MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Incentive to 'liberate' secure epub when everything reads it?

wallcraft · 12-11-2009, 10:35 AM

The ineptepub.pyw script is in python, like ereader2html, but you just click on its icon to run it (no command line needed). The result is exactly the same ePub as before, but now with no DRM.

There are three reasons to do this:

a) Adobe has dropped support for DRM schemes before and what they say is essentially "go away" if you complain about not being able to migrate your ebooks to a new device. This never happens with DRM-free ebooks.

b) Adobe's allowance of 6 devices per AdobeID is generous, but their current handling of EInk devices is completely broken. Every time a new firmware comes along you get to reauthorize and this counts as another device. You can deauthorize devices, but this has no noticable effect (still gets counted against the device quota). The only fix is a phone call to Adobe. Also, a few Adobe ePubs don't allow use on EInk devices at all (this is an option the publishers have if they want to use it).

c) Most ePubs have "good enough" formatting, but some are terrible on a 6" screen (e.g. margins 1/4 of the screen width). If the ePub is DRM-free this is easy to fix with Calibre. Similarly if you like a bold font or a sans-serif font or a different line spacing, this can only be done currently (with Adobe Digital Editions) by creating a new version of the ePub using Calibre and its --extra-css option.

12-11-2009, 10:35 AM	#5
wallcraft reader Posts: 6,977 Karma: 5183568 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Mississippi, USA Device: Kindle 3, Kobo Glo HD	The ineptepub.pyw script is in python, like ereader2html, but you just click on its icon to run it (no command line needed). The result is exactly the same ePub as before, but now with no DRM. There are three reasons to do this: a) Adobe has dropped support for DRM schemes before and what they say is essentially "go away" if you complain about not being able to migrate your ebooks to a new device. This never happens with DRM-free ebooks. b) Adobe's allowance of 6 devices per AdobeID is generous, but their current handling of EInk devices is completely broken. Every time a new firmware comes along you get to reauthorize and this counts as another device. You can deauthorize devices, but this has no noticable effect (still gets counted against the device quota). The only fix is a phone call to Adobe. Also, a few Adobe ePubs don't allow use on EInk devices at all (this is an option the publishers have if they want to use it). c) Most ePubs have "good enough" formatting, but some are terrible on a 6" screen (e.g. margins 1/4 of the screen width). If the ePub is DRM-free this is easy to fix with Calibre. Similarly if you like a bold font or a sans-serif font or a different line spacing, this can only be done currently (with Adobe Digital Editions) by creating a new version of the ePub using Calibre and its --extra-css option. Last edited by wallcraft; 12-11-2009 at 10:41 AM.