LEGAL sources of DRM-free books?

[ringerc]

I'm wondering if folks here know of many DRM-free outlets of books, especially ones that carry major authors/publishers. Kobo DRM is beginning to annoy me.

This continues an existing conversation, moving onto a new thread because the old one (the kobo firmware features thread) wasn't really appropriate for the topic.

Originally Posted by ltr

I've purchased quite a few books since receiving my Kobo reader. I guess they must all be DRM versions. I've had no troubles downloading or reading them.

What type of problems are you experiencing with DRM version books that make them painful for you?

As I mentioned, I'm working on tweaking the Kobo software and operating system. This means I land up having to erase my Kobo occasionally. Having to re-auth it with a DRM service is just one more step ... and it means my books don't download properly using Calibre, which is a pain. It's even more annoying because I use Linux on my laptop, so I have to pull out my Windows desktop to get any DRM'd books onto the Kobo, while everything else "just works" with Calibre.

My main issue with the DRM, though, is just that it does absolutely no good because the books are already available in non-DRM electronic forms. Once a book is out - just once - then DRM doesn't prevent copies being made. Because Adobe Digital Editions DRM is easily broken, even if there aren't any scanned & OCR'd versions out there, it only takes one person to break the ADE on a copy and distribute that. Once that's done and one non-DRM copy exists, adding DRM to new copies makes no difference to the distribution of illegally-copied versions of the work.

I know several people who read mostly "unofficially sourced" books. Not only does this not cause them any inconvenience, but it means they can have their library on a variety of devices with no hassle and can convert their books for different devices. Choosing to do it legally like I do is harder because of the need to activate devices with DRM systems and to download your books using ADE-supporting tools. Your purchases are also locked into one system, which is something I've repeatedly seen go badly with (eg) Yahoo Music.

About the only thing I think DRM is OK for is for enabling "loan" systems where you have time-limited shared versions of a work. Even then, the DRM isn't really necessary, all you need is a flag in the book that politely asks software to obey the restrictions. If someone doesn't want to follow the rules, it's easy to get around them whether or not DRM systems are in effect.

I don't care if DRM'd books are available - so long as I can legally get a non-DRM version. I don't want to support DRM systems with my money. Publishers have seen sense with music (thanks Apple) and I'm wondering how long it'll take for them to realize that putting barriers in the way of legal use hurts them with book sales, too.

[viviena]

Originally Posted by ringerc

I'm wondering if folks here know of many DRM-free outlets of books, especially ones that carry major authors/publishers. Kobo DRM is beginning to annoy me.

Have you tried Webscription.net? It's only really any good if you like reading sci-fi / speculative fiction, but if you do, it has works from some big names in the genre, including winners of Hugo and Nebula Awards. All DRM-free, multiple formats, and reasonably priced.

[neilmarr]

Hello there, Ringer: Calibre is currently putting together a comprehensive list of publishers with a DRM-free police (like my own below) and DRM-free titles. It's still in develoment but should go live pretty soon, I'm told. Cheers. Neil

[3d0g]

Originally Posted by viviena

Have you tried Webscription.net? It's only really any good if you like reading sci-fi / speculative fiction, but if you do, it has works from some big names in the genre, including winners of Hugo and Nebula Awards. All DRM-free, multiple formats, and reasonably priced.

+1

Baen (webscription.net) is awesome! It's the ONLY place to get some writers like Paolo Bacigalupi.

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by viviena

Have you tried Webscription.net? It's only really any good if you like reading sci-fi / speculative fiction, but if you do, it has works from some big names in the genre, including winners of Hugo and Nebula Awards. All DRM-free, multiple formats, and reasonably priced.

+2

Add Smashwords to the list as well.

[pholy]

To say nothing of our own Patricia Clark Memorial Library (E-Books in the blue bar at the top of the page), where you can find many classic books in epub format.

[Roadbug]

www.feedbooks.com, where I get all the public domain books I have.

[billingd]

http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/ has free and nicely formatted epub "Classic Works of Literature, Philosophy, Science, History and Exploration and Travel"

[Anthem]

I get most of my DRM free ebooks from

Fictionwise

They have a decent selection (they also do books with DRM, but they are labeled as such so you don't get confused.)

[jbcohen]

Guess I will be the lone disenter in this group. I do not see DRM as any barrier to me doing what I need to do with my ebooks since there are a lot of software out there that will remove DRM.

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

Guess I will be the lone disenter in this group. I do not see DRM as any barrier to me doing what I need to do with my ebooks since there are a lot of software out there that will remove DRM.

No barrier to me either. DRM is the first thing removed if I purchase an ebook with such an infestation.

[ringerc]

Originally Posted by neilmarr

Hello there, Ringer: Calibre is currently putting together a comprehensive list of publishers with a DRM-free police (like my own below) and DRM-free titles.

Thanks VERY much for that tip - I'll be sure to keep an eye on it.

I was aware of webscription.net, but not a member yet. Fixed now.

Originally Posted by jbcohen

Guess I will be the lone disenter in this group. I do not see DRM as any barrier to me doing what I need to do with my ebooks since there are a lot of software out there that will remove DRM.

While I have no ethical problem with that, I choose not to do it because I don't want to financially support DRM for books. My money is going Baen's way already and I'm checking out some of the other sources.

I'm sometimes tempted to "acquire" a full library by some author or another and just send them a cheque ;-) but I'd rather publishers see my (small) impact on the stats. If everybody's happy to download DRM'd stuff and crack it, publishers will keep on doing it. They ignore the evidence it doesn't work now, and I doubt that'll change.

[ltr]

Originally Posted by ringerc

They ignore the evidence it doesn't work now, and I doubt that'll change.

Do you not feel that DRM reduces the lending and copying of books for the majority of the ebook reading public?

ltr

[ringerc]

Originally Posted by ltr

Do you not feel that DRM reduces the lending and copying of books for the majority of the ebook reading public?

No more than I think that DRM reduces the lending and copying of music and film. That is: it doesn't. At least, it doesn't seem to, and everything available in DRM form is also available as an illegal copy.

I can deal with books containing embedded advisory restrictions as a barrier to casual copying of things like time-loaned library books, the same way PDF contains a security policy system to ask user agents not to let the user copy & paste text, etc. It's not pretending to magically prevent that work EVER being copied, it's just stopping someone from casually ignoring rules about its use. They can still go get a copy elsewhere and using DRM that way isn't even trying to pretend otherwise. It also doesn't impair people who want to use screenreaders, people who want backups, etc etc etc.

[bill_mchale]

Originally Posted by ltr

Do you not feel that DRM reduces the lending and copying of books for the majority of the ebook reading public?

ltr

Yes, I am sure it does reduce lending of books between friends... something that until the advent of ebooks was considered fair use and was hardly controversial.

What DRM does not do is stop the wholesale piracy of ebooks. There are a number of sites (and they are not hard to find) that simply puts hundreds if not thousands of books on a web site that can easily allow you to download the books; DRM doesn't stop that. There are others who place hundreds and thousands more books on the torrents for people to download and share with their 20 thousand closest friends; DRM doesn't stop that either.

To put it simply many media publishers (not just book publishers, but also the people who publish DVD's, music and games) hate fair use. As far as they are concerned, a book lent to a friend is a lost sale. DRM and ultimately their goal is to get as much media into the cloud (which streaming sites like pandora, hulu and netflix are doing) as possible so that no one can ever own a copy of a book, song, movie or game every again. DRM is simply a stopping point on the way to that future.

Here endeth the Rant .

--
Bill