ePub gets (yet) another DRM system

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Well, divvying rights by region made sense before POD and before ebooks.
Now... a bit less. There's always special cases, though. Legacy authors have fanbases that might be wedded to print.

The funny thing is the publishers that most stand to gain by going global are the ones resisting it most. Addressing the second- and third-language speakers and expatriates the world over can bring in plenty of money at minimal added cost through ebook sales.

In general, it's not the publishers who are the issue, it's the authors. Most of the major publishers are actually world wide. MacMillian is British based (but owned by a German company), Penguin/Random House is New York based, but owned by a German Company, Hachette is New York based, bu owned by a French company, Harper Collins is New York based and owned by a US company (News Corp), Simon & Schuster is New York based and owned by a US company (CBS)

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

The trick for you then is to have a 2 decade backlog of books to read.

I'm a member of the ebook addicts group for a reason. I think I could go 8-10 years with what I already have (combo audio/ebook).

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Tarana

I'm a member of the ebook addicts group for a reason. I think I could go 8-10 years with what I already have (combo audio/ebook).

The library right here could sustain a willing reader for a couple decades.

[Sirtel]

100-200 years here, depending on how fast one reads.

And it's still expanding...

[JSWolf]

I would be very pissed if the DRM changed and my device no longer could handle it. I would be very pissed if I could no longer remove the DRM because it changed.

It looks like these AHOLES are going to cause ePub to tank and give eBooks to Amazon. Way to go for user choice.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I would be very pissed if the DRM changed and my device no longer could handle it. I would be very pissed if I could no longer remove the DRM because it changed.

It looks like these AHOLES are going to cause ePub to tank and give eBooks to Amazon. Way to go for user choice.

Hmmm.... are you not bothered by the DRM on Amazon's books? Or is that somehow different? Do you believe the vendors of non-Amazon ereaders that are currently supported would not be adapting their software to handle that DRM?

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Hmmm.... are you not bothered by the DRM on Amazon's books? Or is that somehow different?

One source, one reference implementation.
The company defining the DRM is the same as the company implementing it, so will have already decided to do the implementation.

Do you believe the vendors of non-Amazon ereaders that are currently supported would not be adapting their software to handle that DRM?

Chances are that some will and some won't.
Some will just include it in their new readers, and not update old ones.
Some will update the current generation and not older ones.
Some will be able to support it directly on the device, others may require some sort of PC app to handle sideloading it.
Result will likely to be a mess, and lead to a worse user experience.

[leebase]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

The trick for you then is to have a 2 decade backlog of books to read.

I totally agree with you. Fortunately, so far, the only DRM's that I've seen that haven't been broken are mostly tied to a small enough ebook store that there just wasn't enough interest in cracking it. The trend seems to be less ebooks with DRM. I'm seeing more and more ebooks from different publishing houses that start with a "this book has been provided without DRM by request of the publisher..." Just picked up Charlaine Harris's latest from Simon and Schuster that had that notice.

Has somebody cracked iBooks? I haven't paid attention in a long while. I buy from Amazon precisely because I know the DRM is cracked. Haven't bothered to actually liberate my kindle files just yet....but I know they could be.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

One source, one reference implementation.
The company defining the DRM is the same as the company implementing it, so will have already decided to do the implementation.

And if Amazon decides to harden their DRM? Though Adobe hasn't gotten far with their hardened DRM, Amazon being monolithic may feel that hardening their DRM makes business sense.

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Chances are that some will and some won't.
Some will just include it in their new readers, and not update old ones.
Some will update the current generation and not older ones.
Some will be able to support it directly on the device, others may require some sort of PC app to handle sideloading it.
Result will likely to be a mess, and lead to a worse user experience.

For my uses, borrowing from most of my libraries involves Kobo and their DRM so no worries. If Kobo start using the new DRM, I would suspect they would continue to support their current DRM, possibly on a device by device basis, until either updates have been made available or the devices have got EOL.

As for a PC app? Quite a few people I know are happily using ADE to handle both library borrows and purchased DRMed epubs so switching to a new app is not going to be that big an issue for them. This is assuming that the new DRM manages to rapidly displace Adobe's ACS infrastructure which I personally see as unlikely in the short term in North America.

For those who are using old eInk ereaders, say the Sony line, it is unlikely any updates will happen. But then updates for Windows XP are not available either.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Hmmm.... are you not bothered by the DRM on Amazon's books? Or is that somehow different? Do you believe the vendors of non-Amazon ereaders that are currently supported would not be adapting their software to handle that DRM?

I am able to remove the DRM from Amazon eBooks so at present, I'm not bothered. I will be bothered if this new DRM for ePub is used in any place I get ePub eBooks from. At present, I can remove the DRM from ePub eBooks. It's when I cannot remove the DRM from ePub that I would have to switch to buying from Amazon exclusively. I really hope Overdrive does not change the DRM as that would have a big impact.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by leebase

Has somebody cracked iBooks? I haven't paid attention in a long while. I buy from Amazon precisely because I know the DRM is cracked. Haven't bothered to actually liberate my kindle files just yet....but I know they could be.

You should be liberating you Kindle eBooks NOW and not waiting. If something was to change whereby you were no longer able to remove the DRM, all those eBooks would be screwed. So do it now and keep DRM free copies. There are plenty of people who have lost eBooks thinking I can download them later from the eBookstore and then the store goes away and the eBooks get lost. So don't wait. Do it now.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by leebase

Has somebody cracked iBooks? I haven't paid attention in a long while. I buy from Amazon precisely because I know the DRM is cracked. Haven't bothered to actually liberate my kindle files just yet....but I know they could be.

Yep. The crack for the various Apple media (iBook, iTunes movies, etc) was broken on the High Sierra release, but as long as you have a machine running Sierra or before, you can bypass the DRM.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You should be liberating you Kindle eBooks NOW and not waiting. If something was to change whereby you were no longer able to remove the DRM, all those eBooks would be screwed. So do it now and keep DRM free copies. There are plenty of people who have lost eBooks thinking I can download them later from the eBookstore and then the store goes away and the eBooks get lost. So don't wait. Do it now.

This is very true. Removing the DRM is the first thing that I do with any digital media that I purchase. If I hadn't done that, I would have lost 12 out of 120 books when Sony shifted their customers to Kobo.

[leebase]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You should be liberating you Kindle eBooks NOW and not waiting. If something was to change whereby you were no longer able to remove the DRM, all those eBooks would be screwed. So do it now and keep DRM free copies. There are plenty of people who have lost eBooks thinking I can download them later from the eBookstore and then the store goes away and the eBooks get lost. So don't wait. Do it now.

I hear you. I do. And I don't disagree. Except...I'm confident in my ability to find what I need on the interwebs. Why bother cracking a book if a copy exists that you can just download?

[Tex2002ans]

Originally Posted by leebase

Except...I'm confident in my ability to find what I need on the interwebs. Why bother cracking a book if a copy exists that you can just download?

Because you know yours is from the original source.

There's a whole lot of Calibre-converted and/or low-quality junk out there. And they may not have specific editions/versions you may need.

For example, Game of Thrones. There have been dozens of versions since initial release, with lots of formatting/typo corrections. What may be floating in the ether are versions released on Day 1.