DR1000 Adobe ePub Support

[timezone]

Originally Posted by tompe

I do not believe there is any DRM system now were you can have that expectation. Electronic devices breaks down and you cannot be sure that in 50 years you will be able to read your DRMed books on a new device.

I know, I know. I know with PC data there is a better chance the media will change before the data is lost. Tape to Floppy drives to CD to DVD and now Blu-Ray. Or a removable stick can't be read because it can't fit into a new slot in a newer generation usb reader.

What gets me is we use these past examples as reasons to just accept the inevitable. We have become the audience in the first Apple Mac commercial. We have turned into Zombies.

[timezone]

Originally Posted by HarryT

You believe wrongly - it does not. Look, for example, at the Sony Reader, which supports both ePub and Sony's own BBeB DRM systems.

This is a quote from the iRex i to i blog - It is pretty vague and suggests there may also be an Adobe exclusive agreement. Do we really know the answer? It didn't say the relationship with Mobipocket and any other DRM. It still may mean exclusive from Amazon. I realize I might be wrong but do we really know the answer? Adobe may have a different agreement with iRex.

Unfortunately the relationship of Adobe and Mobipocket DRM’s is an exclusive one, and both can not be supported on one device at the same time. In order to ensure that our customers are not limited in any way from obtaining the content they desire to view on their eReader. Therefore we have devided to keep the old firmware with Mobipocket DRM available. This means that you as a customer can decide if you like to run Mobipocket or Adobe DRM on your device.

[HarryT]

You could always remove the DRM if you feel that strongly about it. It's easy to convert Mobi books to ePub and vice versa once you're done that.

[timezone]

Originally Posted by HarryT

You could always remove the DRM if you feel that strongly about it. It's easy to convert Mobi books to ePub and vice versa once you're done that.

I have removed PDF DRM from books. I also will never share them. I will honor the copyright agreement and not give away products I buy.

MobileRead doesn't allow anyone to point people to unlock programs. Can you PM me? I still believe this is an issue we have to fight but this will soften the blow.

[HarryT]

A Google search for "MobiDeDRM" should get you going. I will say no more than that.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by timezone

What gets me is we use these past examples as reasons to just accept the inevitable. We have become the audience in the first Apple Mac commercial. We have turned into Zombies.

I fight back by refusing to boy DRMed ebooks and try to get people here and in other places to do the same...

[timezone]

Originally Posted by tompe

I fight back by refusing to boy DRMed ebooks and try to get people here and in other places to do the same...

I am not going to knock your approach and do find it admirable. However, if all the bestsellers and books that are important to the people purchasing books are in DRM then how can it be stopped? Even with sites that allow one to grab non DRM versions not enough people will follow this suggestion. I won't if those sites have illegal copies and not paying the publisher. I am not going to steal a product to make a point. The better choice is to not buy ebooks or music, etc until DRM is resolved that benefits all parties. But then we lose out on having an eReader. Another tact is to raise our voices. This does work.

[Floeee]

so is it illegal to remove DRM? even if you dont share them and only read it on one device?
i mean its yours until you bought it...

[HarryT]

Depends where you live. In some countries it's "technically illegal", but as long as it's for your personal use and you don't tell anyone, who's going to know?

[Ea]

Originally Posted by Floeee

so is it illegal to remove DRM? even if you dont share them and only read it on one device?
i mean its yours until you bought it...

That would depend on the laws of the country you live in, but, at least in Western Europe and Northern America, usually removal of DRM is either completely verboten or heavily restricted. In Denmark, for example, it's legal if if you own the file, and you need to remove DRM in order to access the content, but as a general rule it's not legal to remove DRM or break copy protection - even if it is legal to make copies for your own use.

[Matthijs]

Originally Posted by timezone

This is a quote from the iRex i to i blog - It is pretty vague and suggests there may also be an Adobe exclusive agreement. Do we really know the answer? It didn't say the relationship with Mobipocket and any other DRM. It still may mean exclusive from Amazon. I realize I might be wrong but do we really know the answer? Adobe may have a different agreement with iRex.

The statements are vague on purpose, because the agreement details must be kept confidential. But I think I can say that HarryT is much closer to the truth than you are.

[timezone]

I don't dispute that fact or supposition. My point is this debate which I started about who has the exclusive agreements clouds the issue of DRM. Even if Adobe doesn't have exclusive use contracts does not mean they can't do this in the future. Also changing to ePub doesn't mean this is the end of the DRM changes. Something in the future will appear and we will again lose our libraries to the new DRM.

I wrote an email to customer service on the Mobipocket site. The Amazon response asked if I was satisfied with the answer. I click the link to say no I was not. I sent another response to that link. Remember Jeff Bezos apologized for deleting the Orwell eBook and offered compensation. If everyone here wrote a strong but respectful message to Amazon then they just might wake up. They do respond to their customers but at the moment we have been silent. Speak up!!!!


Of course if the agreements are secret then we really don't know if the Adobe / iRex agreement is boilerplate or something more exclusive with Adobe.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by timezone

We can keep the old ROM. All well and good if you don't want any new upgrades. Wait!!!!! Anyone consider this probably means only this reader. When we all want to jump to the color reader do you really think you can bring over the old ROM? I don't think so.

Future products have nothing to do with the agreements or formats that a current product supports. If the future color reader doesn't support the format you need, then don't buy it. You're not entering into a lifetime guarantee from iRex that every device they produce is going to support Mobipocket.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by timezone

This is big because the issue has to do with being able to purchase a library with the expectation we can own it for the rest of our lives. Are we going to be forced to continually buy previously purchased books in order to maintain a library? Not sure most of us want to be in this predicament.

What you're saying is true, but it's more a complaint against the Publishers than anyone else. They are the ones pushing for the inclusion of DRM in eBooks.

BTW, you do know that it's very easy to remove the DRM from your Mobipocket books?

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by timezone

This is a quote from the iRex i to i blog - It is pretty vague and suggests there may also be an Adobe exclusive agreement. Do we really know the answer? It didn't say the relationship with Mobipocket and any other DRM. It still may mean exclusive from Amazon. I realize I might be wrong but do we really know the answer? Adobe may have a different agreement with iRex.

What they mean is that Mobi's agreement is exclusive, so the only way to support Adobe is to stop supporting Mobi. They meant that the relationship between the two formats is causing the problem, not that both Adobe and Mobi have exclusive agreements in place.

At least that's my interpretation of it.