TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

This thing has spun out far faster than I would have ever imagined.

My hat is off to the lovers of literature technically savvy enough to do so much so quickly.

From such things, direct action in the best sense, DRM as a whole will die.

Amazon’s attempt to quarantine its customers appears to have backfired big time. It was a fine line between DRM and monopolization - that was always inherent in ladening literature with such chains - that they would be pulled too tight - they were and they have snapped.

For those that are able, crack the lot. Finish off DRM with the technology it is based on. Force industry to adopt a better solution that does not cripple literature for the sake of their profits. Literature is just too damn important to allow this to persist and in the best tradition of our shared culture, the impediments have been struck-off.

Congratulations and thanks to all concerned.

Greg, my feelings exactly. I am strongly opposed to piracy of e-books and other content. That’s all the more reason to dislike Draconian DRM since it punishes legal owners of books and the rest. Especially the smarter buyers must resent the clippy tricks that Amazon is using against them. What we need, instead of silly technical restrictions, which, by the way, can also be used by dictators to control the reading habits of their citizens, is a vigorous fight against large-scale pirates. Remember, they can simply scan from P books. So why do publishers go in for Draconian DRM? My theory is that many just don’t know any better—read Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti on her teaching experiences at one school for aspiring editors and publishers. If publishers want “protection,” I suggest that instead they think about social DRM, which is hardly perfect but much better than Amazon’s current variety. I hope Bezos and friends will keep an open mind. Social DRM could be an interesting compromise even though my preference is no DRM.

Happy holidays,
David

David I just read, for the first time your August article on social DRM. In the context of digital signatures, I very much favour this, even above no-DRM!

Obviously it is not necessary to “social DRM” public domain literature, but in one way it could be a very good thing to do so.

A digital signature can record many things - that the edition has not been tampered with (through hash tables), intentionally or otherwise. Identity of the edition, the work, the author, ISBN like numbers, category information, and if it can be used (it is privately owned at the moment) its Universal Decimal Number and subject references could be included (consider the possibility of leasing the entire system, but allowing publishers and authors of all sorts to access the numbers and descriptors).

As collections grow, digital shelving is going to become a major problem.

A well constructed Digital Signature system could value add to the purchased ebook, in fact there are a lot of other files that would benefit by being properly signed.

We need not use credit card information to establish identity, after all we should not only enjoy security over that information, but also anonymity as well (whether because of tastes that are embarrassing or from the oppressive interests of dictatorships - receipts can be arranged and sealed into the ebook in such a way that identity can be proved without being identified as a person).

Just some stray thoughts.

Totally agree with you, Alan, that this is NOT piracy. DEFINITELY not. But it might still be a technical violation of the DMCA in the opinion of some lawyers. If nothing else, Bezos’s people might argue he was protecting the sales of books in the Kindle format. Hard to say. I’d love some authoritative legal opinions here. Like you, I’m not a lawyer. Meanwhile we also need to consider not just what copyright law says but the terms of the Kindle TOS. Thanks and happy holidays. David

The problem is when they went for the tight laws, they were over-tight, changing any part of the DRM you may as well remove the lot as far as your legal standing goes - there is no in-between.

In effect they never alienate what you bought, you remain forever a leaser, never the owner.

That is why cracking how to move stuff onto the Kindle is not legally different from cracking stuff downloaded from the Kindle to use elsewhere (whether they take action is up to them - and in political PR territory).

DRM means managing your goods anyway they see fit. It is a clear case when instead of useful balance the law just became a weapon for one side - another reason it will never work in the long term is that it is thoroughly unfair. If I destroy something I own accidentally, I suffer the consequences, but if they decide to go out of business, or they don’t like me any more, or my kindle breaks and I may want a better device - my library is stolen by them.

Getting stuff onto the Kindle now equates legally with getting stuff off the Kindle - it is major leak in DRM, the ship will sink eventually.

Kinda weird that Amazon is being singled out for this given that its main competitor — the Sony Reader — has the exact same issue.

I bought a SONY reader because even though their proprietary format is DRM protected it can read RTF and PDF. There’s nothing stopping publishers to sell ebooks without DRM for the SONY reader and they don’t even have to go through SONY’s Connect store… yet it didn’t happen in large scale.

My undertsanding is that the Kindle is somewhat different in that it does not natively support other formats and one has to pay for the conversion to cover the bandwidth cost. Even though it has USB connection it does not come with a good computer software that would take care of this.

I think “smart consumerism” is important. People should understand what they are paying for exactly… and when they will I’m pretty sure they won’t buy a heck of a lot of ebooks from Amazon, Connect or any other DRMed source. It just doesn’t make sense.

