In the past, publishers would sell the books to a distributor (Ingram) and then Ingram would sell access to retailers like Fictionwise. Fictionwise could then provide discounts.

Publishers don’t want retailers to discount ebooks anymore and instituted these new policies which prevents those retailers from giving readers discount and access.

It is very frustrating.

So if that makes any sense, is there a way to strip the drm from adobe drm (digital editions) ebooks? :-)

Angie

You might be interested in this site.

So, if i wanted to copy my books onto a disc or a portable drive guy, is it possible? I figured I would just copy the thing into wherever I wanted it to go but it seems like my understanding of the entire download situation is flawed. :/

It depends on what kind of DRM-d books you have. Are they MS Lit ebooks? Mobipocket ebooks? MS Lit files are easy to decrypt–there’s a program called ConvertLIT that will do it. Mobipocket files are tougher. I required an entire Sunday with the wonderful people at the MobileRead forums helping me to figure out how to strip the DRM from the Mobipocket books.

a) I’ve got all of the books I’ve bought from FW downloaded;
b) stripped the DRM from the books;
c) converted them to RTF files; and
d) backed the files up to three external hard drives and an online file storing place.

So really, I don’t know why I’m so worried. Maybe it’s just the whole idea of not having those files available in the format I want? Because as great as FW has been in trying to get all the files restored, they’re only going to be available in eReader format if I’m reading the situation right. I don’t have an ebook reader that can read those files, nor a computer program to strip the DRM from them. And if some disaster befalls my three hard drives and the online files, then I’m screwed.

Note that Mr. Steve Pendergrast, one of the owners of Fictionwise, visited my blog overnight and says that Fictionwise’s Secure eReader DRM never has to contact a validation server after the initial download. You can make copies and back up your file wherever you like, and if Fictionwise goes belly-up at any time, your files are safe. I still avoid DRMed e-books on principle, but if a title you really want isn’t available in the completely unsecured format, but is available in Secure eReader format, it sounds like a good least-obnoxious option. :)

Angie

The idea is that someone who’s got an illegitimate copy won’t be able to get in. I’ve never used a secure DRM e-book, so I don’t know first hand exactly what that’s like, but with a game, your software will usually check in with the publisher’s server when you first install the game on your computer. It might require a code from the disk, or it might want you to create an account on the server, or it might note your IP address, or something else, or some combination of things. It’ll often take a snapshot of your system configuration and make a record of that on the server.

Some publishers only have the software phone home on installation, although if your computer crashes, or you upgrade to a new system, or you want to install on your laptop, you’ll need to activate it again. (If it’ll let you.) Sometimes even a hardware upgrade can trigger a new activation — remember that configuration snapshot? Upgrading your graphics card, for example, can make the server think you’re using the software on a new system. This is significant because some publishers only give you a certain number of installs — Spore, a much-anticipated game released recently — came with three. Figure, one to install on your system, one to re-install when your hard drive crashes, and a third to install when you upgrade to a new computer. If your system crashes multiple times, if you upgrade a couple of pieces of hardware one at a time, if you want to install on your laptop and then you upgrade that, you might run out of installs along the way. If that happens, a typical response from the publisher is, “Sorry, buy another copy.”

Some software will phone home at intervals whenever you’re using it. So if you open it up, it’ll check to see how long since it’s tagged the activation server, and if it’s been more than it’s set interval, it’ll go online and re-validate your usage. If you’re not connected to the internet, it won’t let you use the software until you connect and it can do its thing.

And as I said above, if the activation server is ever taken down for whatever reason, you’re out of luck.

Some of these “features” might not have been adopted by the e-publishing industry yet, but they seem to be headed in that direction. Computer games didn’t suddenly pop up with all this stuff either. It’s like the e-publishing industry is heading down the exact same road the computer games industry has already travelled, despite ample and clear evidence that there’s nothing of value down that road, neither for publishers nor customers.

It’s a sickening feeling when you first realize that you have several hundred dollars (or more) worth of software effectively held hostage to the whims of a set of corporations, many of whom are trimming budgets these days. If they decide that this old server from ten years ago isn’t getting pinged often enough to make it worthwhile to maintain, they might well axe it. If it’s only getting validation attempts (meaning customers are only using a piece of software validated by that server) a few times a year, heck, that’s a minor customer service issue, while maintaining the server is much more expensive. And this “hostage” situation is forever, so long as you want to keep using your software, including reading your online activated e-books.

About what I do buy, I get e-books in plain PDF format. They’re basic Acrobat files, readable on pretty much anything, and freely usable and copyable. I’m not a thief, I’m not a pirate, and I don’t need someone smacking my hand when I go to copy my e-books. I have copies of my library on my desktop system, on my laptop, and on a flash drive. The only way I’m going to lose my e-books is if my house burns down with my computer, my laptop and that flashdrive in it. [wry smile]

If there are other formats which don’t have secure DRM on them, hopefully other folks will pop up and say what they are. I like PDF because of its portability, and I’ve never looked into anything else.

Angie

What does online activation mean and where do you buy ebooks that don’t require it?

What you said.

Forget it. I only buy e-books without online activation. At least that way I know they belong to me, and that I can read them whenever I want, not just when some company feels like letting me by maintaining its activation server.

Angie