What retailer has the most non-DRM ebooks?

niceboy · 11-09-2010, 03:51 PM

I am wary of buying ebooks from Kindle because of the DRM and problems with device migration. Which online book seller or sellers has the the most non-DRM ebooks available? Does anyone other than Amazon and Barnes & Nobels sell ebooks released by major publishers? Are Indigo/Chapters eBooks in Canada DRM? Thank you.

susan_cassidy · 11-09-2010, 03:55 PM

Baen Books sells non-DRM books, in a number of formats. They are the publisher, and they also sell books for a couple of other small publishers: www.webscription.net. It is mostly science fiction and fantasy.

They are the only major publisher I know of that does not use DRM. Smashwords has non-DRM books, but they are mostly self-published authors with smaller reputations, with a couple of exceptions.

desertgrandma · 11-09-2010, 04:27 PM

I believe, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, that any book by an established author (such as Stephen King just for example), will be sold with drm, from any booksite.

abookreader · 11-09-2010, 05:10 PM

Pretty much what desergrandma said.

If by major publishers you mean Random House, Penguin etc - then you will not find current releases by those types of Publishing Houses at any retailer DRM free. No, Kobobooks is not DRM free. No major big name publisher will allow any retailer to sell their books DRM free.

There are specialty Publishers such as Baen (heavily Science Fiction) which publish DRM free books. These tend to be genre orientated Baen - Science Fiction, Samhein - Romance and Erotica etc. There are also some smaller type Publishing houses which issue DRM free books. Some of them post here.

There are established authors who are choosing to self-publish in DRM free formats. Sometimes these heavily concentrate on their backlist titles, occasionally their new releases.

6charlong · 11-09-2010, 10:29 PM

Fictionwise sells DRM-free ebooks under the listing: Multiformat.

Some of these, the magazines for example, will have some short fiction written by famous authors and a lot of good material by lesser known writers.

Mobileread had lots of DRM-free classics available for free download.

Speaking of free, DRMless eBooks, you can find a list of sources from the Wiki: https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Free_eBooks

niceboy · 11-10-2010, 02:18 PM

Good info. Thank you.

cjottawa · 11-10-2010, 09:08 PM

O'Reilly Media publishes DRM-free ebooks. Their slant is toward technical resources such as user guides and technical manuals but they have an interesting mix of other, timely non-fiction.

A few "wow" points: you can download any other format of their ebooks once you've "bought" your copy and future updates/editions are free. O'Reilly seems to "get it" - they're licencing the CONTENT not the container.

I highly recommend one of their books titled "Open-Government - Collaboration, Transparency, and Participation in Practice" which has multiple authors and should be right up the alley of a lot of folks here.

They even have a "Kindle Mini Missing Manual" which I bought and am quite pleased with.

Check for coupon codes. The above two books I mentioned, with their online coupon, came to less than Amazon charges.

rkomar · 11-10-2010, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cjottawa

O'Reilly Media publishes DRM-free ebooks. Their slant is toward technical resources such as user guides and technical manuals but they have an interesting mix of other, timely non-fiction.

A few "wow" points: you can download any other format of their ebooks once you've "bought" your copy and future updates/editions are free. O'Reilly seems to "get it" - they're licencing the CONTENT not the container.

Yes! They'll even give you a discount on the ebook if you already bought a paper copy. I've spent about $300 there already without any misgivings.

On the other hand, I haven't bought a single ebook yet with DRM on it, and don't see that ever changing. I just don't want to support that business model, even if I can strip the DRM off for now.

catsittingstill · 11-11-2010, 07:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cjottawa

O'Reilly Media publishes DRM-free ebooks. Their slant is toward technical resources such as user guides and technical manuals but they have an interesting mix of other, timely non-fiction.

A few "wow" points: you can download any other format of their ebooks once you've "bought" your copy and future updates/editions are free. O'Reilly seems to "get it" - they're licencing the CONTENT not the container.