A gadget like the Kindle is outdated in a year or so.
If you cannot move the content you payed for to another device then buying that content was a pretty bad investment.

I supported DefectiveByDesign’s campaign to promote smart consumerism with my “real name”(TM - Amazon)

“But, Brian, doesn’t Amazon say it has the right to poke inside your Kindle? Not sure if Sony claims that right and if it’s as easy since the Reader is normally offline.”

Yes, that certainly is a major difference.

“Nothing existed before BBeB. A major issue with Amazon is whether it cooked up the DRMed Kindle format to, say, hurt the indies using Mobi.”

I’m not sure what you mean by “Nothing existed before BBeB.” I mean, couldn’t I just as easily argue that Sony *created* BBeB specifically to hurt independent sellers who tended to use DRMed PDF, Mobi or MS Lit? Clearly, companies who develop ebook readers tend to go all control freak on consumers, which runs exactly opposite to the openness of p-books.

Thanks Brian,

I think the Kindle would be great with a proper software so that you could use it with a computer through USB.

The good thing is that it is recognized as a USB mass storage device, but since PDF, RTF and HTML are not natively supported you have two options
convert to MOBI and load it through USB; use Mazon conversion and pay for the download.

I think DBD’s campaign is important so people understand what exactly they’re paying for when buying content.

Tamas writes “but since PDF, RTF and HTML are not natively supported you have two options convert to MOBI and load it through USB; use Mazon conversion and pay for the download.”

No, you have a third option–e-mail it to Amazon for conversion and have Amazon e-mail it back to your computer. This is free. You then use the included USB cord to move the file from your computer to your Kindle.

Furthermore, though the converted file Amazon e-mails you has an azw extension, it is actually unsecured Mobipocket, and can be displayed by any e-book reader or program that can handle Mobipocket if you just reset the extension to prc.

>>>I mean, couldn’t I just as easily argue that Sony *created* BBeB specifically to hurt independent sellers who tended to use DRMed PDF, Mobi or MS Lit?

Sony’s argument to me was that the BBeB format was the only one — at that time — that permitted reflowable text at different typesizes.

I have not paid any attention to ebook file formats and their individual format limitations, so I can’t judge whether what Sony told me is true or not. Just passing on what I was told.

Until everyone rallies around a universal ebook file format and a consumer-friendly method of deterring theft, ebook growth will remain stunted.

I am really getting fed up with Amazon and Mobipocket. I have some ebooks that I purchased a year or two ago, through sites other than Amazon or Mobi, that now cannot be downloaded. They generate an error that the title is “no longer registered for that retailer.” I can keep a cheap paperback copy on my bookshelf for decades, but this ebook becomes useless after only a couple years. So, if I bought a Kindle, I’d be even more tied to these DRM curmudgeons. No thanks!

Baen Books has not gone under though they have a website selling DRM free multiformat ebooks, so I don’t think publishers need a universal file format or DRM for ebooks to succeed, and I am sure consumers do not.

DRM does nothing to assure a publisher that they will get paid nor do I see it lower the prices. Baen Books the only publisher that I am aware of that publishes all their books in non-DRMed electronic format, at the same time as the hardcover for a fraction of the price. Most other publishers using DRM charge the same price as a hardcover even though the overhead is much less. Amazon who is charging less than normal hardcover price (aprx $10) is still charging more than Baen. I am not a thief so why should publishers treat me like one? In fact, their attitudes make me want to rip them off. Where as, when I read a book in Baen’s free library that I enjoy I purchase the electronic copy and often a dead tree version as well. Sell electronic books in an open format for a reasonable price and people like me will buy them. The authors only seem to benefit from having their books available. Several of Baen’s authors have reported increased sales in their backlist when they add a book the free library. I believe that the majority of people will live up or down to expectations. If we as a society expect everyone to be a thief,even as we condemn it; we are making theft the standard of behavior. It is a subtle errosion of society.

You know, no one is forced to buy a Kindle. I purchased one with a full understanding of the issues and constraints. It meets my needs, and I am fine with paying for what I want. If you bought a Kindle, and were shocked to discover that it is primarily a device for buying content from Amazon, I suggest you send it back for a refund or sell it on ebay. If you haven’t bought a Kindle then you haven’t been harmed in any way, except for feeling a little frustrated that you can’t have your way in everything in life. If that description fits you, grow up, quit whining, get counseling for your narcisstic personality disorder, and try to contribute to the world instead of just sitting around throwing rocks at the people who are contributing. sheesh.

Nobody can figure out a way to transfer files from the kindle back on to your computer and still be able to read the .azw’s? Anybody?… Bueller?