Amazon - Will they become evil

[OldLincoln]

I thought you must be mistaken, Cinisajoy, so I visited the author site and quickly learned DRM is something they turn on or leave off. However looks like new authors questioning whether or no to use it. Most I read say no, one succinctly (now see what you did eschwartz!) said:

"Activating DRM causes more hassle than it stops. If pirates want to get hold of your book, DRM won't do anything to stop them.

So no. Keep is disabled. It's an ugly, prehistoric security measure that irritates more than it deters."

My sentiments exactly.

As for the publisher putting them on.... Being one so open minded as I (gag, sounds like Bill O'Reilly now), I guess publishers have the authority to do that if it's in their author agreement, but many authors new and experienced are doing self-publishing and it's their call.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by OldLincoln

I thought you must be mistaken, Cinisajoy, so I visited the author site and quickly learned DRM is something they turn on or leave off. However looks like new authors questioning whether or no to use it. Most I read say no, one succinctly (now see what you did eschwartz!) said:

"Activating DRM causes more hassle than it stops. If pirates want to get hold of your book, DRM won't do anything to stop them.

So no. Keep is disabled. It's an ugly, prehistoric security measure that irritates more than it deters."

My sentiments exactly.

As for the publisher putting them on.... Being one so open minded as I (gag, sounds like Bill O'Reilly now), I guess publishers have the authority to do that if it's in their author agreement, but many authors new and experienced are doing self-publishing and it's their call.

All the big publishers do DRM.
Now I can tell you that the person publishing the book on Amazon makes the choice. That can be either the author or the publisher.
Note: the publisher is the one that Amazon pays.
I know a couple of small publishers.
Welcome to a new world of book publishing.
I have seen arguments on everything from pricing, to DRM, to formatting, to why grammar doesn't matter. (It only matters if the author wants to make money. )

I have several authors as Facebook friends. Some eek out a living and others are swimming in a tub of money.

[OldLincoln]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

All the big publishers do DRM.
I have several authors as Facebook friends. Some eek out a living and others are swimming in a tub of money.

Focusing on free books I read a lot of first on Amazon books. I've rated (in my library) 1839 books (plus many*) with 243 - 5 star, 191 - 1 star. My ratings are definitely biased and I strictly adhere to 3 as a "fairly average book" and go from there. I consider author success pretty much natural selection.

The * above is due to my screwing up metadata files and loosing my added columns on a lot of books in the past. I don't know what I did but it broke and it's done. I can always read them again I guess, but that might be a bit of OCD don't you think?

[Barbara1955]

Originally Posted by darryl

For those genuinely concerned who are not that familiar with the situation, my view and that of most others here is that there is no need for any panic. Amazon may or may not be planning to only allow downloads of kfx files at some time in the future. They have not shared their strategy with us and we simply don't know. But even if they do, this is not going to happen overnight. What you should be doing if you legally can is to use Calibre and Apprentice Alf's tools to create a drm-free backup of all of your purchased ebooks, whether you buy them from Amazon or any other Vendor.

News Flash Amazon already has the power to Stop people from removing the DRM & So has the Overdrive Libraries. Its Not IF they can do it its When are they going to.

[darryl]

Originally Posted by Katie1

News Flash Amazon already has the power to Stop people from removing the DRM & So has the Overdrive Libraries. Its Not IF they can do it its When are they going to.

News flash. The US and Russia have atomic bombs. "Its Not If they can do it its When are they going to." Really?

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Katie1

News Flash Amazon already has the power to Stop people from removing the DRM & So has the Overdrive Libraries. Its Not IF they can do it its When are they going to.

Originally Posted by darryl

News flash. The US and Russia have atomic bombs. "Its Not If they can do it its When are they going to." Really?

Another newsflash: No Amazon doesn't.

And neither does OverDrive (except insomuch as blatant theft is a violation of law).
Although Apprentice Alf & Co. don't support removing DRM from OverDrive books.

[Barbara1955]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Another newsflash: No Amazon doesn't.

And neither does OverDrive (except insomuch as blatant theft is a violation of law).
Although Apprentice Alf & Co. don't support removing DRM from OverDrive books.

