3 ms·

Yes they do but it's extremely hard to find drm free books.

pacaro 4y ago
Everything published by Tor I believe, plus, of course, everything on Gutenberg [Edit: tor books, not the other tor. Although presumably everything is there regardless of legal status]
baryphonic 4y ago
Ironically, I've found many of the publishers will sell DRM-free ebooks. The biggest problem I've found is books out of print but still in copyright, since we have absurdly long copyright lengths today. The "ebook shops" are the worst. Amazon & Apple have their DRM'd copies, and Kobo may be even worse.
neilv 4y ago
Incidentally, O'Reilly links people to ebooks.com for one-off DRM-free purchases of their technical books. I recently bought these two (in DRM-free PDF and EPUB), mostly-happily paying twice what I'd have to for paperback or being locked to a jerky-reader: * https://www.ebooks.com/en-us/book/210313783/programming-rust/jim-blandy/ https://www.ebooks.com/en-us/book/210313783/programming-rust... ($60; for experienced systems programmers, this seems better than the free official book) * https://www.ebooks.com/en-us/book/209970024/software-engineering-at-google/titus-winters/ https://www.ebooks.com/en-us/book/209970024/software-enginee... ($51; for front-loading Googliness)
lxgr 4y ago
Interestingly, all German language e-books have been DRM free for a couple of years now. I have no idea how that happened, but at one point, all major publishers have pivoted from mandatory DRM to DRM-free (but watermarked) ePubs. The notable exception is Amazon: Kindle books are almost always DRMed from the same publishers.
- Wowfunhappy 4y ago
  I really love watermarking as a solution for DRM-Free media! Watermarks can of course be stripped, but so can DRM--the goal is just to add an extra barrier, which watermarks do without inconveniencing legitimate customers. I actually kind of feel it adds value--it gives my purchase an authenticity a pirated copy wouldn't have.
tren 4y ago
We keep trying to push publishers to allow us to sell their ebooks DRM-free, it really is a win-win. Less customer support for us, more sales for them, no vendor lock-in for the customer. We offer completely DRM-free or watermarked content: https://www.ebooks.com/drm-free/ https://www.ebooks.com/drm-free/. I wish every publisher would embrace it.
- tpxl 4y ago
  Do you have any hard data on the benefits/drawbacks of DRM?
  - tren 4y ago
    We wrote a short article about it here: https://about.ebooks.com/sales-jumped-54-when-this-publisher-went-drm-free/ https://about.ebooks.com/sales-jumped-54-when-this-publisher...
9991 4y ago
They're on IRCHighWay.
- benibela 4y ago
  and zlibrary

Everything published by Tor I believe, plus, of course, everything on Gutenberg [Edit: tor books, not the other tor. Although presumably everything is there regardless of legal status]

baryphonic 4y ago

Ironically, I've found many of the publishers will sell DRM-free ebooks. The biggest problem I've found is books out of print but still in copyright, since we have absurdly long copyright lengths today. The "ebook shops" are the worst. Amazon & Apple have their DRM'd copies, and Kobo may be even worse.

neilv 4y ago

Incidentally, O'Reilly links people to ebooks.com for one-off DRM-free purchases of their technical books. I recently bought these two (in DRM-free PDF and EPUB), mostly-happily paying twice what I'd have to for paperback or being locked to a jerky-reader: * https://www.ebooks.com/en-us/book/210313783/programming-rust/jim-blandy/ https://www.ebooks.com/en-us/book/210313783/programming-rust... ($60; for experienced systems programmers, this seems better than the free official book) * https://www.ebooks.com/en-us/book/209970024/software-engineering-at-google/titus-winters/ https://www.ebooks.com/en-us/book/209970024/software-enginee... ($51; for front-loading Googliness)

lxgr 4y ago

Interestingly, all German language e-books have been DRM free for a couple of years now. I have no idea how that happened, but at one point, all major publishers have pivoted from mandatory DRM to DRM-free (but watermarked) ePubs. The notable exception is Amazon: Kindle books are almost always DRMed from the same publishers.

Wowfunhappy 4y ago
I really love watermarking as a solution for DRM-Free media! Watermarks can of course be stripped, but so can DRM--the goal is just to add an extra barrier, which watermarks do without inconveniencing legitimate customers. I actually kind of feel it adds value--it gives my purchase an authenticity a pirated copy wouldn't have.

tren 4y ago

We keep trying to push publishers to allow us to sell their ebooks DRM-free, it really is a win-win. Less customer support for us, more sales for them, no vendor lock-in for the customer. We offer completely DRM-free or watermarked content: https://www.ebooks.com/drm-free/ https://www.ebooks.com/drm-free/. I wish every publisher would embrace it.

tpxl 4y ago
Do you have any hard data on the benefits/drawbacks of DRM?
- tren 4y ago
  We wrote a short article about it here: https://about.ebooks.com/sales-jumped-54-when-this-publisher-went-drm-free/ https://about.ebooks.com/sales-jumped-54-when-this-publisher...

9991 4y ago

They're on IRCHighWay.

benibela 4y ago
and zlibrary