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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

#271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It's perfectly feasible to never use Amazon. I don't know your situation, but i think people should go out more and prefer quality over quantity. Most of the stuff that Amazon sell is crap anyway.

> but i think people should go out more and prefer quality over quantity

Whether you find higher quality in your local area depends on your local area and what you're buying. More generally applicable, you can find higher quality with independent online stores.

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

#273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Some kind of court, for small claims?

That won't get you your account back.

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

#274

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.

This is silly. You aren't competing with amazon you're competing with Anna. If someone is interested in DRM free they aren't stupid. Take the sale but don't take the piss.

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

#275

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

I love breaking DRM, but you should at least buy the books. Authors, editors, illustrators, and translators all deserve to be paid for their work.

That's my take. I break the DRM off books I've bought. I own those copies. I'll format shift them for my own convenience. Bought on Kindle but want to read on my Kobo? It's impossible to make me feel guilt about that.

But I don't read books I haven't legally acquired, whether through a paid bookstore, or temporarily borrowed via Libby, or Standard Ebooks or whatever. I won't yell at other people for doing that, but I don't do it myself. In a nutshell, I follow the same rules as with physical books I own (or temporarily possess).

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

#276
post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The linked article is about Amazon's having realized they had no right to sell the books they thought they had sold and reversing the transaction, not revoking a license to something they thought they had licensed to you. You seem to be missing the importance of that nuance.

Sigh. OK: https://goodereader.com/blog/kindle/amazon-changes-licensing... "Amazon has revised the text when purchasing a Kindle e-book on its online store. You do not own the book you bought but are licensing it. It used to say “By clicking on above button, you agree to Amazon’s Kindle Store Terms of Use.”" ... "This is not a policy shift from Amazon for the US; they are more upfront about it now. Amazon has always l…

I mean, you're citing goodereader.com as though that's somehow an authoritative source and not just a blog by a guy who likes ereaders, but has no special legal knowledge.

Much more useful would have been if you had linked to an archive of the original Kindle Store Terms of Use, which state:

> Use of Digital Content. Upon your payment of the applicable fees set by Amazon, Amazon grants you the non-exclusive right to keep a permanent copy of the applicable Digital Content and to view, use, and display such Digital Content an unlimited number of times, solely on the Device or as authorized by Amazon as part of the Service and solely for your personal, non-commercial use. Digital Content will be deemed licensed to you by Amazon under this Agreement unless otherwise expressly provided by Amazon.[0] (emphasis mine)

Notice that "or as authorized by Amazon" is part of the clause with "solely on the device," not a separate clause that somehow might be interpreted to apply to the "right to keep a permanent copy" part.

Does it also say that it is considered licensed to you? Sure. But the "license" is the "right to keep a permanent copy."

It's one thing for Amazon to say, "Shit, we sold you a book we weren't authorized to sell. We have to undo the whole transaction." It's quite another to do what the GGGGGGGP comment (I didn't count the G's) is complaining about and delete your permanent copy of a book for which they did validly sell you a license to keep a permanent copy.

Amazon has meaningfully changed the license agreement now. In 2025, it says:

> Use of Kindle Content. Kindle Content is licensed, not sold, to you by the Content Provider. Upon your download or access of Kindle Content and payment of any applicable fees (including applicable taxes), the Content Provider grants you subject to the terms of this Agreement, including without limitation those in “Changes to Service; Amendments” below, a non-exclusive right to view, use, and display such Kindle Content (for Subscription Content, only as long as you remain an active member of the underlying membership or subscription program), solely through Kindle Software or as otherwise permitted as part of the Service, solely on the number of Supported Devices specified in the Kindle Store, and solely for your personal, non-commercial use. Content Provider may include additional terms for use within its Kindle Content. Those terms will also apply, but this Agreement will govern in the event of a conflict. Some Kindle Content, such as interactive or highly formatted content, may not be available to you on all Kindle Software.[1]

They've eliminated the right to keep a permanent copy that was originally part of the license sold. That change matters. Deleting content sold under that license is a violation of the terms of the agreement on their part.

[0] https://web.archive.org/web/20110109000847/http://www.amazon... [1]https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=...

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

#277
post #39

This was unexpected. They lost me as a customer when they stopped allowing me to download books I bought and I'm in the Kobo (+ BookLore) side now and I am not coming back. I wonder how many books are actually DRM-free and are going to be affected by this change. I suspect relatively few, but I would be happy to be wrong

For me it appears highly genre-correlated. High percentage of science fiction books come with a small statement "this book is drm free on request of publisher / author". Zero of my photography, music, computer science or graphic novels came with such a tag.

same here.

I've also purchased some books that are available as serials on the web for free.

I would imagine those publishers would be aligned with making them .epub

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

#278
post #41

How many books are actually available DRM-free? This reads a bit like "Amazon will provide free land, construct a paddock and provide feed for life if you order a unicorn, except unicorns don't exist".

You'd be surprised. Tor and Solaris both offer DRM free books on Amazon. Also anything self published tends to be DRM free. I saw the writing on the wall and downloaded my books from Amazon a few months before their announcement. Out of around 1000 books I had 300ish that were DRM free.

I have some tor books, but I used to download them as .azw even though they had the "this book is drm free ..." blurb at the beginning. (was back before amazon stopped downloads)

Now they could actually be distributed as unencrypted .epub

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