Amazon to allow downloads of DRM free books

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

Both the kepub and epub of the collection from Kobo also have missing spaces.

Both the epub and mobi of the collection you can download from Reactor.com are missing the spaces (and Tamsyn Muir's story).

You can't get an ePub from Kobo of this eBook. Without DRM, you only get KePub.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You can't get an ePub from Kobo of this eBook. Without DRM, you only get KePub.

What? I've purchased and downloaded many DRM-free epubs from Kobo.

Edit: just checked with two DRM-free books I bought a while ago. Yep, they're epubs. No Kobo spans anywhere.

[peaceridge]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

What? I've purchased and downloaded many DRM-free epubs from Kobo.

Edit: just checked with two DRM-free books I bought a while ago. Yep, they're epubs. No Kobo spans anywhere.

I get ebooks from Kobo all the time. So far, all have been epubs and DRM-free.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

What? I've purchased and downloaded many DRM-free epubs from Kobo.

Edit: just checked with two DRM-free books I bought a while ago. Yep, they're epubs. No Kobo spans anywhere.

How did you check for the spans? If you checked by loading it in the editor from the main GUI, you won't see the spans. But they are there.

I've never been able to download a DRM-Free ePub. I've only been able to download a DRM-Free KePub.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

How did you check for the spans? If you checked by loading it in the editor from the main GUI, you won't see the spans. But they are there.

I've never been able to download a DRM-Free ePub. I've only been able to download a DRM-Free KePub.

I opened it in the editor from the File Explorer after downloading it from Kobo (using Open With...). No spans. I didn't add it to the main GUI, as I already have a copy there.

[JBaby]

Every book I’ve ever bought from Kobo directly or through Humble Bundle has always been ePub. I’ve never downloaded a KePub.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I opened it in the editor from the File Explorer after downloading it from Kobo (using Open With...). No spans. I didn't add it to the main GUI, as I already have a copy there.

Don't use the editor. uncompress the ZIP file and have a look in a text editor at the HTML. I use WinRAR to view the contents of an ePub.

Using Some of the Best of Tor.com: 2020 Edition, The KePub version is slightly less then 1/2 the size of the ePub from Tor. So I am wondering if Kobo recompresses the mages when the ePub is converted to KePub.

[Sirtel]

Why not use the editor? When I copy a kepub from my Kobo ereader, I can see the spans in the editor. I can't see them in an epub downloaded from the Kobo website.

Even if there are some differences from the original epub, I don't really care. For all intents and purposes the file is an epub.

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You can't get an ePub from Kobo of this eBook. Without DRM, you only get KePub.

Way to completely sidetrack the discussion there. My point in this case was that the book in question had the same errors in both the version downloaded with Kobo desktop (kepub) and the version downloaded from the website (epub). And that they were also in both formats provided on the publisher's website (epub, mobi). So the issue wasn't something unique to the Amazon copies.

[Timboli]

Not sure if this has been discussed in similar detail before, but my recent investigation has proved to me at least, that using the new DRM-Free download option that Amazon provides, is generally not worth it ... unless they improve things ... or higher res images are present and worth it.

Here's my findings for one ebook - Queen Of The Falconstar by Joe Vasicek

Amazon

Kobo

Smashwords

DRM-Free and Free at all three stores.

AZW3 - 347 Kb - Acquired via an old Kindle device.
EPUB - 942 Kb - Acquired via Amazon's new DRM-Free download option.
EPUB - 281 Kb - Converted from the AZW3 by calibre.
EPUB - 643 Kb - Smashwords.
EPUB - 642 Kb - Kobo

Clearly there is added bloat in the DRM-Free download from Amazon. Plus chapters are missing indicators, so structure is not entirely correct. Author name is missing from metadata too, etc.

So why would you bother getting it using the DRM-Free download option from Amazon, unless you were some level of desperate, or wanted higher res images, if any. If you wanted chapter indicators restored, you'd have to spend time with something like the free Sigil editor or calibre's similar ebook editor.

File sizes were even worse for the following short story by the same author. Though admittedly we are only hugely better off with the converted to EPUB version.

A Hill On Which To Die

AZW3 - 205 Kb - Acquired via an old Kindle device.
EPUB - 1.12 Mb - Acquired via Amazon's new DRM-Free download option.
EPUB - 161 Kb - Converted from the AZW3 by calibre.
EPUB - 830 Kb - Smashwords.
EPUB - 830 Kb - Kobo.

So for my money, I'm just going to stick with the AZW3 and then convert to EPUB from that.

[gatoruss]

Over the years I have purchased ~300 kindle books.

Is there a way to determine which may be drm-free and, therefore, downloadable from amazon.

Paging thru my kindle content list on amazon, I do not see any of my ebooks showing a option to download in other formats - I find it hard to believe that none of the 300+ ebooks that I have purchased from amazon are not drm-free!

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by gatoruss

Is there a way to determine which may be drm-free and, therefore, downloadable from amazon.

No.

And not all DRM-free books may be downloadable - the author or the publisher must enable it, even if they're DRM-free.