09-04-2008, 09:37 AM | #16 |
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My big question....
What format are these? Are they ePub or PDF? |
09-04-2008, 09:54 AM | #17 |
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To the best of my knowledge (I called and asked) the ebooks will all be, and only be, Sony format.
I'm honestly not sure how aware they are that there are other formats (including pdf), which is why they probably haven't got around to marking it up. |
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09-04-2008, 10:08 AM | #18 |
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By all account they are ePub books with Adobe DRM.
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09-04-2008, 10:18 AM | #19 |
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It should be noted that some ebooks being sold don't as far as I know have DRM on them; unfortunately it doesn't actually state that anywhere I've seen, but then it's still early days.
Pan Macmillan contacted myself and some other authors whether they'd be happy about their books being available without DRM, and I for one said hell yes. I note that the price of at least some of the books on the Waterstones site is lower than the paperback equivalent price (there's one or two UK-published books not yet available electronically in the States going for about £4.75, less than on Amazon UK) and although they remain pricey by US standards, I don't know whether that's the result of the publishers or the differing exchange rates - the latter of which might mean such things are unavoidable. I mention some of this not to push my own stuff 'by the back door', but because I think many of the people on this site will be openly supportive of any major publisher that makes a serious move towards producing ebooks that lack DRM. Although Pan Macmillan do pay me for something, they don't pay me to say that I think they should be commended for making a step in this direction. if you go to the site at panmacmillan.com, they have a list of their ebooks available - some of which, apparently, are DRM-free ... except it doesn't say that. Yet. I've emailed someone at Pan for clarification and, assuming they're not busy getting all this stuff up and running, I should hear something back. PS - There's an article up at the Guardian that discusses the cost of the ebooks. Last edited by garygibsonsf; 09-04-2008 at 10:45 AM. |
09-04-2008, 10:27 AM | #20 |
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09-04-2008, 10:30 AM | #21 |
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They in effect have as they state that that you need Adobe Digital Editions to handle the ebooks, meaning they are ePub.
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09-04-2008, 12:34 PM | #22 |
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09-04-2008, 07:39 PM | #23 |
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I live in Australia and I just checked the price of some of the Waterstones ebooks. From the ones I looked at it's cheaper to buy the books from the bookdepository.co.uk and get them shipped to Australia than it is to buy the ebook from Waterstones!
That's ridiculous! |
09-05-2008, 05:03 AM | #24 |
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Really!? any examples?
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09-05-2008, 06:30 AM | #25 |
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I can now state categorically after an inside tip-off that all the ebooks now available directly from Pan MacMillan at panmacmillan.com (at least at the time of writing) are free of DRM. Just thought you ought to know.
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09-05-2008, 06:52 AM | #26 |
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Thanks, Gary - that's good to know!
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09-05-2008, 02:02 PM | #27 |
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09-17-2008, 02:31 AM | #28 |
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Do you mean the "Digital Editions" versions of the books or literally all the electronic formats they offer are DRM-free?
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09-17-2008, 07:15 AM | #29 |
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Hi Adinb, I think it's worth reiterating this point for everyone's benefit; although the Waterstones ebook site sells only epub files, Pan Macmillan's direct ebook sales pages lists books as being available in other formats - mobi, etc - as well. To my best knowledge and understanding, none of them have DRM, in line with Sara Lloyd's policy within the company of not using DRM. She has a series of articles on thedigitalist.net where she makes her position on this quite clear.
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