Amazon to allow downloads of DRM free books

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by Kye

Good point. I was just mentioning them to be as thorough as possible.

I forgot to mention that Edgedancer is also not downloadable for me. However, I appear to have an older version, so that's likely why. Intererestingly, the metadata for my copy says it's from Tor Publishing Group. The current version is from Dragonsteel.

The hardcover of Edgedancer is from Tor. (And it's also in the collection Arcanum Unbounded from Tor.) But if Tor originally also did the ebook of Edgedancer and it only later went to Dragonsteel, then the earlier version is probably in limbo. Tor can't flip the switch for something they no longer publish, and Dragonsteel can only flip it on their version. But if Dragonsteel was always the ebook publisher, maybe they just haven't gotten to this yet. Regardless it should be DRM-free in non-kfx format.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

Thank you very much to everyone that had information and suggestions regarding ebooks by Brandon Sanderson available as EPUB from amazon. Based on posts by Sanderson's editor, Peter Ahlstrom, in the thread https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=311429 I decided to try Tress first and got a few pleasant surprises for the KF8.

The EPUB is only a little larger than the azw3. 4.4MB vs 3.9MB. As expected, based on the above thread, the EPUB has quite a few GIFs. (Of course, amazon could have converted them, but at least in this case, they did not.) I thought amazon converted publisher supplied GIF to JPEG for azw3, but they not only kept the GIFs in the azw3 and they are byte for byte identical to those in the EPUB. Many of the JPEGs were also byte for byte identical to those in the EPUB. Interestingly, some azw3 JPEGS only differed in that they are 1 byte larger. (All the other bytes are identical value, I guess amazon requires JPEG images to be an even number of bytes in size.) I also see from the above thread that amazon converts PNG to GIF, so I guess the GIF format is expected to be retained after all. Kind of sucks regarding PNG if that is still true.

It looks like amazon cares a lot more about file size than image dimensions. There are a couple of images about 1200x1800 and 250KB in the EPUB that are about 780x1200 and 123 KB in the azw3. None of the images were quite the sort I'm looking for, so I'll probably select another one soon.

It's good to know that Amazon is not fiddling with the graphics in their ePub downloads.

[rantanplan]

Just be aware that the Gollancx versions still come with DRM. Which is consistent with all other platforms. So please check that you’re indeed buying the Tor version.

[Kye]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

The hardcover of Edgedancer is from Tor. (And it's also in the collection Arcanum Unbounded from Tor.) But if Tor originally also did the ebook of Edgedancer and it only later went to Dragonsteel, then the earlier version is probably in limbo. Tor can't flip the switch for something they no longer publish, and Dragonsteel can only flip it on their version. But if Dragonsteel was always the ebook publisher, maybe they just haven't gotten to this yet. Regardless it should be DRM-free in non-kfx format.

Agreed, that was my thinking too. When I go to my Content Library on Amazon's website and click the title link for Edgedancer, I get a page not found error. So it's definitely an older unavailable version of the product.

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by Kye

Agreed, that was my thinking too. When I go to my Content Library on Amazon's website and click the title link for Edgedancer, I get a page not found error. So it's definitely an older unavailable version of the product.

Another example why the flip switching shouldn't be necessary. Both publishers knew what they were doing when they sold it DRM-free on every other platform in the first place. Amazon just wants to keep people locked in as much as possible.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

Another example why the flip switching shouldn't be necessary. Both publishers knew what they were doing when they sold it DRM-free on every other platform in the first place. Amazon just wants to keep people locked in as much as possible.

I wonder what made them offer epub in the first place. I have vague impresssion that one of the bigger DRM-free publishers threatened to take their books off kindle, but maybe not?

[Karellen]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I wonder what made them offer epub in the first place. I have vague impresssion that one of the bigger DRM-free publishers threatened to take their books off kindle, but maybe not?

Yes, I have been wondering this also.
Amazon made changes to more strictly guard against stripping DRM and now they seem to have opened it up again.

[JSWolf]

My guess is maybe a lawsuit for no longer allowing customers to download DRM free eBooks that are truly DRM free.

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

My guess is maybe a lawsuit for no longer allowing customers to download DRM free eBooks that are truly DRM free.

Aren't lawsuits public in the US?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

Aren't lawsuits public in the US?

Possible. I''m not sure. But I'm thinking it could be a lawsuit from maybe Macmillan Publishers since they own Tor or Simon * Schuster since they own Star trek or both. Who knows. Or it could be an EU law that's caused this.

[jonathan2022]

Just guessing, the fact that books are no longer labeled as drm free or labeled at all means ut may be legal. Another possibility is a lot of reversals with drm as a reason. I am hoping more books go and stay drm free. If enough book sales increase it may lead to less drm .with only the titles being amazon only being locked (this is just my opinion) will be interesting to see how this eventually impacts kindle e-ink updates.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by jonathan2022

Just guessing, the fact that books are no longer labeled as drm free or labeled at all means ut may be legal. Another possibility is a lot of reversals with drm as a reason. I am hoping more books go and stay drm free. If enough book sales increase it may lead to less drm .with only the titles being amazon only being locked (this is just my opinion) will be interesting to see how this eventually impacts kindle e-ink updates.

I really doubt that many people would return a book because it has DRM. Most Kindle users don't care - they read on their Kindle or in a Kindle app. Those who know what DRM is and want to avoid it, are also knowledgeable enough to not buy from Amazon at all or know how to remove the DRM.

[JBaby]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I really doubt that many people would return a book because it has DRM. Most Kindle users don't care - they read on their Kindle or in a Kindle app. Those who know what DRM is and want to avoid it, are also knowledgeable enough to not buy from Amazon at all or know how to remove the DRM.

Exactly. Amazon’s piss poor execution of this hasn’t changed my mind about no longer buying books from Amazon. If it’s done anything it’s only solidified my decision to continue not buying from them. There was an opportunity to change my mind. But I’m not buying any books I can’t identify as being DRM-free prior to purchase.

[Cactus Chef]

So from skimming the thread, am I correct in understanding that you cannot tell ahead of time whether the book will offer an EPUB download or not?

I'm tempted to grab this copy of Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg on sale, because it only seems to be on sale for Amazon (Kobo, B&N, etc are not price matching). And the page description says it's DRM-free because it's from Tor, however that is probably an old description and may not have retroactively implemented the EPUB-download option.

The book looks old enough that I could probably download it onto my 4th Gen Kindle and get it that way, but that's honestly too much of a hassle for me to bother with these days...

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

So from skimming the thread, am I correct in understanding that you cannot tell ahead of time whether the book will offer an EPUB download or not?

I'm tempted to grab this copy of Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg on sale, because it only seems to be on sale for Amazon (Kobo, B&N, etc are not price matching). And the page description says it's DRM-free because it's from Tor, however that is probably an old description and may not have retroactively implemented the EPUB-download option.

The book looks old enough that I could probably download it onto my 4th Gen Kindle and get it that way, but that's honestly too much of a hassle for me to bother with these days...

You have a Kindle 4th Gen that you can use to download this and then extract to remove the DRM. So you really have nothing to lose.