how to tell which books have DRM? - Page 2

Hellmark · 06-20-2011, 05:38 PM

For me, the reason to go DRM free, is so you're not locked into one type of reader. In a couple years, if you get a new reader, do you want to have to rebuy all your stuff?

justapuppy · 06-20-2011, 05:59 PM

Thanks! Sounds like a good idea. I'll get on it soon

crossi · 06-21-2011, 09:27 AM

I have 3 kindles. After I change author, title and pub date once for a book I don't want to have to do that again for each kindle. Also the security of knowing that the thousands of dollars I've paid for ebooks won't be lost to device change or obsolete formats.

EowynCarter · 06-21-2011, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by justapuppy

Hi there, daft question (potentially). Why do you want DRM-free books? I'm wondering if it's about converting kindle files to epub or something?

I used to have a gen with midiDRM.
Then, the publishers in europe realize e-books exist. Hey, we're going to use epUb. Oups !
Bookeen was happy to fix the first problem by providing an update to ePub.
My books, because luckilly i had them already de-drmed, installed calibre, imported the books in it, and batch converted them. Then I spent some time finding my books in all the mess calibre had done.

I de-drm to be on the safe side, not to worry about activation or whatever, read the files on non adobe DRM ePub readers...

ptofimpact · 06-23-2011, 11:30 AM

Hi all, new to this forum, and Kindle ...I am reading these posts with great interest. We have several Kindles in the family, and have been looking for a means to 'backup' our purchased Kindle ebooks, Had an experience where one of the kindles needed be sent back to amazon, and unfortunately had a number of 'gift books' on it, which were Not archived to our account. End result, we lost a good number of ebooks, which led to the search of backup software, Calibre.
Calibre works excellent, but, this issue of DRM's being removed, would a book in this state [ drm gone] be harmful to theKindle, or to Amazon account?
Many thanks.

avantman42 · 06-24-2011, 07:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ptofimpact

Calibre works excellent, but, this issue of DRM's being removed, would a book in this state [ drm gone] be harmful to theKindle, or to Amazon account?

The short answer is no, it won't do any harm to your Kindle or your account. The long answer involves speculation about what Amazon can or cannot discern about what is on your Kindle.

j.p.s · 07-09-2011, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hellmark

One way to see if it has DRM, for Amazon books, is to goto the page for the book and see if it says "Simultaneous device usage: Unlimited". If it states any number, it has DRM, but if it says unlimited then it is DRM free. However you'll likely find that almost all books from amazon have DRM.

Amazon seems to have recently stopped listing "Simultaneous device usage:" for any books except the public domain ones. I just checked various books, and none of them except those in the public domain had a "Simultaneous device usage:" listing.

wallcraft · 07-09-2011, 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by j.p.s

Amazon seems to have recently stopped listing "Simultaneous device usage:" for any books except the public domain ones. I just checked various books, and none of them except those in the public domain had a "Simultaneous device usage:" listing.

My Python script from 2009 (Kindle Books From Amazon Without DRM), which might not work on K2 and K3 AZWs, identified 28 DRM-free AZW's out of my collection of 570 Kindle-1 ebooks bought from Amazon. So DRM-free isn't common, but they do still seem to have simultaneous device unlimited. For example:

When Gravity Fails (Budayeen) by George Alec Effinger
Permalink: http://amzn.com/B0051J3ZQG

Dead Dwarves Don't Dance by Derek J. Canyon
Permalink: http://amzn.com/B004DCB3HU

The God Engines by John Scalzi
Permalink: http://amzn.com/B003RCJNXI

Keller in Dallas by Lawrence Block
Permalink: http://amzn.com/B002QGUCXQ

j.p.s · 07-09-2011, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wallcraft

So DRM-free isn't common, but they do still seem to have simultaneous device unlimited.

Thanks. I had spot checked a bunch of books that I knew had "simultaneous device unlimited" in the past. This time around I somehow managed to check pbook listings instead of ebook listings.

Sorry for being careless.

JoeD · 07-15-2011, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by justapuppy

Hi there, daft question (potentially). Why do you want DRM-free books? I'm wondering if it's about converting kindle files to epub or something?

Not all devices support the drm format (plus reasons others have already given, such as a company going out of business or taking their drm servers offline). So for example if I buy a book from amazon I can read it without issue on my iPad, phone and computers but if I want to also read it on my hanlin eink device i'm stuck unless the drm is removed first ( even though the device has support for the ebook format). It's nice amazon support a wide range of devices, but they'll never be able to support them all which is why standards were invented, drm breaks that.

One of the reasons i'm glad the Harry potter books are supposed to be shipping with just social drm is that it means I can used whichever device I want and if I buy a new incompatible device, convert the ebook to the new format.

