Why are DRM ebooks evil and why should I avoid them like the plague?

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by rogerVA

How will DRM books be noted as such on sites like Amazon? And how do I tell if books on my Kindle 3 are DRM? And is there a guide here for stripping the DRM from your books?

1) The secret code phrase which Amazon unofficially uses for letting you know that a Kindle book is DRM-free is "Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited" in the Product Details on the Amazon catalogue page. If you don't see it at all, or you see a number instead of "Unlimited", then it's DRM.

Kobo, on the other hand, now tells you outright whether a downloadable book is DRM-free or not when you go to the product page. But they only seem to have a very tiny portion of their catalogue qualifying and there's currently no way to search to filter for them.

2) If you try opening your hardware Kindle Mobi files with another reader (Kindle for PC, Calibre without the plugins, Kindle Previewer, Stanza, Mobipocket Reader, etc.) and you get an error message, that means that they're DRM. Someone may perhaps have written a script to check the metadata to speed this process up.

3) Other people have already pointed you in the right direction off MR, but I have to add that if you're going to strip, strip early and strip often. Amazon has a decided tendency to tweak their firmware, software, and file format to break the enabling tools from time to time.

Also, keep a backup copy of the original DRM file and unlocking keys along with the stripped version, because sometimes the tools get fixed to account for interpretation errors that might have previously lead to faulty or damaged output.

Hope this helps.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by stonetools

You have been told above that you can't lend ebooks.[...]

You have been told that you can't share your ebook with dear old dad.[...]

You have been told that you can't take your Kindle books with you if you move to a new dedicated ereader. [...]

Follow these steps and it's 90 per cent likely that you will live a life untroubled by DRM. Cheers,

Yes, if the publisher has allowed, one can lend each book once for 14 days to someone with the same device as oneself. Not quite lending I we know it.

Yes, if one allows access to one's Amazon account, in the process allowing that person to buy books with your money, and to see and read all the books you've bought from Amazon. Not quite sharing as I know it.

Nice to see you admit that one can't take one's library with one to a different dedicated device. Not quite owning as I know it.

And on the contrary, it's at least 90% likely that one will be troubled by DRM at some time in the future, unless one never re-reads books, and always reads one's books as soon as one buys them.

[Piper_]

Originally Posted by queentess

I don't know any way to tell if the book is DRM'ed from Amazon. I suspect /most/ are, but Amazon doesn't require DRM from certain publishers on certain days of the month if the sun shines just right. (IE - it's a mystery to me, but I know Amazon doesn't require DRM on everything.)

As of April 2009, Amazon doesn't require any book to have DRM. The choice is left to the publisher.

DRM has always been disabled by default for authors publishing through Amazon. After some authors reported difficulty in enabling DRM, Amazon made it easier last year.

(Prior to April 2009, there were two tracks: Amazon Published and Other Published. Since the big publishers (who used "Other Published") insisted on DRM, the system that processed "Other Published" was set to add DRM, so anyone who used that track instead of "Amazon Published" had to use DRM, until Amazon fixed the system.)

Jeff Bezos says he is "DRM agnostic" and that he does not think getting rid of it would hurt sales as publishers and authors fear.

[stonetools]

What happens when the whole reader dies, and they're no longer selling Kindles? Oh, right, I lose everything.

Er, no? I don't have a Kindle and I read Amazon books on both my Ipad and my smartphone. The whole "DRM is bad because if your device dies, you'll lose access to your library forever" argument is really kind of obsolete these days. In 2007 it had some force: now, not so much. I'm sure people will continue to make it, though.
A lot of people here do say that DRM is intrinsically evil. Where do you think the OP got that language? At least one person has said that he hates DRM so much that he opposes ebook library lending (which needs DRM.)

[Hellmark]

As far as things go with the Kindle sharing, you open up all of your books to other people when you authorize them. It would be simple for them to unDRM the books, and you get caught in the middle if it gets traced to where it leaked from. Or if you look at it from another perspective, loaning a book is a lot different than loaning someone ALL of your books.

[Worldwalker]

Originally Posted by stonetools

Er, no? I don't have a Kindle and I read Amazon books on both my Ipad and my smartphone.

Let them eat cake?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by stonetools

The whole "DRM is bad because if your device dies, you'll lose access to your library forever" argument is really kind of obsolete these days. In 2007 it had some force: now, not so much. I'm sure people will continue to make it, though.


A lot of people here do say that DRM is intrinsically evil. Where do you think the OP got that language? At least one person has said that he hates DRM so much that he opposes ebook library lending (which needs DRM.)

Yes, the situation's completely different from the last time Amazon dropped a DRM system. Of course Amazon's too big to fail, and has sold so many Kindle ebooks that of course it will support the books it's sold for at least the next twenty years.

Yeah, sure. Want to bet your entire ebook library on it?

I suspect you're referring to me in your last bit. I have said that if it's a choice between having no DRM on the books I buy, or having ebooks in libraries, I'd rather have no ebooks in libraries. But I don't actually think it will come down to such a stark choice.

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by rogue_librarian

Please tell me that you, too, are kidding? Lending, really? Once per book, 14 days, at the publisher's discretion? Almost (but not entirely) completely unlike lending.

And you can lend an ebook to an anonymous stranger a thousand miles away. You can't do that with a pbook. Pbooks are different fron ebooks, and you can share ebooks in ways that you can't do with p books-and vice versa. I understand and am not bothered by this-but it sure bothers people on this forum.

Yeah, it's like handing over the library key (of five existing copies, for what it's worth) because you want to somebody to read the one book. Makes perfect sense, I suppose.

