Amazon and DRM changes

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

You don't have to buy a Kobo reader to buy, download and deDRM books from the Kobo store. You can do all that without a Kobo device or app.

At least as long as you have an Adobe account and have not run out of registrations or are willing to jump through all the hoops that are required to get more registrations with their chat.

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

It is now, though, with Amazon. You need a physical Kindle to deDRM new books.

It has always been the case with Amazon. We simply chose to ignore the license they provided us with and broke their DRM.

[Gardenman]

Originally Posted by C-novice

If it doesn't already exists on this site somewhere, perhaps it might be worthwhile that we create a reference list of e-book stores other than Amzn that we can shop for books that we prefer.

So far I can think of kobo, smashwords, Google Play, ebooks.com, authors who sell direct from their sites as already stated in this thread, check out the main publishers' sites [ones that Amzn do not own] etc.

But we are still going to have the problem of authors whose work we like that are exclusive to Amzn. Give them up until their works are available elsewhere.

For those of us who will drop Amzn eventually, we could, as suggested elsewhere in this thread, send a very courteous email to them letting them know the reason they won't be supported by us anymore. Likely won't matter to them but it would be something for them to think on when sales / royalties decrease.

I agree 100%

[Fat Abe]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Amazon’s market position allows them to get away with customer unfriendly practices that they believe benefit their bottom line.

I don't know if this is 100% true. While tighter encryption can prevent stealing of ebooks by users who pass on decrypted books to others for money, or even charity, I think some publishers have probably strong-armed Amazon to keep their properties under tighter control.

As the number one ebook retailer, Amazon has the largest inventory of licensed ebooks. Search through the most highly stocked libraries in the nation, and look for ebooks that were published for the author Richard Deming (of Dragnet fame). Amazon beats LAPL Overdrive (which has only 12 books). FLP and Metro Library have only 3 ebooks each. Amazon has one of his early books, Tweak the Devil's Nose, on Kindle Unlimited! I know this is like a paid lending library, but until Kobo offers a similar service, I am afraid we are stuck with the big elephant in the room. Naturally, we have to decide whether we are readers first, or book owners. This book sells for $3.99 on Amazon or Kobo. Folks, we need to write to Kobo to ask for a Kobo Unlimited. But I doubt they would invest in the infrastructure necessary to meet publisher requirements.

[stumped]

Originally Posted by Fat Abe

...., I think some publishers have probably strong-armed Amazon to keep their properties under tighter control.

..

but the most recent change is to protect KU. the authors using that are too weak to strongarm anyone

if i buy some super popular best seller by a very rich author, i can get around DRM with the download and transfer trick

its the badly written books by Mr Nobodies in KU that are now locked away

PS
"but until Kobo offers a similar service, I am afraid we are stuck with the big elephant in the room"
kobo does have a version of KU, its called Kobo Plus
https://help.kobo.com/hc/en-us/artic...us-on-kobo-com

its not very attractive though, and is only in som countries ( not UK so I cannot have a free trial )

maybe someone who has it can say if books can br downloaded into ADE, like other kobo books

Kobo Plus is a relative newcomer to the ebook subscription market, following a similar model to Kindle Unlimited. It's great for Kobo ereader users, although its availability is very limited at the time of writing. At present, it's only available in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal.

[ekbell]

Originally Posted by Fat Abe

Folks, we need to write to Kobo to ask for a Kobo Unlimited. But I doubt they would invest in the infrastructure necessary to meet publisher requirements.

In Canada, as well as Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, Italy, France, and the Netherlands, Kobo has the Kobo plus subscription which work much the same as Kindle Unlimited (without the exclusivity requirement).

My favorite publisher of older books (Open Road Media) currently has their books available through Kobo Plus in Canada.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Fat Abe

Folks, we need to write to Kobo to ask for a Kobo Unlimited. But I doubt they would invest in the infrastructure necessary to meet publisher requirements.

Originally Posted by ekbell

In Canada, as well as Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, Italy, France, and the Netherlands, Kobo has the Kobo plus subscription which work much the same as Kindle Unlimited (without the exclusivity requirement).

My favorite publisher of older books (Open Road Media) currently has their books available through Kobo Plus in Canada.

Not to mention without the limit on the number of books you can have at one time.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by haertig

I wouldn't. I said that is what it "evolved into"...

I... decided I didn't want to deal with B&N any longer.

So I bought a Kindle and gave Amazon a try. But the first thing I learned how to do, even before purchasing the Kindle, was how to remove Amazon's DRM.

I don't want to turn this into a big debate. It'll bore everyone.

But the point of my message was why did you buy a Kindle to give Amazon a try'?

Like you, I started with a Nook and bought books from B&N. But when B&N got up to hijinks. I learned how to buy Kindle books, download them, remove DRM and convert them. I switched stores, but didn't feel the need to switch devices.

I have bought several Kobos and Nooks, but didn't really shop at Kobo or B&N.

