't have its own restrictions if you follow their T&C. Of course, we all have the option to decline shopping at SW, Amazon, Kobo, etc if we object to the Content Providers and retailers terms.
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We're agreed on these points.
The thing I was really mentioning beyond that is that even with Amazon's ability to extra-device-load, some content providers may additionally explicitly request a purchase-1-copy-per-reader-please, so it's not an automatic given that an Amazon purchase* includes a license to "share".
When able, it's up to the purchaser to decide what to do and where to get the book from according to what they think best fits their personal ethical choices and common sense, which is what I've been saying (and doing) all along.