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Originally Posted by HarryT
With the greatest respect
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Always a bad sign!
Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
that has absolutely nothing to do with being able (or unable) to backup the original file. That is a simple archiving process.
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We are clearly talking about different things. Of course, bytes are bytes and can be backed up for later retrieval when the original bytes get corrupted or lost.
BillSmithBooks argument (with which I agree) is that with DRMed ebooks this backup process is pointless - it is not a true backup in the event of data loss. You can get the bytes back, but not necessarily the data.
For example, suppose you have some DRMed Mobipocket books bought from Fictionwise for your Mobipocket reader installation on your PC. Your PC suffers a catastrophic hard disk failure, which also takes out the motherboard. You do, of course, have a good backup of all your user data, including your ebooks. But you have to re-install Mobipocket Reader. On a new motherboard/hard disk. Which gets you a new PID.
Oh dear, all your ebook backups won't work with this new PID. And you can no-longer re-download half of them from Fictionwise, because they were from the overdrive server, which no longer works with Fictionwise.
DRMed ebook == no backup possible.
One reason why I didn't buy DRMed ebooks for several years, until a certain shadowy individual posted some python scripts...