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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

#341

Post by wkat4242 »

WolfeReader wrote: post #320
zelphirkalt wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the end that's also shitty. I don't want to "get them into Adobe Digital Editions". I don't want to have to use Adobe shitware, and I don't want their special formats. Just give me the epub or pdf. Also their website treated me like shit and they have no good way to contact anyone visible on their website. Kobo is not it. Maybe they once were, at some point before I tried using them. I am not gonna support them af…

If you don't like DRM, you definitely want to use Adobe Digital Editions. I'll leave it to you to find out why.

Why? It's still DRM. Pretty awful one IMO. Our local library used it.

Personally I just buy my books DRM free now. If that's not possible, then I get them from my friend Anna who has a nice library.

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

#342

Post by wkat4242 »

PaulRobinson wrote: post #25
sallveburrpi wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mildly sad is also that you seem to fault GP for not “exploring” more, instead of the insane practice of DRMing everything in the first place. I never have purchased DRM protected media and never will - I’d rather pirate everything digital and but physical hard copies.

I don’t actually think it’s their fault, and if they feel I’m faulting them, that wasn’t the intention. I think it’s sad that what we thought everyone saw as a nonsense is now so normalised that alternatives are just disappearing from view. Everyone should be encouraged to explore. Piracy is your preferred option, but when that became more mainstream we actually ended up creating the market for more DRM, in the form…

> Piracy is your preferred option, but when that became more mainstream we actually ended up creating the market for more DRM, in the form of iTunes, Spotify and others. I’m not sure I want the future of digital media to be entirely subscription-based like that.

Nah DRM and subscription models would have arrived even if there were no piracy. Subscription models because they guarantee income and most people use less than it's worth. And DRM because companies are paranoid.

In fact even now DRM serves no actual purpose other than harassing legitimate buyers. Pirates have no issue getting content and in the case of books they never will because copying can even be done by OCR.

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

#343

Post by mystraline »

wkat4242 wrote: post #339
asdff wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the one with working port forwarding?

Proton, at least for me

PIA also supports port forwarding from non-US regions. And the Linux solution is better and provides a stable port, unlike Proton's 'run this command every 60 seconds and hope'.

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

#344

Post by WolfeReader »

wkat4242 wrote: post #341
WolfeReader wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't like DRM, you definitely want to use Adobe Digital Editions. I'll leave it to you to find out why.

Why? It's still DRM. Pretty awful one IMO. Our local library used it. Personally I just buy my books DRM free now. If that's not possible, then I get them from my friend Anna who has a nice library.

I said, "I'll leave it to you to find out why". This is a public forum. Just maybe look up some Calibre plug-ins which might help you "manage" DRM books.

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

#345

Post by habosa »

BeetleB wrote: post #209
habosa wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m waiting for Bookshop.org to offer an integration with any hardware reader for most of their books. When they do, I’ll switch to whatever that reader is.

Eh? Not sure what you mean. I picked a random book: https://bookshop.org/p/books/hemlock-silver-t-kingfisher/022... It's DRM Free, and available as an ePub. Other than Kindle, what device does not accept ePub?

It’s up to each author and publisher and the vast majority still use DRM. Science fiction and Fantasy authors (like the example you linked) seem to be most likely to not use DRM, but I don’t read too much of those genres.

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

#346

Post by oxzidized »

II2II wrote: post #134
mynameisash wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I get that Amazon is incredibly convenient, but $1000 is $1000 no matter which company takes it from you. If some local mom and pop shop effectively stole $1000 from me, you can bet your ass I'd never patronize them again.

They never said they continued to patronize Amazon. Given the thread kicked off with claims about loosing access to DRMed content due to an unrelated delivery/payment issue, the person involved may be concerned about loosing access to digital content. Some people spend a lot of money on books, movies, etc.. The $1000 may be a drop in the bucket.

> 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 with no recourse...

To some this could imply they wanted to continue doing business with Amazon, so accepted the theft. Not losing access is, in a way, continuing to do business. Not sure if that's what they meant, but I can see it being interpreted as such.

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

#347

Post by wkat4242 »

WolfeReader wrote: post #344
wkat4242 wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? It's still DRM. Pretty awful one IMO. Our local library used it. Personally I just buy my books DRM free now. If that's not possible, then I get them from my friend Anna who has a nice library.

I said, "I'll leave it to you to find out why". This is a public forum. Just maybe look up some Calibre plug-ins which might help you "manage" DRM books.

I've used it and I found it the worst form of DRM. It required creating an "account" with Adobe despite having no relationship with them (It was to access books at my local library where I already had an account) and the software didn't even work on linux. Even getting it to work at all took ages of tinkering and I'm an IT expert. My parents who just wanted to simply check out a book out of the digital library during the pandemic would never have managed to figure that out.

And yes I have liberated all my DRM books from Amazon. But Adobe Digital I will never touch again (Nor buy books with DRM on it in the first place).

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

#348

Post by wkat4242 »

mystraline wrote: post #343
wkat4242 wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Proton, at least for me

PIA also supports port forwarding from non-US regions. And the Linux solution is better and provides a stable port, unlike Proton's 'run this command every 60 seconds and hope'.

I only use OpenVPN (another reason to move away from Mullvad), not their own clients. I moved away from PIA in the past, I don't remember why, it was a long time ago.

I was happy with Mullvad for a long time, especially being able to buy their scratch cards, but now I had to move to Proton due to the deprecation of port forwarding and openvpn at mullvad.

But PIA is american anyway so that won't work for me, I'm not signing up with new american services anymore since Trump came to power again.

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

#349

Post by fencepost »

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…

Amazon no longer having a record of it is absurd given the volume of data they store about all transactions.

For a phone in particular I'd be demanding serial number/IMEI information for the police report and ensuring that the stolen phone was properly reported as stolen. Since they record all of that when they ship it should be readily available.

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

#350

Post by WolfeReader »

wkat4242 wrote: post #347
WolfeReader wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I said, "I'll leave it to you to find out why". This is a public forum. Just maybe look up some Calibre plug-ins which might help you "manage" DRM books.

I've used it and I found it the worst form of DRM. It required creating an "account" with Adobe despite having no relationship with them (It was to access books at my local library where I already had an account) and the software didn't even work on linux. Even getting it to work at all took ages of tinkering and I'm an IT expert. My parents who just wanted to simply check out a book out of the digital library during…

It's actually simple:

1. Install ADE on Windows (or a Windows VM (recommended))

2. Log in with Adobe account

3. Download ASCM files from Kobo or Google Play Books and open with ADE

4. the optional step I've been trying to hint at for like 3 posts now

5. Put it on your reader!

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