Overdrive will Stop Supplying Fictionwise on 30 January 2009

[Lemurion]

This is just one more reason that if I have to have DRM I prefer eReader. At least this way it's tied to me not the device. Unfortunately that kind of platform-neutral DRM is going to be less popular with with device manufacturers because it doesn't promote vendor lock-in, which is the true holy grail of DRM.

[katewilly]

I'm new to the ereader game, I bought a Sony 700 in November. So far I have 5 books on FW, all in lit format, however, none seem to be affected. Even so, I usually do my thing and get them downloaded to Calibre, onto my Sony Bookshelf and into my Reader immediately after purchase. However, this is good incentive to back everything up to my external hard drive.

In Dec. I purchased a year's membership with FW, I'm wondering if I'll still get the same benefit from it. I like BoB, but FW seems more user friendly to me.

[mjh215]

I have a proposal to everyone. Instead of writing "Oh, you naughty boys" letters to Overdrive, why don't we start a letter writing campaign to the publishers, or at the very least a petition to forward to the publishers in support of them coming up with an agreement with Fictionwise? I mean, why leave it all on their backs, we can be proactive with our views. We are not going to dissuade them from using DRM altogether, but we can at least get involved in supporting a company that we approve of.

You get a variety of people stating that if "X" publisher doesn't go along, then that will be one us readers will boycott in the future. And I'm certain that each user on MR can get a handful of book readers from offline to sign.

-MJ

[bookwormfjl]

I have 26/233 with 18 already replaced.....

[rixte]

Originally Posted by mjh215

I have a proposal to everyone. Instead of writing "Oh, you naughty boys" letters to Overdrive, why don't we start a letter writing campaign to the publishers, or at the very least a petition to forward to the publishers in support of them coming up with an agreement with Fictionwise? I mean, why leave it all on their backs, we can be proactive with our views. We are not going to dissuade them from using DRM altogether, but we can at least get involved in supporting a company that we approve of.

You get a variety of people stating that if "X" publisher doesn't go along, then that will be one us readers will boycott in the future. And I'm certain that each user on MR can get a handful of book readers from offline to sign.

-MJ

This is also a really good idea - I'm starting with HarperCollins, since they apparently exclusively use overdrive.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by rixte

This is also a really good idea - I'm starting with HarperCollins, since they apparently exclusively use overdrive.

FYI, while Harper is a partner with OD it appears their books are also sold through Lightning Source, FW still has a healthy list of titles (over 5K) from them for sale.

[splat]

How does one tell when buying a book if it is an Overdrive mobipocket book. From what I can see the one book I have that was affected is still for sale as Mobipocket so it looks like it's still hit an miss when buying.

Given that a book I want to buy in Mobipocket format is from Harper Collins am I better off waiting until after the 31st of Jan to buy?

[sianon]

If fictionwise are offering th ebook for sale currnelty, then I would expect that it is not from Overdrive

[kazbates]

Originally Posted by splat

How does one tell when buying a book if it is an Overdrive mobipocket book. From what I can see the one book I have that was affected is still for sale as Mobipocket so it looks like it's still hit an miss when buying.

Given that a book I want to buy in Mobipocket format is from Harper Collins am I better off waiting until after the 31st of Jan to buy?

I checked a few of my books that were affected (mostly from Kensington Publishing) and they too are still being offered for sale in the MS Reader .lit format. I have a lot of Micropay dollars to spend but am questioning whether to get anything at this time. Although, I do back-up those files once I download them to my laptop. If I buy them now, at least I will have those books in the format I want - I just can't download them again later should something happen to my back-ups.
It's definitely a conundrum!
Kaz

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by kazbates

I have a lot of Micropay dollars to spend but am questioning whether to get anything at this time.

OD is not the only DRM server that Fictionwise uses. I'm pretty sure if you buy a book currently it won't be served via the OD server.

BOb

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by kazbates

I checked a few of my books that were affected (mostly from Kensington Publishing) and they too are still being offered for sale in the MS Reader .lit format.

From OverDrive and the eReader Replacement File Program FAQ:

To protect our customers' investment in eBooks, Fictionwise immediately ceased selling all Overdrive eBooks and began negotiating with publishers to allow eBooks previously purchased from Overdrive to be substituted, where possible, with eReader format files.

So, no ebook you buy today will be effected by the OverDrive pull out. If they are still being offered for sale, then they are not currently being served by OverDrive (even if they were when you originally bought the ebook).

[splat]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

From OverDrive and the eReader Replacement File Program FAQ: So, no ebook you buy today will be effected by the OverDrive pull out. If they are still being offered for sale, then they are not currently being served by OverDrive (even if they were when you originally bought the ebook).

Excellent, I thought it odd when an affected book was still on sale, I'll get back to buying now

[GeoffC]

I have 2; Pocket Fowlers and Oxford Thesaurus - neither seem to have replacements (yet).

[bbusybookworm]

I'm lucky that none of the Books I've bought have been affacted by this, but its renewed and confirmed my decision to buy DRM Free if Possible, and to only buy DRM formats that have been cracked.

I've been saving a DeDRM'd version and a Html version of every book I've bought and News like that has made me glad that i've done so.

While Fictionwise itself has been great, by seeking to replace the titles from another provider, not all sellers have been so generous, and raises the serious problem posed by DRM, where buyers lose access to their lawfully purchased content.

What I'm curious to know is the reason for this decision by Overdrive. Anyone heard anything concrete?

[koland]

Originally Posted by Justy

Well, for now my BoB books are safe. I'm still happy that Mobidedrm exists for the 5/23 Overdrive eBooks without replacement files over at Fictionwise. Makes my work to backup all my eBooks into liberated format worth it.

But for some reason, every Penguin Group book I've checked this week at booksonboard has been unavailable (with a suggestion to try another book). Looks like they may also have an issue with the books being served from someone.

Which reminds me, I still have one book there I've never downloaded. It's an ereader format (not my fave) and one my mother also bought - she got The Beatles instead of the correct book, so I haven't downloaded it. When I tried to get them to swap to Mobi instead, they told me the feed gets you another completely different book (and that cover is showing in my bookshelf, not the one for the title purchased or for the Beatles). I've never been able to download the book at all (at this point, I'd be happy with the wrong book in mobi format). And I have one title, purchased months and months ago that disappeared from my shelf and they've never been able to restore it (so I can't download to put on my notebook); another had disappeared and they fixed it, but it seems they have some database problems to solve there, in their bookshelf/inventory system.