Where to buy - non-Amazon?

[Apache]

Baen Books have always been DRM free. Jim Baen was opposed to DRM.
Apache

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Richwood

I believe that TOR and Baen books purchased direct from the publishers web sites are also DRM free

So far any Tor or Baen books that I've purchased at Baen, Tor, Amazon or Kobo have been DRM free. There is a disclaimer in the book information to the effect that this book is being sold without DRM by request of the publisher.

BTW, if anyone here does not read the Grantville Gazette, volume 88 has an article from Eric Flint celebrating the 20th anniversary of the publication of 1632 in February, 2000.

One quote from the article:

And—I love this fact because I sneer at so-called “electronic piracy”—keep in mind that 1632 has been available electronically FOR FREE for about the last eighteen years and… still just keeps selling and selling. Every year I get royalty payments for the book somewhere between $4,000 and $5,000.

As he says in the article, most of the 1632 books have a long, fat tail.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by DNSB

The same as the current Python2 branch, the standalone DeDRM tools are gone and won't be coming back.

If I read some comments correctly, part of the reason for dropping the standalone DeDRM removal tools for Windows and Mac were due to issues where most would-be users showed an total inability to read and follow instructions in the various ReadMe files.

The last standalone scripts that worked on Windows was 6.5.x anyway. Iirc, adding KFX support also added dependencies that were pretty much impossible to get working on Windows.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by DNSB

So far any Tor or Baen books that I've purchased at Baen, Tor, Amazon or Kobo have been DRM free. There is a disclaimer in the book information to the effect that this book is being sold without DRM by request of the publisher.

The publisher's request that a book be sold DRM-free is only partially honored by Amazon. If you own an e-ink Kindle device or a Fire tablet then Amazon allows you to download a copy of most books from their website. Those will be DRM-free if the publisher has requested that option from Amazon.

If you do not own a Kindle or Fire device then obtaining a DRM-free copy can be difficult. Non-Kindle owners do not have the download option on Amazon's website. And for most books, DRM protected KFX format is used by Amazon for over the air delivery to apps and devices. That applies even to books published by Tor and Baen.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

Whatever, all I know is that I don't use ADE, I simple have my Sony For PC (which is the 2.0.1 version) download the book, then I tell Calibre to go get the book from Sony and Calibre has never failed to disinfect it. For epubs I shop at Kobo.

ADE is using a version of RMSDK. The Sony software is also using a version of RMSDK. So really, you are basically using ADE like it or not.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Richwood

YES! Smashwords maintains a library of your purchases and free downloads you have made and once a item is in your library it can be downloaded in all formats the book is offered in by Smashwords. Formats available do vary by author. No DRM on any Smashwords files so they can be installed on multiple readers and devices. I own Kindle, Kobo, Nook, Sony and Ectaco readers so this is a consideration, particularly as the Sony and Ectaco readers have no remaining support and the Ectaco reader has USB only for installing new books. Sony WiFi is pretty useless too without any support source.

I believe that TOR and Baen books purchased direct from the publishers web sites are also DRM free as are books downloadable from this forum and books from Gutenberg and other public domain book sources.

Star Trek eBooks from Simon & Schuster are also DRM free.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jhowell

The publisher's request that a book be sold DRM-free is only partially honored by Amazon. If you own an e-ink Kindle device or a Fire tablet then Amazon allows you to download a copy of most books from their website. Those will be DRM-free if the publisher has requested that option from Amazon.

If you do not own a Kindle or Fire device then obtaining a DRM-free copy can be difficult. Non-Kindle owners do not have the download option on Amazon's website. And for most books, DRM protected KFX format is used by Amazon for over the air delivery to apps and devices. That applies even to books published by Tor and Baen.

I'm surprised the publishers that sell DRM free are not all over Amazon for their KFX lies.

[Quoth]

If you want to be on Amazon, you have to follow their rules. They do have maybe 90+ of ebook market.
You'd need deep pockets to take them to court and often the people with deep pockets either think DRM stops piracy (it can't, ever) or want the "control of ordinary customers" that DRM does provide.
All we can do is advise people to download to PC for USB transfer to designated Kindle. Amazon don't call it sideloading.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by jhowell

The publisher's request that a book be sold DRM-free is only partially honored by Amazon.

If you do not own a Kindle or Fire device then obtaining a DRM-free copy can be difficult. Non-Kindle owners do not have the download option on Amazon's website. And for most books, DRM protected KFX format is used by Amazon for over the air delivery to apps and devices. That applies even to books published by Tor and Baen.

I use an old version of Kindle for PC that downloads .azw instead of KFX. Are those files DRM-free? (I've never checked, because even when I do purchase what should be a DRM-free book from Amazon, I import it to Calibre and convert to ePub before I ever open the file. So even if it had DRM, the tools work their magic before I'm involved.)

[Quoth]

No, anything other than KFX the DRM is decided by the publisher.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Quoth

No, anything other than KFX the DRM is decided by the publisher.

Thanks. That's what I assumed. But you know what they say about assuming. It makes an ass out of you and Ming. And I've heard he's merciless.