# Do you prefer to buy DRM-free books?



## Sam Rivers (May 22, 2011)

I buy DRM-free books when I can find them. However, it is not easy to tell which ones are DRM-free. If you look under _Products Details_ and then under _Simultaneous Device Usage_, if it says Unlimited then it is a DRM-free book.

So what are the advantages of buying a DRM-free book? DRM is a restriction so the Publisher can limit the things you can do with the book. In other words, you don't really own the book, but are just renting it. For example, the DRM can tell you that you can't have the Kindle read to you. It also could tell you that the book can't be lent to someone else.

A DRM-free book can be converted to epub and read on the Nook or other reader. The Kindle is a great little device, but something may come along that is even better. Books costs a lot of money so having books that can't be converted to another format is not the best thing. You could end up with a large library of books that could only be read on the Kindle.

One of the advantages of being an Indie author is that the author can decide if he wants to have his books DRM-free or have DRM on them. If the author goes though a publisher it will have DRM on it since it benefits the publisher.

As a Indie author, I make sure all of my books are DRM-free and I also put DRM-free on the book cover and the description.

So do you prefer to buy DRM-free books?


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

Franklin Eddy said:


> So do you prefer to buy DRM-free books?


Absolutely. I like the new feature of Calibre that tells me if a book has DRM or not when I do a search of the book sites.

Mike


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## s0nicfreak (Jun 10, 2010)

Yes. I much prefer DRM free books, and make all my books DRM free.


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

I own a Sony, not a Kindle, and I'm really anti-DRM. I'll buy ebooks with DRM if I have to, but generally those I end up buying as paperbacks/hardcovers instead of as ebooks.

For small to medium press, I always try to buy directly from the publishers and not Amazon (where I have to convert and/or strip according) or the Sony store. Authors make more money that way, anyway. And, oftentimes I start to find small publishers that I really like and start buying a lot of their stuff (since I know that I've enjoyed i.e. all of the SF or all of their historicals).

I always, always check to see if a self-published book is on Smashwords before I'll buy from anywhere else.

However, if I have to have DRM, then I'll buy from the Sony store, since I can buy in epub format. Then, if I'm stuck with someone who only publishes on Amazon, I'll decide if I want it that bad or not at that stage.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

I've been anti-DRM for a very long time. I consider it a serious intrusion into personal privacy. I have to REALLY want a book to buy one with DRM. I'll buy the GRR Martin novels with it but that's about it. Put DRM on a novel and it's on my do not buy list.

Edit: *rant warimg* As an author, I have to say that the idea that DRM prevents piracy is just laughable. Any pirate who can't strip DRM needs to go back to kindergarten. Besides I want you to loan out my books. How else do you think authors get new readers? Someone says, "Hey, try this out" and loans you a book. It is the most wrong-headed idea for authors I've ever seen. I understand the problem in a way. We can't depend on concerts the way bands do, but we're ALL hurt in the end by DRM. Customers, including me, not able to share books, authors not getting new readers in the way it has normally happened, and the free use of a product we've PAID for infringed upon.

*end of rant*


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## Ilyria Moon (May 14, 2011)

I have no time for DRM whatsoever.


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

ilyria_moon said:


> I have no time for DRM whatsoever.


Yup, because I'll just strip it out anyway if I can't read it on my device. Living Light's sake, I owe the freaking book. Let me read it wherever I want, including my cellphone, my ipod, my netbook, my computer, my partner's computer, my eReader....


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## kCopeseeley (Mar 15, 2011)

jmiked said:


> Absolutely. I like the new feature of Calibre that tells me if a book has DRM or not when I do a search of the book sites.
> 
> Mike


Wow, didn't know that. I think I need to update my version.


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## MariaESchneider (Aug 1, 2009)

DRM doesn't bother me all that much.  I don't go out of my way to avoid it.  I'm on a lot of forums with cozy readers.  Most have no idea, nor do they care about, DRM.  Would they if they tried switching devices?  Yes.  But as it stands, they buy either a Nook or a Kindle and then they buy their books from that seller.  They don't shop around much, if at all.  They are still buyers of used books too.

For the most part they aren't aware of DRM.

I think it's great that Amazon allows authors to choose one way or the other, but the buying public isn't able to tell readily if a book has DRM or not, so I don't think it makes a huge difference to the majority.


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## Ilyria Moon (May 14, 2011)

Krista D. Ball said:


> Yup, because I'll just strip it out anyway if I can't read it on my device. Living Light's sake, I owe the freaking book. Let me read it wherever I want, including my cellphone, my ipod, my netbook, my computer, my partner's computer, my eReader....


Definitely. There was a phase of DRM CDs and it is so annoying that I can't access the extra content on different machines, or copy the CD I paid for to iTunes. Grrrr!


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## Sam Rivers (May 22, 2011)

It seems like a lot of the Indie authors prefer not to have DRM on their books. I think it is wonderful that Amazon gives us a choice.

_--- edited... no self-promotion outside the Book Bazaar forum. please read our Forum Decorum thread._


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## BellaStreet (Apr 15, 2011)

Absolutely. All my books are lendable and not encrypted. When a readers pays for my book, it's theirs.


