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Amazon will allow ePub and PDF downloads for DRM-free eBooks

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Re: Amazon will allow ePub and PDF downloads for DRM-free eBooks

#191

Post by shevy-java »

I think we should not allow Amazon to control our digital life.

Same with Google etc... just look how bad youtube has gotten. I try to find a video xyz, using the search term xyz, and after like 5 results, random videos show up. That is not a "search", that is propaganda and an attempt to retain people on the platform - but I am already on the platform playing BACKGROUND MUSIC of some DJs. Why is Google wasting my time when I want to FIND something? And what is even worse - that leaked onto the search engine too. The search engine has been ruined by Google deliberately so in the last some years.

Re: Amazon will allow ePub and PDF downloads for DRM-free eBooks

#192

Post by wishfish »

rgegerge wrote: post #30
syntaxing wrote: post #19

Just get a kobo instead. The price difference between with ads and a new kobo is minimal. Not worth the Amazon headache with a locked down device.

There are two single line comments recommending kobo over kindle in this thread. How do I know this is a genuine recommendation and not astroturfing?

Kobo is the sort of device which would make HN happy. The software is much more open and permissive than Kindle. Integrates with Calibre more tightly. Has a fairly rich ecosystem of tweaks and addons which don't require a jailbreak. Wish it didn't have secure boot but am otherwise pretty happy with it.

Kobo feels like something I actually own. More so than Kindle or even my iDevices. That's a little unusual these days from a mainstream product and that will make its users enthusiastic.

Re: Amazon will allow ePub and PDF downloads for DRM-free eBooks

#193

Post by mystraline »

exe34 wrote: post #93
egeozcan wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A friend of mine received a double shipment for a $300 order. Being honest, he contacted customer service to arrange a return. Everything seemed fine until a few days later when he noticed they had also refunded his original payment. He reached out again to let them know, and they said they’d just recharge his card. Apparently, that transaction failed (no clear reason why), and without any warning, they banned his ac…

I never bought any ebooks off Amazon without removing the drm at the time. I did buy a lot of shows and movies, but if they take those away, I'll just pirate them, given I've already paid.

Buying drm'ed shit, and removing later only indicates that DRM is acceptable.

Pirate it to start, and dont pay. You're an 'illegal' either way, with a tort copyright violation OR a criminal DMCA violation.

Re: Amazon will allow ePub and PDF downloads for DRM-free eBooks

#194

Post by dragonwriter »

kshacker wrote: post #71
egeozcan wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A friend of mine received a double shipment for a $300 order. Being honest, he contacted customer service to arrange a return. Everything seemed fine until a few days later when he noticed they had also refunded his original payment. He reached out again to let them know, and they said they’d just recharge his card. Apparently, that transaction failed (no clear reason why), and without any warning, they banned his ac…

I wonder just like retailers are required to account for local sales taxes (I know it is not that clear cut), there should be some enforcement mechanism to settle disputes locally. Setup an agency which "legally" provides support for google, Amazon, and all those unreachable entities. Provides local jobs as well as quick grievance redressal. Maybe something like consumer protection agency but not federal, maybe at le…

> there should be some enforcement mechanism to settle disputes locally.

They are called courts and they exist.

Of course, companies like to require you to agree to binding arbitration, instead.

Re: Amazon will allow ePub and PDF downloads for DRM-free eBooks

#195

Post by crazygringo »

nippoo wrote: post #51
icqFDR wrote: post #44

I’d advise anyone buying e-books on Amazon to think it through carefully. My account was banned recently because, years ago, I ordered two paper books that Amazon said would be split into two shipments. Both books arrived without any issues, but later Amazon refunded me for one of them, claiming that one package never arrived. This happened 4–5 years ago. Apparently, during a recent review, they decided this counted…

They failed to deliver a Pixel phone to me - they never even tried to deliver it and the status said "permanent delivery failure" so I assumed they'd automatically refund me. Fast forward a few months, I never received a refund and they claim they have no record any more. I could chargeback my credit card but I imagine I'd also be permanently banned from Amazon - so instead I accept they've just stolen $1000 from me…

Man, for $1000 I'd definitely be checking to make sure it got refunded, and manually requesting a refund after a week had passed.

