6 ms·

Where do y'all get ebooks from? I've been getting ebooks from Amazon and using Calibre to convert them to epubs, but I'd love it if I could just buy DRM-free ep

Where do y'all get ebooks from? I've been getting ebooks from Amazon and using Calibre to convert them to epubs, but I'd love it if I could just buy DRM-free epubs. Lots of authors seem reticent to do that. (Brandon Sanderson being an exception; none of his works are DRM'd, at least they shouldn't be.)

carlosjobim 3y ago
Maybe you could purchase them with the DRM, and then download a non-DRM version from a shadow library?
- smithza 3y ago
  I have allowed amazon e-books into my firewall after I vet they are from a publisher I can trust... I do not have interest in allowing books from strangers into my firewall. Some authors on amazon have posted their books DRM-free (Brandon Sanderson is an example). I usually check to see if the publisher sells the e-book directly. If so, I will consider buying there. Usually amazon has a cheaper price, and I buy from them and strip the DRM.
  - alwayslikethis 3y ago
    That's bizarre. If anything, Amazon ebooks are worse than anything you can download, as Amazon retains some ability to remotely erase or alter them if your device remains connected to the internet, which pirated books never will.
    - pasc1878 3y ago
      That is not a problem with the ebooks it is a problem with using a Kindle. If you download your book from Amazon to your disk e.g. in Calibre Amazon can't touch it. I have many amazon books and I read then in pub based readers on my iPhone. Even on the Kindle I think I am safe as I tend not to use the Amazon link but upload via Calibre so what is on the Kindle does not match what Amazon thinks I have on the Kindle.
      - smithza 3y ago
        Correct. I do not open amazon e-books in the Kindle app. I jailbroke my kindle to allow for OPDS connection to my calibre server, and put it in airplane mode when not copying books from the server.
  - master-lincoln 3y ago
    I am puzzled by the mention of a firewall. Are you afraid of code embedded in books? Is that a common attack vector?
    - smithza 3y ago
      Firewall is used as a metaphor as it was in networking parlance. What is in the firewall I can trust. I do not trust pirated content. Period.
dudul 3y ago
Doesn't work for everyone but I get them from project Gutenberg and similar platforms in other languages.
__d 3y ago
Cory Doctorow as well. I prefer to buy eBooks directly from the author, with a fallback to sites like leanpub. The process sucks though: you typically get a zip, which contains .epub, .mobi, and .pdf. And the naming is bogus, with spaces sometimes replaced by underscores or hyphens, and sometimes with the author's name and sometimes not. So you have to unzip the file, get the contents, decide whether to keep them all or not, move them somewhere else, and then have your reader(s) realize that they're there, and try not to get dupes in the "shelf" view, and deal with the crappy metadata, and, and, and ... It'd be super nice if we got some standards here! It's not like Amazon has to adopt them -- they're a separate ecosystem. But if all the "indie" eBook publishers did the same thing, the reader apps could make this so much less painful.
sohkamyung 3y ago
Check out Libreture's list of DRM-free bookstores [1]. I usually get my magazines and DRM-free ebooks from WeightlessBooks [2] and Smashwords [3]. Kobo and Google Play Books also offer DRM-free books, but you have to look at the book details (further down the book page) to see this information. [1] https://libreture.com/bookshops/ https://libreture.com/bookshops/ [2] https://weightlessbooks.com/ https://weightlessbooks.com/ [3] https://www.smashwords.com/ https://www.smashwords.com/
vincent-manis 3y ago
Yet again a plug for Epubor Ultimate, which claims to, and in my experience, does remove DRM from pretty much any EPUB or PDF, and works on Kindle books as well. The workflow is much simpler than with the DeDRM plugin for Calibre, and so far it has survived at least one change in Kindle encryption. I have used it on books from Kobo, ebooks.com, and Amazon.It is pretty much the only non-free software I own, and it lets me have a completely free library.
- aumerle 3y ago
  epubor just uses the calibre derdrm plugin internally, without even acknowledging that, thereby stealing the word of the maintainers of the dedrm plugin.
throwaway81523 3y ago
(free) archive.org (free) archiveofourown.org (free) tthfanfic.org (paid) https://www.humblebundle.com/books https://www.humblebundle.com/books (paid) https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/books https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/books Tons more...
rebeccaskinner 3y ago
I suspect a lot of authors don’t have much choice. Big authors and people who self-publish sure, but a lot of people struggle to get published and I imagine a sizable fraction of publishers who don’t specifically cater to geek audiences would just drop a book and move on to one of the other hundreds of submissions if someone insisted on a drm free release.
S04dKHzrKT 3y ago
Depending on where you're from, checking out books from your local library via overdrive/libby might work for you. I don't know if it's standard for all models, but Kobo e-readers have builtin overdrive support. https://www.overdrive.com/ https://www.overdrive.com/
luag 3y ago
Some books in Google Play Books are drm free.
Obscurity4340 3y ago
Its weird to see everything but the most correct (can't speak for legal) selection here...
- CaptainFever 3y ago
  Anna's Archive?
  - Obscurity4340 3y ago
    In a manner of speaking, yes
adhamsalama 3y ago
I think ebooks.com sells DRM-free ebooks, but I haven't bought anything from them though.
unhammer 3y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37939796 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37939796
donatzsky 3y ago
I usually buy from Kobo. They have both with and without DRM, depending on the publisher.
WilTimSon 3y ago
Tor is one publisher that sells its works without DRM, though if you're a fan of Sanderson then you probably already know about them?

