Would you be e-reading if DRM was unbreakable?

[bookaho!ic]

when i first got my ereader i got lots of kindle free books and converted them to epub to read on my sony. i now have a kobo and cant be bothered with the hassle of converting/removing drm. I have no trouble buying and downloading from sainsburys and kobo and any other sites apart from kindle.... have that many books that if i miss out on a good deal on kindle (with the fact it has more purchasing power than other resources they have better deals) i wont miss it till i really want it

[ProfCrash]

I would still buy ebooks and read them. That option is not available so I didn't vote. e-books are more convientent. I like that I can liberate them and have more control over them but I would not stop reading them because of DRM.

Let me put it this way, I learned about DRM when I joined this site. I didn't liberate anything until I had owned an e-reader for 3 years. Most of the population is clueless about DRM and ebooks are doing just fine.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Most of the population is clueless about DRM and ebooks are doing just fine.

This is true. Because most people don't rad very much, and because most people haven't had more than one brand of ebook reader.

I suspect that we'll hear more about DRM problems as time goes on.

[ProfCrash]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

This is true. Because most people don't rad very much, and because most people haven't had more than one brand of ebook reader.

I suspect that we'll hear more about DRM problems as time goes on.

I doubt it.

People are not likely to start reading more so the market is not likely to increase. If there has not been a huge outcry against DRM yet it is not likely to happen any time soon.

People who don't read as much are probably more likely to be reading on a tablet. Which means they can download an e-reader App from the store that they bought the book from, so the DRM is not going to get in their way. As long as they can download an app and read their book, they won't care.

People who don't read much are probably less likely to re-read so they are not going to notice or feel affected if they can no longer get to their already read ebooks.

People who don't read much are not likely to have massive TBR lists and risk losing books if something happens to the store they bought the book from.

I suspect that more people will become aware of DRM as they change e-readers. But I doubt that those numbers are large enough to make a huge difference. Sony is no longer selling in the US. Sony users who are changing e-readers are having to change companies. Most of their ADE epubs will work on the Nook or Kobo. If they move to a Kindle they will realize they can't move their old books. Do you think that is a large enough group to make a huge rucus?

My guess is no because most Americans are not aware that there is a Sony e-reader. It is not advertised, you have to go into a Sony store to see one, and very few people carry them. So the number of Sony e-readers in use in the US is pretty small. Small enough that Sony decided that there was no reason to sell in the US any more.

What happens if Nook goes out of business? A larger group of folks use the Nook then the Sony. Probably a decent number of them will move to the Kindle because it is still better known in the US then Kobo. So that would cause a rucus. Will it be large enough to cause DRM to go away? I doubt it.

[ucfgrad93]

I bought and read plenty of books before I knew how to strip the DRM from them. That said, having DRM free books isn't a priority for me.

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Katsunami, I'm curious to know why you thought that people wouldn't read books that had DRM. Most of us here are avid readers, and I imagine would carry on reading under pretty much any circumstances, DRM or no.

This, if the truth be told. But I'd probably be so annoyed that I'd start a Kickstarter project entitled "Let's buy Alf 100 hours on a Cray".

[Xanthe]

I de-DRM all of my book purchases because I want them always available to me and usable on all of my ereaders, since the ones like the Sonys can't read certain formats, and I tend to switch from one ereader to another depending on my mood.

With my Android ereaders (the Nooks), the point about unbreakable DRM is really moot, since I can read DRM'd Nook books on it, DRM'd Kindle books on it via the Kindle app, etc.

But I suppose out of sheer contrariness, if a book had unbreakable DRM, I'd buy the paperback version instead. Though I have great faith in the ereading community that the unbreakable DRM would be hacked sooner or later.

[Xanthe]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

This, if the truth be told. But I'd probably be so annoyed that I'd start a Kickstarter project entitled "Let's buy Alf 100 hours on a Cray".

That.

[soulfuldog]

I'd certainly read less e-books if DRM was unbreakable. I wouldn't be as willing to buy as many ebooks if I knew I couldn't back them up and be able to read them on my choice of device.

[mgmueller]

I'm missing the option that applies to me:
I still would buy eBooks the very same.
I don't care much about DRM.
I used to strip my books from DRM and then convert into the various target formats via calibre, so I could read them on all my readers.
I'm not doing this anymore. Simply too time consuming. And I don't see the benefit. I'm buying my books on my momentary favorite, for now Kindle Paperwhite 2. Should I switch to another reader, I'll buy the books on that respective store.

So, my answer would be:
I wouldn't care, if DRM would be unbreakable.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

...Most people here at MobileRead don't think twice about removing DRM from ebooks, about converting the books to a different format for a different reader, or about fixing a book (even if it's only putting a new cover into it)...