When was the Last time you tried to remove the DRM from a Prime Lending Library eBook? when was the last time you tried to remove DRM from Overdrive Library ebook? I have Not to keep the ebook but just to see if it could still be done. Neither has worked in Over a year.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Katie1

When was the Last time you tried to remove the DRM from a Prime Lending Library eBook? when was the last time you tried to remove DRM from Overdrive Library ebook? I have Not to keep the ebook but just to see if it could still be done. Neither has worked in Over a year.

Well, no duh.

That wasn't Amazon -- the DeDRM tools specifically do not support borrowed books.

[Barbara1955]

I have the Same Alf Tools on my PC when I could remove the DRM. Nothing has changed. Except that it wont work.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by OldLincoln

Focusing on free books I read a lot of first on Amazon books. I've rated (in my library) 1839 books (plus many*) with 243 - 5 star, 191 - 1 star. My ratings are definitely biased and I strictly adhere to 3 as a "fairly average book" and go from there. I consider author success pretty much natural selection.

The * above is due to my screwing up metadata files and loosing my added columns on a lot of books in the past. I don't know what I did but it broke and it's done. I can always read them again I guess, but that might be a bit of OCD don't you think?

I haven't tracked in a while but our stats are pretty much the same.
Now I do have a few hundred that don't even rate 1 star. Those were did not finish.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Katie1

I have the Same Alf Tools on my PC when I could remove the DRM. Nothing has changed. Except that it wont work.

I have no idea what you are talking about then.

All I know is, you can tell if a book is from OverDrive or from KOLL by looking at the encrypted file.
If the tools detect you are trying to decrypt such a book, they immediately error and refuse to try to decrypt the book.
It's always been that way.

If anything, blame Amazon for accidentally sending you a KOLL ebook that can be decrypted. A far cry from your previous claim that Amazon has some sort of anti-Alf doomsday weapon.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I think that level of availabilty right there is why most people just don't care about Amazon's "walled garden" (a phrase that needs to die a horrible death, IMO). Because it ISN'T walled. Their garden is open to anyone who wants to come play in it--no entry fee required even. Hop in or out anytime you like. Bring any smart-phone, tablet, PC (or yes, Kindle device) you like with you.

The only ones who can't play in Amazon's garden are those who fear the plants will grow teeth and eat them. And even then, their exclusion is by their own choice.

Hmm, it's not walled, but there is a fence... Not everybody is welcome. If you do have an e-reader but it's not a kindle, please look elsewhere.

But most non-Amazon shops have the same fenced garden: If you have a kindle, you're not welcome as we only serve epubs.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Hmm, it's not walled, but there is a fence... Not everybody is welcome. If you do have an e-reader but it's not a kindle, please look elsewhere.

But most non-Amazon shops have the same fenced garden: If you have a kindle, you're not welcome as we only serve epubs.

Well that's just common sense. You can't bring a dedicated epub reading device to a kindle party (nor can you bring a dedicated amazon kindle device to an epub party--without some hacking). But all devices that will let you run a free app ARE invited. There's a difference between being "fenced in/out" and format incompatibilities (or idealistic purchase choices).

The only people being excluded from anybody's "garden" these days are those who choose to only own a one-garden device.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by Rizla

Even if kfx becomes the standard for Kindles and proves impossible to convert, users will continue to be able read their media on a variety of devices, though possibly not on any other e-ink devices, though that's debatable.

Anything that can be read on a monitor can be extracted as text. For example using this little program
http://www.structurise.com/kleptomania/
Combine it with an Autohotkey macro program and any 12 years old can come up with a program for liberating his / her book, even if it takes whole night for a single book ;-)

[Rizla]

Originally Posted by Katie1

News Flash Amazon already has the power to Stop people from removing the DRM & So has the Overdrive Libraries. Its Not IF they can do it its When are they going to.

Exactly right. As a private enterprise, Amazon is entirely within in it's right to protect its interest and block DRM-removal, and doubtless will. Why wouldn't it? Piracy plagues digital media and DRM is there to stop it.