(snip)

Baen is the same way (buy it once, get access to many formats--download in different format years later if desired.) I think Fictionwise Multiformat books are the same way also. And Project Gutenberg via Manybooks.net, of course, but all those books are free.

11-09-2010, 03:51 PM	#1
niceboy Enthusiast Posts: 48 Karma: 14 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Kindle	What retailer has the most non-DRM ebooks? I am wary of buying ebooks from Kindle because of the DRM and problems with device migration. Which online book seller or sellers has the the most non-DRM ebooks available? Does anyone other than Amazon and Barnes & Nobels sell ebooks released by major publishers? Are Indigo/Chapters eBooks in Canada DRM? Thank you.

11-09-2010, 10:29 PM	#5
6charlong friendly lurker Posts: 896 Karma: 2436026 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: US Device: Kindle, nook, Apple and Kobo	Fictionwise sells DRM-free ebooks under the listing: Multiformat. Some of these, the magazines for example, will have some short fiction written by famous authors and a lot of good material by lesser known writers. Mobileread had lots of DRM-free classics available for free download. Speaking of free, DRMless eBooks, you can find a list of sources from the Wiki: https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Free_eBooks Last edited by 6charlong; 11-09-2010 at 10:36 PM.

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11-09-2010, 03:55 PM	#2
susan_cassidy Wizard Posts: 2,251 Karma: 3720310 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: USA Device: Kindle, iPad (not used much for reading)	Baen Books sells non-DRM books, in a number of formats. They are the publisher, and they also sell books for a couple of other small publishers: www.webscription.net. It is mostly science fiction and fantasy. They are the only major publisher I know of that does not use DRM. Smashwords has non-DRM books, but they are mostly self-published authors with smaller reputations, with a couple of exceptions.

11-09-2010, 04:27 PM	#3
desertgrandma Enjoying the show.... Posts: 14,270 Karma: 10462843 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Arizona Device: A K1, Kindle Paperwhite, an Ipod, IPad2, Iphone, an Ipad Mini & macAir	I believe, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, that any book by an established author (such as Stephen King just for example), will be sold with drm, from any booksite.

11-09-2010, 05:10 PM	#4
abookreader Wizard Posts: 1,516 Karma: 2567610 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: Kindles - Keyboard, Fire, 2-US, iPhone, iPAD	Pretty much what desergrandma said. If by major publishers you mean Random House, Penguin etc - then you will not find current releases by those types of Publishing Houses at any retailer DRM free. No, Kobobooks is not DRM free. No major big name publisher will allow any retailer to sell their books DRM free. There are specialty Publishers such as Baen (heavily Science Fiction) which publish DRM free books. These tend to be genre orientated Baen - Science Fiction, Samhein - Romance and Erotica etc. There are also some smaller type Publishing houses which issue DRM free books. Some of them post here. There are established authors who are choosing to self-publish in DRM free formats. Sometimes these heavily concentrate on their backlist titles, occasionally their new releases.

11-10-2010, 02:18 PM	#6
niceboy Enthusiast Posts: 48 Karma: 14 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Kindle	Good info. Thank you.

11-10-2010, 09:08 PM	#7
cjottawa Tempus fugit. Posts: 91 Karma: 911 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Kindle Keyboard	O'Reilly Media publishes DRM-free ebooks. Their slant is toward technical resources such as user guides and technical manuals but they have an interesting mix of other, timely non-fiction. A few "wow" points: you can download any other format of their ebooks once you've "bought" your copy and future updates/editions are free. O'Reilly seems to "get it" - they're licencing the CONTENT not the container. I highly recommend one of their books titled "Open-Government - Collaboration, Transparency, and Participation in Practice" which has multiple authors and should be right up the alley of a lot of folks here. They even have a "Kindle Mini Missing Manual" which I bought and am quite pleased with. Check for coupon codes. The above two books I mentioned, with their online coupon, came to less than Amazon charges.

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