DeDRM Software

[Terisa de morgan]

I've removed DRM from all the books I've purchased. Agency-price publishers have reassured me.

[bbusybookworm]

I tend to remove DRM as soon as I Buy a book as I use a lot of different devices, and most don't support any one DRM solution.

Also, having lost access to DRM's books in the past when Sellers went out of business, or publishers stopped supporting a specific format I like to confidence of having DRM free books that I can access without having to relay on an outside party when I've already paid for them.

[phenomshel]

I want to be able to access my books in a year, five years, ten years, twenty years. So as soon as I buy it, DRM is removed, and the book is converted into a "device neutral" format.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

DRM Removal software hits the big time... it's just been featured on the front page of BoingBoing in a short posting from Cory Doctorow.

And there's also been a short article at Wired.com

[jabberwock_11]

I think that many of us have experienced the unpleasantness of having formats that become either obsolete or are not compatible with whatever device we buy next. It seems like the vast majority of DeDRM software users are simply trying to preserve their ability to read their books in spite of whatever future events may make that difficult.

When I first got into ebooks my WHOLE library was purchased through mobipocket, which was fine...until I bought a Sony PRS-505 and was unable to read the books that I had legally purchased. Thanks to DeDRM software and the helpful guidance of some folks here, I managed to free my library and make it available once more. It also gave me a much wider range of places to buy ebooks from. I was no longer worried if a store had the book, but not in the format that I needed. I just wish that it was not a necessary step in buying ebooks, if more stores offered DRM free options then there would be far fewer folks turning to pirate sites.

[pwalker8]

Same here. The first ebook I bought many long years ago was The Complete Enchanter from I think it was Peanut Press, or at least Peanut was in the name somewhere. It only worked with a reader that worked on a palm pilot. Needless to say, the publisher went belly up and the palm pilot hasn't been around for years. As far as I know, The Complete Enchanter is no longer available as an ebook and since both authors have been dead awhile, there is confusion as to who owns the publishing rights. Over the years, I suppose that I've purchase four or five other books in lrx format that never got converted to epub when Sony converted.

Fortunately, all the books that I buy now are in a format where I can strip out the DRM and thus I can continue to read those books as I switch from a Sony 500 to a Sony 505, to a kindle, to a nook and now to an iPad. I buy ebooks from Sony, Amazon, B&N, Baen and directly from a few authors. The last time I looked, I had well over 1000 ebooks, all legally purchased. That doesn't include the PD books that I've downloaded from Gutenberg. Knowing that I can move my books to whatever device comes next gives me the confidence to buy a lot more books.

[KarenH]

I didn't even have to change devices to lose access a specific format. When I bought my EZ Reader it supported DRMed Mobipocket. The first firmware update after purchase dropped the Mobi DRM and picked up Adobe Epub. I know I could have reverted back to the original firmware, but I wanted the improvements offered in the newer version. Thanks to some subtle hints from MR members and a bit of googling, I was able to find what I needed to liberate my existing library. Now I remove DRM immediately from all my purchases just so I don't have to go through that hassle again, and thanks to Calibre plugins, it's a totally invisible process - I love it!

[AlbertaCowboy]

I like having the ability to format shift if required, but the real reason that I find it necessary to liberate purchased ebooks is because I find the crappy generic covers that come with an ebook to be completely unacceptable. I paid for the book, I want the book to have a real cover. Also, I like resetting the base font size to maintain a standard "medium" size for my fonts.

[doreenjoy]

DRM doesn't bother me much, but I've had a few titles mysteriously become unreadable so now I strip it as a matter of habit, for my own personal use.

[ChristopherTD]

The first ebooks I bought were Microsoft Reader format (remember that) followed by eReader. Both formats are moribund now, if not quite extinct. I only started buying ePub and Kindle titles when I was sure I could remove the DRM and use the books on future devices. As with the majority of folks on this site I use it to ensure the longevity of my purchases, not for distribution of unprotected copies

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by ChristopherTD

The first ebooks I bought were Microsoft Reader format (remember that) followed by eReader. Both formats are moribund now, if not quite extinct. I only started buying ePub and Kindle titles when I was sure I could remove the DRM and use the books on future devices. As with the majority of folks on this site I use it to ensure the longevity of my purchases, not for distribution of unprotected copies

If you still have a windows computer on which you can read the Microsoft .lit ebooks, there's DRM removal software for them (not a python script, an actual windows executable file called Convert Lit).

If you still have a note of the Name and Number key for the eReader files, some of the python scripts will remove the DRM from them.

[Sydney's Mom]

It doesn't need to be a change in readers. Mobi drm is tied to a particular reader. My newest kindle couldn't read mobi books I bought with my first kindle, if I hadn't liberated them from drm.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by LaurieGator

I am curious what percentage of folks who use deDRM software just use it for reasons like they are against what DRM stands for or they want to only use the books on their personal e-readers that use different formatting rather than pirating or torrent sites.

That would be me!

[wvcherrybomb]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

I want to be able to access my books in a year, five years, ten years, twenty years. So as soon as I buy it, DRM is removed, and the book is converted into a "device neutral" format.

This is my reasoning and practice also.

Since K3 is my first and only reader, at first DRM didn't bother me. Once I started reading others' stories I decided to protect my investment.

Once I was secure in the knowledge that I could own my ebooks forever, I have spent much more money buying them.

[tm3]

Originally Posted by wvcherrybomb

Once I was secure in the knowledge that I could own my ebooks forever, I have spent much more money buying them.

this is lesson #1 for retailers worried about losing revenue due to the availability
of de-DRM software.

lesson #2 is that if eBook prices are reasonable (say, $5 instead of $15), there will be much less interest in illegal sharing and stealing. the photocopying of print books is not very prevalent now given that hardbacks are $15 and paperbacks are $5, but if print books were $150 this might change.

lesson #3 is that there will always be a small segment who skirts legality, but while keeping one's store locked at all times will absolutely prevent shoplifting it also completely kills sales.