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## kimandjenn (Apr 1, 2011)

I don't really have a preference. If it's not DRM-free it wouldn't stop me from buying it if I believe it's a good book and I want to read it.


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## RM Prioleau (Mar 18, 2011)

I debated whether or not to use DRM for my book, but after much research, I realized more people were against DRM than for it. To be honest, why stick extra software on the book, anyway? What's to stop someone from just pirating the book the old fashioned way by typing the entire book word for word on the computer and making it a PDF to distribute that way?

Nothing is ever fool-proof.


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## BellaStreet (Apr 15, 2011)

RM, I agree. Piraters (pirateers?) will always find a work-around. And since DRM annoys readers who buy books, I choose to stay on the buyers' good side


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## 41419 (Apr 4, 2011)

DRM doesn't work, and only serves to antagonize the legal, paying customers.

I refuse to DRM my books. And I refuse to buy books with DRM.

I'm reading e-books on my laptop right now, while I decide which e-reader to get (probably a Kindle, but I'm going to wait and see what comes out in September). If I get a non-Kindle, I don't want to have to purchase my books again. And I shouldn't have to. Nobody should have to. 

What if Apple or Kobo or someone else bring out an amazing new e-reader that beats the Kindle hands-down? It could be something with colour e-ink that cleverly doubles as a phone and a tablet and a camera. If you want to buy that, you are going to have to buy all your books again.

Many will be tempted to just pirate them. So DRM actually encourages piracy, rather than preventing it. Plus, publishing houses are using DRM against the wishes of their authors. I don't agree with that either.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Sure, I'd _prefer_ that all my e-books not be DRM'd, but it's not a big enough deal for me that I loose sleep over it or refuse to buy books that are DRM'd. I'm much more interested in reading good books than I am in limiting myself to only those that are not DRM'd. I can understand both sides of the DRM argument and I don't claim that I know for sure that either way (with DRM or without DRM) is the long-term best solution for all parties concerned (readers, authors, and publishers) -- I just want to read good books at reasonable prices.


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

dgaughran said:


> DRM doesn't work, and only serves to antagonize the legal, paying customers.
> 
> I refuse to DRM my books. And I refuse to buy books with DRM.
> 
> ...


I would argue that the Kobo and the Sony are already better ereaders because they allow so many more formats 

The fact is that I can't say "never for drm" regarding my purchases. Many of my purchases are from bigger publishers and, thus, it would be impossible for me to continue reading the books that I enjoy in the comfort of my ereader.

I do like that I can buy from Kobo and just drag n drop those books right on to my Sony without a care in the world. I'm getting set to go on vacation and I'm getting my ipod, my phone, and my ereader all organized. I was so pleased to see that my DRMed ebooks from kobo moved between my devices with complete ease. That helped a lot (making me more likely to continue only purchasing from Kobo as I've been doing).

If I buy from Amazon, I'm forced into Amazon's format and, thus, have to stripe or pirate the epub versions. Too much trouble for me. In fact, I'd argue that the lack of formats is becoming more of a PITA for me than DRM.


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## jonathanmoeller (Apr 19, 2011)

Yes. I strongly prefer DRM-free books.


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## Bigal-sa (Mar 27, 2010)

I couldn't care less.


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## scl (Feb 19, 2011)

I prefer no DRM.  It annoys me when I have it on a book, and I know it annoys readers who just want to be able to read their books when and where they want.  It also doesn't work for anyone who seriously wants to pirate a book, so I feel it's a losing proposition for everyone.


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## Alessandra Kelley (Feb 22, 2011)

I loathe DRM.  It makes things very difficult for regular customers while doing little to thwart piracy.  I have bought things with it, but I hate it because one software glitch and you're staring at some useless tech.  I'd much rather be able to move my books/music/movies between my gadgets.


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## Ilyria Moon (May 14, 2011)

DRM sucks.


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## TheUselessGod (May 23, 2011)

DRM, in my humble opinion, is a practice that basically says you don't trust your customer. 
So I'd have to go no DRM (in both books, video games, and music too  ).


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## India Drummond (Nov 1, 2010)

DRM has been annoying me for a lot longer than I've had an eReader. Some video games companies go to such lengths that it's actually EASIER to get a cracked copy of the game than to install it if you've bought it legitimately! (That said, I still never pirate.)

Although I couldn't do anything about my first book (Ordinary Angels) having DRM on it (my publisher insisted), starting with my first indie book Blood Faerie and continuing forward, I won't put DRM on my books. It doesn't even slow pirates down, but it annoys the heck out of legitimate customers who use multiple platforms or change devices over time.


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## corkyb (Apr 25, 2009)

jmiked said:


> Absolutely. I like the new feature of Calibre that tells me if a book has DRM or not when I do a search of the book sites.
> 
> Mike


How do you use Calibre to search a book site? I am rather new to Calibre and don't think I know all that much about it.


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## Amia Lacey (Jun 1, 2011)

Regarding DRM: As a consumer, I hate being treated like a criminal.  As a seller, I won't force DRM on my readers.