carlosjobim 3y ago

Maybe you could purchase them with the DRM, and then download a non-DRM version from a shadow library?

smithza 3y ago
I have allowed amazon e-books into my firewall after I vet they are from a publisher I can trust... I do not have interest in allowing books from strangers into my firewall. Some authors on amazon have posted their books DRM-free (Brandon Sanderson is an example). I usually check to see if the publisher sells the e-book directly. If so, I will consider buying there. Usually amazon has a cheaper price, and I buy from them and strip the DRM.
- alwayslikethis 3y ago
  That's bizarre. If anything, Amazon ebooks are worse than anything you can download, as Amazon retains some ability to remotely erase or alter them if your device remains connected to the internet, which pirated books never will.
  - pasc1878 3y ago
    That is not a problem with the ebooks it is a problem with using a Kindle. If you download your book from Amazon to your disk e.g. in Calibre Amazon can't touch it. I have many amazon books and I read then in pub based readers on my iPhone. Even on the Kindle I think I am safe as I tend not to use the Amazon link but upload via Calibre so what is on the Kindle does not match what Amazon thinks I have on the Kindle.
    - smithza 3y ago
      Correct. I do not open amazon e-books in the Kindle app. I jailbroke my kindle to allow for OPDS connection to my calibre server, and put it in airplane mode when not copying books from the server.
- master-lincoln 3y ago
  I am puzzled by the mention of a firewall. Are you afraid of code embedded in books? Is that a common attack vector?
  - smithza 3y ago
    Firewall is used as a metaphor as it was in networking parlance. What is in the firewall I can trust. I do not trust pirated content. Period.

dudul 3y ago

Doesn't work for everyone but I get them from project Gutenberg and similar platforms in other languages.

__d 3y ago

Cory Doctorow as well. I prefer to buy eBooks directly from the author, with a fallback to sites like leanpub. The process sucks though: you typically get a zip, which contains .epub, .mobi, and .pdf. And the naming is bogus, with spaces sometimes replaced by underscores or hyphens, and sometimes with the author's name and sometimes not. So you have to unzip the file, get the contents, decide whether to keep them all or not, move them somewhere else, and then have your reader(s) realize that they're there, and try not to get dupes in the "shelf" view, and deal with the crappy metadata, and, and, and ... It'd be super nice if we got some standards here! It's not like Amazon has to adopt them -- they're a separate ecosystem. But if all the "indie" eBook publishers did the same thing, the reader apps could make this so much less painful.

sohkamyung 3y ago

Check out Libreture's list of DRM-free bookstores [1]. I usually get my magazines and DRM-free ebooks from WeightlessBooks [2] and Smashwords [3]. Kobo and Google Play Books also offer DRM-free books, but you have to look at the book details (further down the book page) to see this information. [1] https://libreture.com/bookshops/ https://libreture.com/bookshops/ [2] https://weightlessbooks.com/ https://weightlessbooks.com/ [3] https://www.smashwords.com/ https://www.smashwords.com/

vincent-manis 3y ago

Yet again a plug for Epubor Ultimate, which claims to, and in my experience, does remove DRM from pretty much any EPUB or PDF, and works on Kindle books as well. The workflow is much simpler than with the DeDRM plugin for Calibre, and so far it has survived at least one change in Kindle encryption. I have used it on books from Kobo, ebooks.com, and Amazon.It is pretty much the only non-free software I own, and it lets me have a completely free library.

aumerle 3y ago
epubor just uses the calibre derdrm plugin internally, without even acknowledging that, thereby stealing the word of the maintainers of the dedrm plugin.

throwaway81523 3y ago

(free) archive.org (free) archiveofourown.org (free) tthfanfic.org (paid) https://www.humblebundle.com/books https://www.humblebundle.com/books (paid) https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/books https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/books Tons more...

rebeccaskinner 3y ago

I suspect a lot of authors don’t have much choice. Big authors and people who self-publish sure, but a lot of people struggle to get published and I imagine a sizable fraction of publishers who don’t specifically cater to geek audiences would just drop a book and move on to one of the other hundreds of submissions if someone insisted on a drm free release.

S04dKHzrKT 3y ago

Depending on where you're from, checking out books from your local library via overdrive/libby might work for you. I don't know if it's standard for all models, but Kobo e-readers have builtin overdrive support. https://www.overdrive.com/ https://www.overdrive.com/

luag 3y ago

Some books in Google Play Books are drm free.

Obscurity4340 3y ago

Its weird to see everything but the most correct (can't speak for legal) selection here...

CaptainFever 3y ago
Anna's Archive?
- Obscurity4340 3y ago
  In a manner of speaking, yes

adhamsalama 3y ago

I think ebooks.com sells DRM-free ebooks, but I haven't bought anything from them though.

unhammer 3y ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37939796 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37939796

donatzsky 3y ago

I usually buy from Kobo. They have both with and without DRM, depending on the publisher.

WilTimSon 3y ago

Tor is one publisher that sells its works without DRM, though if you're a fan of Sanderson then you probably already know about them?