DRM and Purchasing?

[John F]

A curiosity poll (at least to me): In general, would you buy ebooks if they had DRM that you couldn't strip?

Assume DRM that limits you to a platform, for example ADE or Kindle.

[John F]

I voted no. I would still read ebooks, maybe occasionally buying a must read new release, but I would limit ebook reading to library checkouts.

[DiapDealer]

If it was an ebook I wanted to read and it couldn't be obtained anywhere without DRM? Yes, I'd more than likely still purchase it. I don't re-read often enough to let my fading idealism get in the way any more. I'm still in it for the words when all is said and done.

[HarryT]

It's a question that requires a more nuanced answer than "yes" or "no". It would depend how widespread the availability of the reading platform was. Unbreakable Kindle DRM wouldn't bother me in the slightest, because I can read my Kindle books on my PC, tablet, or eInk devices. Unbreakable DRM that was associated with a single platform (eg Apple only) would make me think twice before buying.

[issybird]

Yep, I'd buy them. After all, I did at first and was happy as a clam with my new toy. Not reading the books I want in the manner I want would be the classic case of cutting off my nose to spite my face. I would, however, buy very little from Amazon, as in the days before.

[fjtorres]

Ubiquity of platform makes a difference, as Harry pointed out.

But if we're going on principle: no, I wouldn't buy *those* ebooks.
Not when there are plenty to be had without DRM and more each day.

The trend is away from treating paying customers as thieves and companies who waste time and resources fretting about "piracy" shouldn't be rewarded.

All that said, it's a moot issue. The vast majority of ebook buyers don't care and won't care until after a DRM disaster impacts them.

[Sirtel]

No, I would not buy them. Not even Kindle books I could read on my Kindles. I would not have switched to e-books at all if Calibre and Alf did not exist. It's not idealism, I just don't want to pay money for things I don't own and can't do whatever I want with. I like to re-read, so that's a factor too.

[darryl]

I voted no. I won't rule out that I would buy something very occasionally. But I have so much already that I want to read. So many books, so little time! I would probably tend to borrow from libraries where I could. I would think about sticking with KU, since DRM removal makes little difference to me in relation to books I am effectively borrowing. But I'm not interested in purchasing a book, even if it is described as licensing, and then having these types of restrictions imposed.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

No, I would not buy them. Not even Kindle books I could read on my Kindles. I would not have switched to e-books at all if Calibre and Alf did not exist. It's not idealism, I just don't want to pay money for things I don't own and can't do whatever I want with. I like to re-read, so that's a factor too.

But you can't "do whatever you want" with any book, paper books included. You own the paper and ink when you buy a paper book, but you have an extremely restricted set of rights when it comes to what you can do with the contents of the book. The same is true with ebooks, only there there's no physical medium to "own", of course, so all you're left with are the right granted by the rights-holder, just as with a paper book.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Not when there are plenty to be had without DRM and more each day.

Books are fungible, but they're not that fungible. The books I want to read, with the exception of public domain, are virtually without exception DRMed. Again, it would be nose-cutting for face-spiting for me to pursue a policy that DRMless books could replace the DRMful.

Reading's my favorite activity and I want to read what I want to read. DRM is a trifle, especially in a scenario where my favorite platform depended on purchasing DRMed books. As I said, Amazon would get much less of my business, but if I had to purchase a Kindle to get access to the content I wanted, I'd do that too.

[tubemonkey]

No; I'd find something else to read. To me, there is no such thing as a must-read.

[DrNefario]

I would factor it in to the price I was willing to pay.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by HarryT

But you can't "do whatever you want" with any book, paper books included. You own the paper and ink when you buy a paper book, but you have an extremely restricted set of rights when it comes to what you can do with the contents of the book. The same is true with ebooks, only there there's no physical medium to "own", of course, so all you're left with are the right granted by the rights-holder, just as with a paper book.

In the DRM debate context the key issue is transportability.
Being able to backup the ebook is critical since you can't transfer the license. If the license is yours forever then you had better be able to read it forever.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by HarryT

But you can't "do whatever you want" with any book, paper books included. You own the paper and ink when you buy a paper book, but you have an extremely restricted set of rights when it comes to what you can do with the contents of the book. The same is true with ebooks, only there there's no physical medium to "own", of course, so all you're left with are the right granted by the rights-holder, just as with a paper book.

I did not mean putting them up on torrent sites or some such, of course. I meant changing formatting, covers, making omnibus sets for my personal use, being certain I can read them on whatever device I wish (I might want to buy a non-Amazon reading device in the future). You're right that I cannot do most of these things with paper books, but at least I need not worry that I cannot suddenly read my paper books anymore because the vendor ceased to exist or became unavailable to me. I'm afraid I'm a bit of a control freak about such things. Perhaps because the DRM-ed e-books were quite recently not available at all in my country, so I don't trust them to remain available.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

In the DRM debate context the key issue is transportability.
Being able to backup the ebook is critical since you can't transfer the license. If the license is yours forever then you had better be able to read it forever.

Very true, which is why I said that whether I answered "yes" or "no" to the question would depend on how ubiquitous the reading software was. DRM on DVDs doesn't bother me in the slightest, for example, because (unless I buy an "out of region" DVD) I know I can play it on any DVD player, so I just can't be bothered to remove the DRM.