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by downeaster59

On the one hand, people say that we at Mobileread are only a small minority of Amazon customers, so why should Amazon care about us? On the other hand, others say that Amazon is carefully monitoring Mobileread looking for de-DRM stuff and then counteracting it ASAP. If Amazon dismisses us as a very small community, why should they put in the resources to monitor our efforts to de-DRM ebooks if we, the small minority, are the only ones who will know about and use them? Or, is Amazon seeking to plug every possible hole before something might get out to the general public?

I don't think Amazon is monitoring Mobileread. If anything, I think Amazon is monitoring the noDRM/deDRM (and related) github. There's a downside to making your source code publicly available.

[Patitapetit]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

But the point of my message was why did you buy a Kindle to give Amazon a try'?

Like you, I started with a Nook and bought books from B&N. But when B&N got up to hijinks. I learned how to buy Kindle books, download them, remove DRM and convert them. I switched stores, but didn't feel the need to switch devices.

Because It WAS very easy to do a click and have the ebook bought, instead of First crack DRM convert from mobi azw3 to ePub, then send It to whatever ebookreader.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Patitapetit

Because It WAS very easy to do a click and have the ebook bought, instead of First crack DRM convert from mobi azw3 to ePub, then send It to whatever ebookreader.

You aren't the person I was replying to.

But when you say "Because It WAS very easy to do a click and have the ebook bought", that is still true. The vast majority of Kindle users will not notice a difference.

[Leseratte_10]

Originally Posted by Joykins

I don't think Amazon is monitoring Mobileread. If anything, I think Amazon is monitoring the noDRM/deDRM (and related) github. There's a downside to making your source code publicly available.

That's not really a downside to public source code.

Even if it was possible to make a closed-source Calibre plugin and even if the DeDRM plugin was closed-source - Amazon doesn't need to know how the DRM removal works. They made the DRM, they already know how it can be removed.

They just have to wait until an update of the plugin is announced that mentions being able to get around the KFX DRM and then they deploy a new version.

[Lys]

Originally Posted by stumped

its not very attractive though, and is only in som countries ( not UK so I cannot have a free trial )

Not a dig to you, but the same can be said for KU. The availability of books on it strongly depends on where you are located (and the same it can be said for other tools that Kindle offers. Goodreads integration? Not available here, for example). Here KU listing is quite pitiful (for my taste, ofc). Kobo Plus is not much better but it does offer a comparable service.

And also the "Amazon's strength comes from publishing companies" line strongly depends on where you are. Here, for example, is quite the opposite: the main publishing houses have bricks&mortars stores and strong political influence and power and they openly put themselves against Amazon (to the point of openly directing their customers to Kobo now, Kobo/Sony/Tolino back some years ago), and they managed to lobby so that Amazon couldn't sell their products under price. The price is decided by the editor and Amazon can't decide to have deals or whatever.

Originally Posted by stumped

maybe someone who has it can say if books can br downloaded into ADE, like other kobo books

When I tried the free trial, it was possible to deDRM books you get through the program, but iirc you needed to run Obok with the device connected (it wasn't possible to get the acms files nor to get the files from KoboDesktop App)

I don't know if they changed something to make it impossible now or not (personally, I consider subscription plans a waste of money: I want to freely choose what I buy, not get it from a list someone else decided for me. And I have no intention to give Amazon (or Kobo) even more info on my reading habits nor do I want authors to be paid according to """algorithms""")

[Fat Abe]

Originally Posted by ekbell

In Canada, as well as Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, Italy, France, and the Netherlands, Kobo has the Kobo plus subscription which work much the same as Kindle Unlimited (without the exclusivity requirement).

My favorite publisher of older books (Open Road Media) currently has their books available through Kobo Plus in Canada.

It's going to be a tough choice for me subscribing to Kobo Plus in the U.S.A. The Canada store has more choices than the United States. My IP is in Hawaii, so their servers keep directing me to the Canadian store. I think one of my old Kobo readers was even shipped from Canada. I keep asking myself why Canada has so many more books than the US? (They should never have redirected me to the Canada-based site, where I can compare the differences.)
I'll check in the Kobo sub-forum for the pros and cons of KU vs. KP. The cost of the subscriptions is not a deterrent since I rack up over $30K USD/yr at Amazon.

N.B. Kobo Plus is not yet available in the US. Looking forward to it arriving in my dysfunctional nation, assuming we are still a democracy in the near future.

[VirgoGirl]

Originally Posted by stumped

its the badly written books by Mr Nobodies in KU that are now locked away

Originally Posted by stumped

and if u want to borrow books that are actually worth reading , use a public library

others have established that as soon as u actually buy the KU book you were only borrowing, it then becomes available for ....

Could the nasty comments about KU authors/books please stop? They have no bearing on the original topic and are pointlessly rude.

There are many authors who are Amazon exclusive/ KU authors who are actually quite good writers - I used to be able buy them before this current situation - just because their genres or topics may not be to your taste is no reason to trash an entire area of books because of those that are badly written. They don't have big publisher names behind them for various reasons, this is their way of making some money to live. Would you be this disrespectful to those in service industries who're working Uber or fast food places to make a living?

No, I'm not an author but I play one on TV.