I bought a book today. It was a little more faff than I'd like.

[andrewducker]

nancylebov linked me to an essay about the importance of myths that reminded me that I'd been meaning to read The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms after seeing some good reviews of it a while back.

So I popped over to the Google ebooks store, tracked it down for £4.99, checked that it was in epub format (because frankly PDFs do not resize well) and downloaded it. I then had to install Adobe Digital Editions, because that manages the DRM. And I then googled for this guide to stripping the DRM straight off of it.

It took me about five minutes to download the latest version of Calibre (which is the best app for transferring books to readers, in my experience) and the tools for removing the DRM, and everything just worked first time. I now have a file in an industry standard format, that's not locked in any way, that I don't have to worry about people removing my right to use, or locking to any number of devices.

I refuse, if you didn't know, to have anything to do with locked file formats if I can possibly avoid it. There have been enough examples already of people buying music or video from a vendor who then shuts down their authentication server, leaving them with a bunch of files that can't be played. And once I've bought a book/song/video I want to be able to read/watch/listen to it wherever I fancy, without a third party telling me what I can do with it.

And so I'll happily buy MP3s from Amazon (or whoever), because everything plays MP3s. And now I know I can pick the locks on Google books I'll happily buy them and instantly do so. I just wish that (a) they wouldn't feel the need to put the locks on in the first place, and (b) more people would do similarly with video.

Comments

[channelpenguin.livejournal.com]

I have Calibre and Adobe DE, but thanks for reminding me to d/l the tools. Must get that all set up and sorted, then I can get stuff from other than the Kobo sotre or straight pdfs

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

I read a while back that Sony had spent more money one year on DRM technology than they had made selling the digital media.

That same year the RIAA had spent more money on lawyers suing 'filesharers' than they had made back in damages [and they had managed to collect $0 of those damages].

With the defeat of SOPA/PIPA, I'm hoping the technically illiterate media execs will start to figure out just how much damage they're doing to their own businesses. And stop.

[andrewhickey.livejournal.com]

Yeah, basically all the ebook stores other than Amazon use ADE for their DRM these days. It's annoying, as it's utterly trivial to strip the DRM *if* you have a Windows or Mac computer. As the only machines in my household run GNU/Linux, though, it means I couldn't buy the DRM-infested files even if I wanted to.

[andrewducker]

It seems to be possibly to run it through WINE:
http://forums.adobe.com/message/4119099

[andrewhickey.livejournal.com]

I tried about a year ago, and it was a horrible mess under WINE, and certainly I wasn't able to remove the DRM from files. I may try again at some point, but for now I'm just buying DRM-free ebooks ( Baen have been getting a *lot* more of my money than they otherwise would have).

[andrewducker]

It is worth rewarding people who do the right thing.

[johncoxon.livejournal.com]

If you had signed up for a supporting membership of Renovation ($50) you would have received a DRM-free epub version of the book, plus nine other novels, plus a whole bunch of other material in the Hugo Voter's Packet. (I am plugging this because, had I known about it from the start, I would have been joining Worldcons just for that.)

Now I know Adobe DRE is easy to strip, I might start buying ebooks instead of torrenting the ones that aren't on the iBookstore.

[andrewducker]

Thanks for that - I'll definitely bear it in mind for the next one! I might even end up informed enough to vote :->

What's the DRM like on iBooks? Any signs of Apple doing the same thing they did with music and asking publishers to abandon DRM?

[johncoxon.livejournal.com]

You're welcome!

As far as I can tell, you can download iBooks as many times as you want and put them on as many devices as you like (as long as they're connected to your Apple ID). It'd be annoying if I had a non-Apple epub reader, but I don't at the moment. Now I know the above procedure I will probably switch to buying Adobe Digital Editions books and just strip the DRM.

I'm not sure about Apple's stance on DRM on books when compared to music. They haven't said much about it, and according to their website you can sell your book on the iBookstore without DRM, so it isn't like the early days of the iTunes Music Store where DRM was mandatory even for indie record labels. However, the request to the labels to abandon DRM permanently came from a market-leading position - if any company has the clout in the current market to repeat the trick, it's Amazon, not Apple.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, you're right about Amazon probably being in a better place to do it (although Apple will have some pull) - but I can't see Amazon deciding that they want to give up their lock-in.