I'm not so sure about that.
If I look to my friends and colleagues, converting and such was happening way more often a few years ago.
A friend of mine, when buying his first Kinde a few years ago, proudly said: "I already have downloaded more than 2.000 books for it".
When I met him again a few months ago he stated: "I only read about 80 books per year. Most cost less then 10 Euros. For that amount, I don't bother anymore".
Might be different amongst power users, such as here in Mobileread, though...

[jersysman]

My reading habits wouldn't change any as I would continue to buy the books whether or not they had DRM. Since this was my choice, I could not vote in the poll.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Catlady

If I couldn't break DRM, I would not buy e-books.

Honestly, I never quite got that point.
What's the reason for stripping DRM?
a.) Backup. Amazon or whatever merchant might cease business and you can't access your books anymore.
Happened to me a few times. But for one, I only buy from "the big ones" and I don't expect Amazon, Apple, Google and the likes to be gone quickly. And last but not least: Would I really care in, let's say 5 years? I have about 600 Microsoft .lit books, I bought from 2000 to maybe 2004. I did strip them from DRM and I even did convert them via calibre. But I never used them. The few I still want to have, I simply re-bought from Amazon and others. After all: Reading is an extremely cheap hobby (1 Euro per hour or something like that, compare to 10 times the amount for cinema for example).
b.) Read them on other units. Why? Why buy from Amazon and read on, let's say Nook? Okay, maybe Amazon is 10% cheaper. But is this worth the effort?
c.) Be future-proof. Lots of formats probably will disappear. Is there a way, I till could read my Microsoft .lit books? I admit, I keep my paper books for years and even decades on the shelf. But that's only because it's hard to let go off physical products. Would it really be so tragic, to loose ebooks one bought 10 years ago? And how likely is it really?
d.) Because some store might pull your library? I've heard those stories, but I don't know a single case personally. Why should this happen, if I stick to the general terms and conditions?

When I did it, until maybe 4 years ago, I only did it being a collector.
I liked fumbling around with my library, switching covers, correcting flaws (author's name all in capital letters and such nonsense). But I simply don't find this important enough anymore, to spend time on it. In the time it takes to perfectly tune an ebook, that cost 10 Euros and less, one actually spends more money (time =money) than one ever might save.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Katsunami, I'm curious to know why you thought that people wouldn't read books that had DRM. Most of us here are avid readers, and I imagine would carry on reading under pretty much any circumstances, DRM or no.

Maybe the reason is just that I detest, abhor and loath DRM in such an extreme way that I can't believe anyone accepting it.

I only accept it if buying a product that I don't care one whit about losing: an example are the games or apps on my tablet. I've paid between $0.1 and $2 for them, but if I'd ever lose them, I wouldn't care for a second.

Games on a smartphone are for short-lived entertainment, for example if I have to wait and have nothing else to do.

Now I realize that some people think the same about their books: read it, and throw it away. If you're such a reader, then I can understand that you don't care about DRM. Probably, these are also people who use the library a lot.

I, on the other hand, can't throw away books; if I don't need them anymore, I'll sell them, or give them away, but I'll never throw them in the garbage. I actually MUST have the book; I'm a re-reader. I hate it that I've already forgot quite some details from the books I read this year. Probably, I'll start rereading all of my books again after a few years.

The only books I can throw away are useless ones, such as computer books written in the 70's, 80's, and 90's. There is no use in keeping a book on learning Borland C++ or Pascal, based on a compiler from 1987, or a book on how to manage Windows NT 3.1.

[EowynCarter]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

Honestly, I never quite got that point.
What's the reason for stripping DRM?
a.) Backup. Amazon or whatever merchant might cease business and you can't access your books anymore.
Happened to me a few times. But for one, I only buy from "the big ones" and I don't expect Amazon, Apple, Google and the likes to be gone quickly. And last but not least: Would I really care in, let's day 5 years? I have about 600 Microsoft .lit books, I bought from 200 to maybe 2004. I did strip them from DRM and I even did convert them via calibre. But I never used them. The few I still want to have, I simply re-bought from Amazon and others. After all: Reading is an extremely cheap hobby (1 Euro per hour or something like that, compare to 10 times the amount for cinema for example).
b.) Read them on other units. Why? Why buy from Amazon and read on, let's say Nook? Okay, maybe Amazon is 10% cheaper. But is this worth the effort?
c.) Be future-proof. Lots of formats probably will disappear. Is there a way, Is till could read my Microsoft .lit books? I admit, I keep my paper books for years and even decades on the shelf. But that's only because it's hard to let go off physical products. Would it really be so tragic, to loose ebooks one bought 10 years ago? And how likely is it really?

So i can read my books everywhere (Linux included)
I can edit them, backup them, they are mine to do whatever I want.
And adept messed with me a few times already. No drm means that things "just works".

Where DRM unbreakable, the presence or absence would be a criteria to buy this or that book.

Tragic is not the right word, annoying and stupid when the simple absence of DRM can avoid this, definitively.