Comments on: drmfree tag campaign starts on Amazon: Help identify safer-to-own books and other items!

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 19:18:31 +0000

Thanks for the drmfree tags, Shelley—and may other O’Reilly authors follow. Meanwhile continued congratulations to O’Reilly itself for being ahead of the crowd and dropping DRM. David.

By: Shelley

Shelley — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 16:32:41 +0000

I have tagged my own four books published by O’Reilly as drmfree. More at http://tinyurl.com/dba6kh.

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 15:08:39 +0000

Hi, Christine. Create a Kindle book via the Digital Text Platform---see a forthcoming post with a few more details. Thanks, David Update, noon: Here's the post.

By: Christine

Christine — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 14:22:55 +0000

I know this sounds crazy, but I did ask a question because I want the answer. Anyone?

By: Steve Jordan

Steve Jordan — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 13:13:21 +0000

Paul, you’re right, I don’t like the connotation of “defective” either. A simple “drmfree” should suffice.

It’s been pointed out on the MobileRead thread (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showpost.php?p=425576&postcount=4) that tags, once placed, cannot necessarily be removed… which can be a problem if the document in question is changed after the fact to a DRM’d document.

Eventually, maybe we can convince digital sellers to simply add a “drmfree” label at the price or sale point, making it clear to all what status the book is, and making it easy to remove it if the book’s status changes. (I have decided to try that on my site, just to see what kind of response I get from it.)

Of course, for even that to be effective, there would need to be some sort of standard that booksellers would have to comply to, preventing them from misusing the label–much like a mandatory content disclaimer–and real consequences if they disobeyed.

By: Paul Biba

Paul Biba — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 01:12:09 +0000

As to drmed books, the tag should not be insulting to the author. That’s the problem with “defective by design”. The non-cognoscenti will read something like that as a defective, broken, or just plain bad book. That is insulting to the author and conveys the wrong impression about his work. Don’t forget that many, if not most, authors will probably have no idea that drm is involved with their book to begin with. That’s why I agree with Windwalker that just plain “drm” is the best, and fairest, way to go.

By: Cat Sittingstill

Cat Sittingstill — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 01:06:39 +0000

The mobileread post you reference here is a response to a thread called Kindle Books From Amazon Without DRM.

You can find it here: http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43387

The start of the thread mentions that _Analog Science Fiction and Fact_ magazine from Amazon (also available from FictionWise) has no DRM, so you might include that in your list

Feel free to add to that thread as you discover more books without DRM; I am trying to collect as many of these titles as possible in one place.

Thanks!

By: Windwalker

Windwalker — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 00:56:30 +0000

David, I agree that just using the “drm” tag for books that are drm-restricted makes sense for now. The “defective by design” tag accomplishes little and, at most, only the cognoscenti know what the taggers are referencing.

Steve and Moriah, I’m fine with the “drmfree” tag. Amazon recognizes “drmfree,” “drm-free” and “drm free” as similar. (The longer descriptive field that I am using and recommending as an add-in in a DTP field is more of a searchable descriptor and fulfills other purposes).

Cheers,
Steve

By: Christine

Christine — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 00:03:45 +0000

Great Idea! I blogged it.

Is there a page that explains to authors how to put their books on Amazon.com drm-less? If not, that would be a good thing to have. If so, can someone give me a link please?

By: Moriah Jovan

Moriah Jovan — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 22:13:47 +0000

I used drmfree, fwiw.

By: Steve Jordan

Steve Jordan — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 21:47:27 +0000

I think using the label “drm” works fine to identify DRM’d books… by now most web consumers will know what it means.

It’s important that we try to minimize or standardize the labels we use to something easy to divine or search. It’s been pointed out that SW’s earlier article suggested “drm-free.” I think “drmfree” is simply easier to type, and so more likely to be an effective tag and search phrase. But “drm free” is also likely to be used when searching. (And one more, just to muddy the waters: “no drm.”)

So if we pick one tag, it’s important that we promote it far enough afield that everyone gets it and starts using the same tags.

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 20:58:13 +0000

Kirk, I’m open to that. Or perhaps the existing defectivebydesign could be used. At this point, who knows what the majority of books on Amazon are? My guess is that the most widely circulated ones are DRMed. Would be good to standardize, whatever the case. Open to other suggestions! For now, however, I think the big priority should be to identify the most buyable books—and of course DRM makes ‘em less so.

Steve W. and Steve J., what are you thoughts on this?

Thanks,
David

By: Kirk Biglione

Kirk Biglione — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 20:07:00 +0000

How should we tag books that we discover have DRM? Those should be labeled too. Perhaps DRMrestricted.

By: Steve Jordan

Steve Jordan — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 19:18:18 +0000

I passed a news article on to MR, with a request to give it some frontpage exposure.

By: Moriah Jovan

Moriah Jovan — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 19:15:20 +0000

Okay, well, count me in. My pub’s offerings are now tagged “drmfree” and all future offerings will be similarly tagged.