Waiting a few months is not smart because not every delivery service is going to store the delivery status details. I've generally found that after 3 months, data starts disappearing from services and refund options can become technically impossible. Like, on eBay, even if a seller wants to refund you after more than 90 days, they can't. Part of this is for accounting too -- at some point you just have to be able to definitively close the books and say here are the sales we made, that number isn't going down in the future because of potential outstanding returns.

Re: Amazon will allow ePub and PDF downloads for DRM-free eBooks

#196

Post by rpdillon »

asplake wrote: post #150
freedomben wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Genuine questions here, not rhetorical or trying to imply anything with them. Why charge more on a DRM free site? Do you think people buying from there are doing so that they can share the book illegally? If someone wants to share the book illegally, I would imagine they'll just download it from one of the pirate mirrors out there and not bother paying you at all. My guess is you're probably just reducing the number…

Where possible, I try not to focus on negative motives. Quite simply, if people see a benefit in DRM-free, why not expect them to pay for it? And there are other platforms beside the two I mentioned – it’s not a choice between DRM-free and (for better or for worse) Amazon.

In case your question was not rhetorical: to folks like me, I view DRM as abuse, because it inevitably leads to me paying for something that I won't end up being able to access down the line. It is in direct conflict with building a library. Having the author opt-in to applying DRM to their books (as you have on Amazon and Google Play, for example) and then expected me to pay them extra so I can actually own the thing I paid for makes me take three steps back from the "Buy" button. I tend to just walk out rather than be treated that way. As a result, I've stopped buying Amazon Kindle books entirely (now that I can't strip the DRM). If I'm paying the money, I'm going to demand control, and if I can't get that control, there will be no transaction.

FWIW, LeanPub for your book suggests $25, and the DRM-laden version is $13.50. That's quite the premium!

Re: Amazon will allow ePub and PDF downloads for DRM-free eBooks

#197

Post by MaKey »

barbazoo wrote: post #103
dust-jacket wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, this is silly. Don't do this. You absolutely keep pushing for a refund and go via you CC provider if they don't respond.

And risk being locked out of the world’s online marketplace and all of Amazon’s other businesses? Maybe a bit hyperbolic but that’s where we are headed for sure.

For $1000 I'd definitely risk it and kick up a fuss about it if they locked me out.

Re: Amazon will allow ePub and PDF downloads for DRM-free eBooks

#198

Post by TheCoelacanth »

misterbishop wrote: post #179
TheSilva wrote: post #8

Too little too late, already ditched the whole ecosystem after so many years and devices.

The only previous option was not paying for books. This change at least creates the potential for a path to pay for books, if publishers accept it.

No, these publishers were already available DRM-free from other stores.

Re: Amazon will allow ePub and PDF downloads for DRM-free eBooks

#199

Post by kmeisthax »

stringsandchars wrote: post #43
IlikeKitties wrote: post #16

The current experience of using a Kobo Libre Color, Koreader, any webdav mounted in koreader and pirating everything on annas archive et. al. cannot be beat by any commercial offering. Unsuprisingly my copy of 1984 has never been deleted from my NAS

> pirating everything on annas archive et. al. cannot be beat by any commercial offering While I understand people pirating movies - there are hundreds of movies I'd happily pay to watch, but which are literally unavailable to me because of some arbitrary 'regional' restriction imposed by the distributors. But I can't think of a single book that isn't available in most parts of the world - certainly they're available…

Datahoarders with hard drives full of pirated books are not nearly as much of a threat to writers as, say, AI slop making it difficult to market new books. If you pirate a book and read it, the author can still sell you the sequel. Not so much if you don't even know who the author is.

Re: Amazon will allow ePub and PDF downloads for DRM-free eBooks

#200

Post by exe34 »

mystraline wrote: post #193
exe34 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never bought any ebooks off Amazon without removing the drm at the time. I did buy a lot of shows and movies, but if they take those away, I'll just pirate them, given I've already paid.

Buying drm'ed shit, and removing later only indicates that DRM is acceptable. Pirate it to start, and dont pay. You're an 'illegal' either way, with a tort copyright violation OR a criminal DMCA violation.

At the time a lot of the things I was reading were only available on there or on paper.
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