But if I want to share my entire library with my family, The Kindle makes it very easy.Kind of depends on the way you look at it.
There's a lot of things in this world that don't make perfect sense. You learn to live with these things.

I very much doubt that. People just don't see, much less encounter, the implications yet. But they will in the not too distant future, you better believe it. And it will be those "but I just want it to work" average joes who will be the most affected.

I very much doubt that DRM will ever concern the average user. The average user is perfectly OK with buying a Kindle or Nook and shopping from Amazon or BN. The few users who are concerned with buying from multiple bookstores or formats buy tablets, PSPs or smartphones (That's what I did) It's left to the digerati to obsess about DRM-something which doesn't make perfect sense to ME.

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by stonetools

Er, no? I don't have a Kindle and I read Amazon books on both my Ipad and my smartphone. The whole "DRM is bad because if your device dies, you'll lose access to your library forever" argument is really kind of obsolete these days. In 2007 it had some force: now, not so much. I'm sure people will continue to make it, though.
A lot of people here do say that DRM is intrinsically evil. Where do you think the OP got that language? At least one person has said that he hates DRM so much that he opposes ebook library lending (which needs DRM.)

There's an old motto - "The customer's always right!"

A more modern rewording is - "To be successful, you have to please your customer."

So explain to me, why does DRM "please the customer"? What advantage does it offer to the customer? How does it improve the current and future experience of the customer?

These are fair questions to ask....

[stonetools]

Yes, the situation's completely different from the last time Amazon dropped a DRM system.

Now this is repeatedly brought up. Oddly, there seems to have been no public outcry and Amazon seems to have more customers (and customer loyalty) than ever. This leads me to believe that Amazon did not leave its customers in the lurch but provided a smooth, easy migration path to the new DRM scheme (which most customers took). Of course, THAT story will never be aired here.

But I don't actually think it will come down to such a stark choice.

You mean that there is room for compromise and negotiation and a middle way? Mind you get read out of the no DRM church.

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by Hellmark

As far as things go with the Kindle sharing, you open up all of your books to other people when you authorize them. It would be simple for them to unDRM the books, and you get caught in the middle if it gets traced to where it leaked from. Or if you look at it from another perspective, loaning a book is a lot different than loaning someone ALL of your books.

Well it means that you will be very careful who you share your library with. You will probably want to limit that to your family, household and close friends-which are mostly the people you want to share books with anyway.
Its not a perfect solution- but then there ARE no perfect solutions.

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

There's an old motto - "The customer's always right!"

A more modern rewording is - "To be successful, you have to please your customer."

So explain to me, why does DRM "please the customer"? What advantage does it offer to the customer? How does it improve the current and future experience of the customer?

These are fair questions to ask....

Its a fair question-if the ONLY stakeholders were customers. The other stakeholders are the authors and publishers who don't feel secure offering works for sale without DRM.
Since those stakeholders WON'T offer work for sale without DRM, the customers who want to read their work-the vast majority of customers-will put up with DRM rather than fore-go reading their work.
I might add that the exact same argument can be made for copyright. Copyright does nothing for the customer, except limit their right to commercially exploit the book they bought. Indirectly, though it benefits the customers by prompting authors and publishers to produce work for sale that otherwise would not have been produced.

[Worldwalker]

Originally Posted by stonetools

Its a fair question-if the ONLY stakeholders were customers. The other stakeholders are the authors and publishers who don't feel secure offering works for sale without DRM.

So which one do you represent?

Everyone here has been honest about who we are and where we're coming from ... except for you. You clearly don't represent the interests of the readers in your posts, so which is it -- authors or publishers?

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by stonetools

Its a fair question-if the ONLY stakeholders were customers. The other stakeholders are the authors and publishers who don't feel secure offering works for sale without DRM.
Since those stakeholders WON'T offer work for sale without DRM, the customers who want to read their work-the vast majority of customers-will put up with DRM rather than fore-go reading their work.
I might add that the exact same argument can be made for copyright. Copyright does nothing for the customer, except limit their right commercially exploit the book they bought. Indirectly, though it benefits the customers by prompting authors and publishers to produce work for sale that otherwise would not have been produced.

In other words - there aren't any - to the customer. Who pays for the entire structure!

Your other stakeholders have nothing without the willing customer buying their product. Shall we look at the bankruptcy of GM, the American Television Hardware industry, ect...

Unfortunately, unlike the past, the customers have a choice. It may be an illegal choice, but a choice, nonetheless. Your job is to convince them not to do so. You cannot accomplish that by denying and degrading their concerns. Long term maintainability of a purchase is a common concern of any capital purchase. And believe it or not, all digital purchases are capital purchases, even if they cost a cent. Unimportant? It's what made the Japanese car industry the dominate player it is today.

Maybe you might want to read my monograph on the subject, And the World Changed here at MobileRead. Don't worry, it's explicitly in the Public Domain.

Stop piracy? We haven't stopped real piracy, illegal drugs, illegal immigration, political corruption, prostitution, and a host of other ills. What makes you think that I.P. piracy is going to be stopped? Everyone with an all-in-one printer and a computer is a potential pirate. Going to go back to the analog age?

The trick is to co-opt the opposition. And you can't do that without offering positive-to-the-customer options.

But you don't have any...

[rogerVA]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

1) The secret code phrase which Amazon unofficially uses for letting you know that a Kindle book is DRM-free is "Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited" in the Product Details on the Amazon catalogue page. If you don't see it at all, or you see a number instead of "Unlimited", then it's DRM.

Ah, thanks for that.