When buying, It's a good bet that all ebooks will have drm unless it explicitly says otherwise. Drm is so common atm that it's a selling point to not have it

if in doubt though, contact the company, tell them which books you want to buy but that you want to know if they have drm before you make a purchase.

Catlady · 07-15-2011, 02:33 PM

Speaking of DRM--I've encountered an odd situation with a few pdfs (legit freebies from Copia). Though I've supposedly decrypted them, they still will not open outside of the Adobe Reader. Calibre indicates that they're still locked. I never get any kind of error message telling me they can't be decrypted--but the end result is that they're still apparently locked, and I've tried decrypting multiple times.

I'm not asking for help in decrypting them--I know that's verboten, and it's just not that important anyway--but I'm just baffled about why these three particular books would remain locked. Any insights?

tomsem · 07-15-2011, 02:38 PM

There seem to be a couple hundred thousand books with "simultaneous usage: unlimited". Presumably most of these are either PD or low ranking books. If you do a google search 'asin "simultaneous device usage unlimited" site:www.amazon.com' it returns 'about 283,000' results. With a few exceptions, these should be mostly unique Amazon.com ebook listings.

EdgarL · 07-15-2011, 02:59 PM

just found...
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=121387

peace

jtdolphins · 07-15-2011, 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by justapuppy

Hi there, daft question (potentially). Why do you want DRM-free books? I'm wondering if it's about converting kindle files to epub or something?

Pauline said it well, but I would like to add a few more examples. Amazon is the only company to carry some books I wanted when I had a Kobo. The only way to read them was to remove the DRM.

Another example is Apple's icloud. If you bought music from Apple when DRM was imbedded, then that music will not work within icloud. This was a selling point to the music companies as a way to recoup loses from pirated music. Yes, pirated music works on icloud.

It is another point where an honest customer gets screwed.

06-23-2011, 11:30 AM	#20
ptofimpact Member Posts: 14 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: Kindle	DRM and Kindle Hi all, new to this forum, and Kindle ...I am reading these posts with great interest. We have several Kindles in the family, and have been looking for a means to 'backup' our purchased Kindle ebooks, Had an experience where one of the kindles needed be sent back to amazon, and unfortunately had a number of 'gift books' on it, which were Not archived to our account. End result, we lost a good number of ebooks, which led to the search of backup software, Calibre. Calibre works excellent, but, this issue of DRM's being removed, would a book in this state [ drm gone] be harmful to theKindle, or to Amazon account? Many thanks.

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06-20-2011, 05:38 PM	#16
Hellmark Wizard Posts: 2,592 Karma: 4290425 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Foristell, Missouri, USA Device: Nokia N800, PRS-505, Nook STR Glowlight, Kindle 3, Kobo Libra 2	For me, the reason to go DRM free, is so you're not locked into one type of reader. In a couple years, if you get a new reader, do you want to have to rebuy all your stuff?

06-20-2011, 05:59 PM	#17
justapuppy Member Posts: 21 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: Sony PRS650	Thanks! Sounds like a good idea. I'll get on it soon

06-21-2011, 09:27 AM	#18
crossi Guru Posts: 997 Karma: 12000001 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Seattle Wahington U.S. Device: kindle	I have 3 kindles. After I change author, title and pub date once for a book I don't want to have to do that again for each kindle. Also the security of knowing that the thousands of dollars I've paid for ebooks won't be lost to device change or obsolete formats.

07-15-2011, 02:33 PM	#26
Catlady Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,423 Karma: 52734361 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Kindle Fire, Kindle Paperwhite, AGPTek Bluetooth Clip	Speaking of DRM--I've encountered an odd situation with a few pdfs (legit freebies from Copia). Though I've supposedly decrypted them, they still will not open outside of the Adobe Reader. Calibre indicates that they're still locked. I never get any kind of error message telling me they can't be decrypted--but the end result is that they're still apparently locked, and I've tried decrypting multiple times. I'm not asking for help in decrypting them--I know that's verboten, and it's just not that important anyway--but I'm just baffled about why these three particular books would remain locked. Any insights?

07-15-2011, 02:38 PM	#27
tomsem Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,011 Karma: 27060353 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: USA Device: iPhone 15PM, Kindle Scribe, iPad mini 6, PocketBook InkPad Color 3	There seem to be a couple hundred thousand books with "simultaneous usage: unlimited". Presumably most of these are either PD or low ranking books. If you do a google search 'asin "simultaneous device usage unlimited" site:www.amazon.com' it returns 'about 283,000' results. With a few exceptions, these should be mostly unique Amazon.com ebook listings.

07-15-2011, 02:59 PM	#28
EdgarL Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Cologne Device: none	just found... https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=121387 peace

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