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## Sam Rivers (May 22, 2011)

corkyb, there is a _Get Books_ icon at the top of Calibre that lets you search for books. It will tell you if it has DRM.


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## Kristan Hoffman (Aug 6, 2009)

Franklin Eddy said:


> It seems like a lot of the Indie authors prefer not to have DRM on their books. I think it is wonderful that Amazon gives us a choice.


As a reader, I haven't encountered any issues with DRM, but I only have one Kindle and I no longer read books on my laptop or iTouch. If I ran into issues, I'd probably be more careful, but as it is, I have never checked if a book was DRM free or not.

As an author, I wish I had better understood DRM (and people's feeilngs about it) before I had to decide what to make my ebook. I enabled DRM and now I can't change it. 

Kristan


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

I'd prefer books to be DRM free for sure, but that said, it doesn't really affect me so it doesn't influence my purchasing.

I can read Kindle books on so many devices with the Kindle app that I don't feel very limited.  I don't care much about lending books either, so I don't mind that the lending feature is so limited.

Only way it bothers me is I'd like to be able to shop around for e-books in different stores (though agency pricing has limited the utility of that) and to read Kindle books on other dedicated reader hardware like the new touch screen Nook.


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## Sam Rivers (May 22, 2011)

mooshie, if the book is DRM-free, you can convert it to a epub format using Calibre.  Then you can put it on your new touch screen Nook. 

The best thing about DRM-free books is that they can be converted to any format so can be read on all readers.


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## Paul Jones (Jun 11, 2011)

I made the mistake of making my first book DRM encoded. If I could go back and change it, I would, but Amazon doesn't allow you to do that (without deleting my book and starting all over, anyway). For my second book, I made sure it was DRM free and put a notice stating that at the top of the page -- I don't believe it's had any kind of effect on sales


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## Kristan Hoffman (Aug 6, 2009)

Paul Jones said:


> I made the mistake of making my first book DRM encoded. If I could go back and change it, I would, but Amazon doesn't allow you to do that (without deleting my book and starting all over, anyway). For my second book, I made sure it was DRM free and put a notice stating that at the top of the page -- I don't believe it's had any kind of effect on sales


That's quite comforting to hear, thank you. Like you, I will make future books DRM free, but I don't want to "redo"/undo my first book's reviews and sales ranking and all that.


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## Joseph Robert Lewis (Oct 31, 2010)

Does DRM actually prevent any illegal activity? The general reading public isn't looking for hacked freebies, and the hackers cut through DRM like hot knives through melted butter. 

My one and only run-in with DRM was on a movie I bought, and I had to jump through 45 minutes of red tape hoops to watch my own movie! (from Disney!)

So, yeah, I'm anti-DRM.


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## Pinworms (Oct 20, 2010)

I vastly prefer ebooks with DRM on it.  I guess its matter of preference since most people here don't seem to like DRM.


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## Tamara Rose Blodgett (Apr 1, 2011)

I have to say, I saw the choice before I published and really deliberated on it, finally choosing the DRM. But, after having listened to everyone that is more experienced than me(here on KB), I'd rather not limit my readers' choices. I encountered a teen reader that had bought my book for his iTouch and [he] had to get the Kindle App for it. There are readers that just want to read it wherever and with whatever they like...and I want that freedom for them to import the book they bought, onto whatever device. It's there's once they buy it so why not? I will do the DRM-free with subsequent titles. TY~!


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## TheSFReader (Jan 20, 2011)

Krista D. Ball said:


> I own a Sony, not a Kindle, and I'm really anti-DRM. I'll buy ebooks with DRM if I have to, but generally those I end up buying as paperbacks/hardcovers instead of as ebooks.
> 
> For small to medium press, I always try to buy directly from the publishers and not Amazon (where I have to convert and/or strip according) or the Sony store. Authors make more money that way, anyway. And, oftentimes I start to find small publishers that I really like and start buying a lot of their stuff (since I know that I've enjoyed i.e. all of the SF or all of their historicals).
> 
> ...


More or less the same except for trading the Sony store with B&N / Kobo, (because of my Nook).
Also note that when I buy a DRM book, it's only because I know the DRM won't stand long after the transaction...


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## tlrowley (Oct 29, 2008)

Pinworms said:


> I vastly prefer ebooks with DRM on it. I guess its matter of preference since most people here don't seem to like DRM.


I can certainly understand that many users are indifferent to DRM (for example, if they never re-read a book), but I'm curious as to why someone would *prefer* DRM? What does DRM add that increases your enjoyment?

(please know that my question was asked with absolutely no hostility - I'm genuinely curious)


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## TheSFReader (Jan 20, 2011)

tlrowley said:


> I can certainly understand that many users are indifferent to DRM (for example, if they never re-read a book), but I'm curious as to why someone would *prefer* DRM? What does DRM add that increases your enjoyment?
> 
> (please know that my question was asked with absolutely no hostility - I'm genuinely curious)


I guess (but don't subscribe) that they feel that using DRM preserves the Writer's right to be financially compensated for their work ...
But am curious too.


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