4 ms·

I stopped buying ebooks with DRM, which essentially means I stopped buying them altogether. It's a real shame, because ebooks are vastly more convenient than pr

I stopped buying ebooks with DRM, which essentially means I stopped buying them altogether. It's a real shame, because ebooks are vastly more convenient than print books, but I got to a breaking point with the hassle of cracking modern DRM. Anybody have success with DIY book scanning and conversion to epub?

rebeccaskinner 3y ago
I’ve been looking into it. Google published the design and software for the book scanners they used for Google books and it seems plausible to DIY them for a reasonable price. You can also buy book scanners for a couple of hundred dollars if you don’t mind turning pages manually. The main thing that’s kept me for pursuing this is that I don’t really want to own all the physical books in the first place. I prefer physical copies of technical and math books, but for random fiction I am interested in ebooks to save space. Buying the books and scanning them gets me into the same position with books that I’m already in with movies, shows, and music: lots of physical media taking up space so that I could put a bunch of extra effort into getting a digital copy that I could have downloaded for free with far less effort if I were willing to pirate.
- caconym_ 3y ago
  Maybe one could buy physical copies, rip them to epub, then sell or donate them. :)
dannersy 3y ago
Calibre has allowed me to essentially own all of my ebooks. I try to buy from wherever the author will get the largest percentage (so, not Amazon, essentially) and then use Calibre to strip the DRM. It's an amazing software and will basically do everything for you automatically, I can't recommend it enough. The only reason I need to do this is because I use an off brand e-reader and DRM can prevent me from using it. I use these words quite deliberately: it's fucking ridiculous. I don't distribute these purchases, I just store and back them up myself. Every so often I will "lend" one to my partner or a friend like any other paperback on my shelf. The difference being, I suppose they now "own" it, too.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

rebeccaskinner 3y ago

I’ve been looking into it. Google published the design and software for the book scanners they used for Google books and it seems plausible to DIY them for a reasonable price. You can also buy book scanners for a couple of hundred dollars if you don’t mind turning pages manually. The main thing that’s kept me for pursuing this is that I don’t really want to own all the physical books in the first place. I prefer physical copies of technical and math books, but for random fiction I am interested in ebooks to save space. Buying the books and scanning them gets me into the same position with books that I’m already in with movies, shows, and music: lots of physical media taking up space so that I could put a bunch of extra effort into getting a digital copy that I could have downloaded for free with far less effort if I were willing to pirate.

caconym_ 3y ago
Maybe one could buy physical copies, rip them to epub, then sell or donate them. :)

dannersy 3y ago

Calibre has allowed me to essentially own all of my ebooks. I try to buy from wherever the author will get the largest percentage (so, not Amazon, essentially) and then use Calibre to strip the DRM. It's an amazing software and will basically do everything for you automatically, I can't recommend it enough. The only reason I need to do this is because I use an off brand e-reader and DRM can prevent me from using it. I use these words quite deliberately: it's fucking ridiculous. I don't distribute these purchases, I just store and back them up myself. Every so often I will "lend" one to my partner or a friend like any other paperback on my shelf. The difference being, I suppose they now "own" it, too.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]