Live data from Hacker News

List of DRM-Free Bookshops

libreture.com

31–40 of 91 posts

Re: List of DRM-Free Bookshops

#31
post #29
post #12

I hadn’t really paid attention to DMR because I was so cozy inside the kindle bubble. That notification that Amazon was going to take away the ability to download books was a very strong wake up call… When ok buys a book for kindle, it seems that one supposedly doesn’t own the book? One “owns” it at the “goodwill” of Amazon? I put my kindle on eBay today and I think going forward I’ll consider buying physical books a…

I've been saying for a while now that I'd love to see rules restricting the use of the term "Buy" such that it can only apply to digital products when they are DRM-free and fully downloadable. Anything where the seller retains the right to claw back their product post-sale is more of an indefinite lease or purchase of rights rather than "buying" the product itself. I think a relatively small proportion of people buyi…

I agree though I have actually noticed that Amazon is more clear about this than they used to be. They now clearly say you’re buying a license not the book and it may have just been a Europe thing but I think it even made me confirm that I knew some of the implications of that distinction.

Unlike a lot of people on here I think I don’t have fundamental problems with DRM, but I think consumers absolutely should be guaranteed more rights over the things they buy. Maybe something like.

* access is non revokable and if any part of the drm scheme stops working the provider must provide a drm stripping tool

* access is transferable

Re: List of DRM-Free Bookshops

#32
post #14
post #12

I hadn’t really paid attention to DMR because I was so cozy inside the kindle bubble. That notification that Amazon was going to take away the ability to download books was a very strong wake up call… When ok buys a book for kindle, it seems that one supposedly doesn’t own the book? One “owns” it at the “goodwill” of Amazon? I put my kindle on eBay today and I think going forward I’ll consider buying physical books a…

Quick! Go to your Amazon account’s “Manage Content and Devices” and “Download or transfer over USB” to save the .azw3 files to your computer. Then, follow instructions to set up Calibre with the De-DRM plugin. Do this before next Wednesday and you might save your Kindle books! Old kindles are best for this; save books in the older .azw3 format. I’m not sure about newer Kindles that use .kfx

I left my kindle in a train in Italy last week… am I boned?

Re: List of DRM-Free Bookshops

#33
post #30
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quick! Go to your Amazon account’s “Manage Content and Devices” and “Download or transfer over USB” to save the .azw3 files to your computer. Then, follow instructions to set up Calibre with the De-DRM plugin. Do this before next Wednesday and you might save your Kindle books! Old kindles are best for this; save books in the older .azw3 format. I’m not sure about newer Kindles that use .kfx

already did like at 2 AM... a friend of mine also tried to do it but it turns out that “Download or transfer over USB” only works if you own a kindle, which he doesn't... so there's that too

Definitely do not tell that friend to head to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-Library and use one of the URLs listed there to go to that website and find and download a DRM-free backup copy of all the books they have bought and paid for in the past.

Re: List of DRM-Free Bookshops

#34
post #18
post #5

After the recent press for Bookshop.org I saw an author I like had a new book and thought I'd try out the service - I am okay with paying slightly more for a book if the money is going to someone other than Amazon. But I should have looked twice, because Bookshop ebooks are not DRM free unless the publisher explicitly opts for it, and DRM encumbered books can only be read on their website or in their app. I know that…

Seconding this. Bookshop.org is a terrible experience if you want to read on your own eInk device. I had to purchase the book I wanted from a different seller at double the cost.

My approach has been to purchase books from bookshop.org (or directly from the author if that is an option), and then immediately go find a DRM-free backup copy to send to my e-ink device.

Re: List of DRM-Free Bookshops

#35
post #33
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

already did like at 2 AM... a friend of mine also tried to do it but it turns out that “Download or transfer over USB” only works if you own a kindle, which he doesn't... so there's that too

Definitely do not tell that friend to head to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-Library and use one of the URLs listed there to go to that website and find and download a DRM-free backup copy of all the books they have bought and paid for in the past.

I certainly will not

Re: List of DRM-Free Bookshops

#36
post #32
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quick! Go to your Amazon account’s “Manage Content and Devices” and “Download or transfer over USB” to save the .azw3 files to your computer. Then, follow instructions to set up Calibre with the De-DRM plugin. Do this before next Wednesday and you might save your Kindle books! Old kindles are best for this; save books in the older .azw3 format. I’m not sure about newer Kindles that use .kfx

I left my kindle in a train in Italy last week… am I boned?

You can find your serial number for your kindle in your Amazon account. Forget exactly where but it’s something like “manage content and devices. You don’t need the physical device.

Re: List of DRM-Free Bookshops

#37
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been saying for a while now that I'd love to see rules restricting the use of the term "Buy" such that it can only apply to digital products when they are DRM-free and fully downloadable. Anything where the seller retains the right to claw back their product post-sale is more of an indefinite lease or purchase of rights rather than "buying" the product itself. I think a relatively small proportion of people buyi…

I agree though I have actually noticed that Amazon is more clear about this than they used to be. They now clearly say you’re buying a license not the book and it may have just been a Europe thing but I think it even made me confirm that I knew some of the implications of that distinction. Unlike a lot of people on here I think I don’t have fundamental problems with DRM, but I think consumers absolutely should be gua…

> * access is non revokable and if any part of the drm scheme stops working the provider must provide a drm stripping tool

This is unenforcable even in the presence of good will. (If a company goes bankrupt, they might simply not have the resources, or, if relevant programmers leave, then they might not have the ability, to distribute a stripping tool.) A practical measure in this direction might be to mandate that DRM schemes "phone home," which they surely do already, and that they are required to disable themselves if they don't get an affirmative signal.

(Of course, this has its problems from the publishers' point of view, but as a customer I'd be very pleased with it.)

Re: List of DRM-Free Bookshops

#38
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree though I have actually noticed that Amazon is more clear about this than they used to be. They now clearly say you’re buying a license not the book and it may have just been a Europe thing but I think it even made me confirm that I knew some of the implications of that distinction. Unlike a lot of people on here I think I don’t have fundamental problems with DRM, but I think consumers absolutely should be gua…

> * access is non revokable and if any part of the drm scheme stops working the provider must provide a drm stripping tool This is unenforcable even in the presence of good will. (If a company goes bankrupt, they might simply not have the resources, or, if relevant programmers leave, then they might not have the ability, to distribute a stripping tool.) A practical measure in this direction might be to mandate that D…

Make it a legal requirement during development of any DRM that the tool is created with the DRM. Release of the source code for the tool during bankruptcy, release of the tool and hosting as a legal requirement if they no longer want to support it indefinitely.

Theres no reason taking away our rights should be easy for the company when DRM mostly just makes life miserable for anyone trying to buy digital goods legally.

Re: List of DRM-Free Bookshops

#39
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree though I have actually noticed that Amazon is more clear about this than they used to be. They now clearly say you’re buying a license not the book and it may have just been a Europe thing but I think it even made me confirm that I knew some of the implications of that distinction. Unlike a lot of people on here I think I don’t have fundamental problems with DRM, but I think consumers absolutely should be gua…

> * access is non revokable and if any part of the drm scheme stops working the provider must provide a drm stripping tool This is unenforcable even in the presence of good will. (If a company goes bankrupt, they might simply not have the resources, or, if relevant programmers leave, then they might not have the ability, to distribute a stripping tool.) A practical measure in this direction might be to mandate that D…

>This is unenforcable even in the presence of good will. (If a company goes bankrupt, they might simply not have the resources

Easy. Lock it with a key that functions like a deadman switch and releases into the Library of Congress

Post reply on HN