Where can I buy ebooks that will actually be mine for life?
Where can I buy ebooks that will actually be mine for life?
I'm looking to change my reading and buying habits away from Amazon and need an alternate source for my ebooks. Where can I buy ebooks that won't expire or have their licence revoked and will allow me to download a copy of that ebook I can store on my own system regardless of the websites status?
Calibre and DeDRM can strip Amazon's DRM and let you save the books forever.
https://github.com/noDRM/DeDRM_tools
You need a registered Kindle, but you don't need to actually use the Kindle to make it work. Just download the ebook from the Amazon website "for Kindle XYZ" and then import and convert the ebook in calibre.
This is unfortunately the closest answer to what the OP is asking.
To the best of my knowledge, outside of independent authors like Cory Doctorow selling drm-free from their own sites, I'm not aware of any place to shop for ebooks that are not tied to some online DRM scheme.
Humble Bundle books are another option, but it's highly dependent upon if you want what they're selling.
Baens library has been doing this for the past 25(?) years. They even have a free library. https://www.baen.com/catalog/category/view/s/free-library/id/2012
Going that far, I’d sooner just apply for a Bibliotik account.
Also works on kobo books which use adobe digital editions. I think the plugin is called obok (I've only just realised that kobo is an anagram of book haha)
This is the way anyway
OP wants to avoid Amazon. This is still giving Amazon money and therefore encouraging Amazon's greed, walled garden and dark patterns.
A better alternative would be using almost any other digital book seller. There's plenty. And if the author chose or was forced to only sell through Amazon, then you can try library sources (like Overdrive) so the author at least gets something. And if you still can't get what you're looking for, then it's time to sail the high seas.
At least make Amazon the last resort option.
I've tried 5× to get it to work and not been able to....I'm even somewhat good with following instructions!
On the high seas
Yarrrrr.
I kinda do both, I sail the sea for the book and if I like it I buy a print for the bookshelf lol
You can borrow them forever from libgen or similar ;)
Tor (the publisher, not the anonymizer) doesn't use DRM on their ebooks.
Pirate the DRM free version of the e-book. And then send money to the author, either is a direct donation if they accept it, or donating a physical copy of the book to the library
Here’s a good resource:
https://www.defectivebydesign.org/guide/ebooksThanks for this! I think I may have come across it at some point but never bookmarked it for whatever reason, corrected that now!
And Calibre
You can then directly send something to the author
Otherwise you are just paying full price, but renting until the publisher changes their terms.
Surprised nobody's mentioned Weightless ebooks or Smashwords yet. You didn't mention region, so I can't assure these will work for you, but worth checking out regardless to see if they may.
Libro.FM as well.
I am a simple human. I see Doctorow, I upvote.
Free and DRM-free Z-Library
A lot of publishers have DRM free content if you buy directly from them.
Verso, Tor, NoStarchPress to name a few
Humble Bundle and storybundle.com sell DRM-free ebooks.
Careful though, not every Humble Bundle is DRM-free. I just got one recently not realizing it was locked to the Kobo app. I have an Android e-reader so I'm still able to read them, but I'm pretty annoyed given that DRM-free used to be one of the major selling points of Humble Bundle.
If you get it off Amazon, you can use Calibre to download the ebook. Then convert to ebook .epub and now it's yours forever. I don't like this but some books are not possible to get it legally without Amazon.
Or use baen to buy. Or if your really lucky off the authors official website.
Head's up - since Jan this year, this route is ONLY available if you have registered a Kindle with them. The new format used by amazon cannot be "unencrypted", even by calibre, without a Kindle "unencrypting" it for you or providing it's key or whatever the dark magic required is.
That's terrible, thanks for the he heads up.
providing it is key or whatever the dark magic
Is it possible that someone could work out a way for Calibre to "pretend to be a Kindle"?
Since the beginning of the whole eBook trend I've refused to buy e-books from Amazon exactly because of their DRM, and recently I went looking around for an alternative and discovered Smashwords were I can buy the books and get them at least in ePub format (some also in other formats). They've been getting a steady stream of money from me ever since. (No, it's not a subscription, it's me being an avid book reader).
No idea of how good or not they are compared to other alternatives, but they seem to have more than enough choice for my needs and do satisfy my criteria, - the same as yours - which is that I when I download a book I get to keep it and read in any way I see fit.
This question should be asked at lemmy.dbzero piracy
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www.kobo.com is an online bookstore I use. I don't know if all their books are DRM-free, but the handful I bought have been. The full name of the store is Ratuken Kobo. I like it well enough.
They definitely sell DRM'd books, it might even be the majority of books on the store. I think it depends on the publisher. I have managed to find some DRM-free books there though.
Oceanofpdf.com works for a lot of titles
For ebooks, the hurtle is really storing them on your own system. Most open source readers can read Amazon's .azw and .azw3. I like to keep everything in epub on my proton drive, but I buy (and sometimes don't buy) them from different places. I went to my local library to come up with a archival method that works. I use an open source ereader app on my phone and laptop, and use 'Send to Kindle' to get books on an old Kindle from 2014, deleting them when I'm finished reading.
By breaking up where I get my books from, and decoupling it from storage and reading method, I'm able to be a lot more flexible and take advantage of deals/exclusives on different platforms. I also feel a little more private. The downside is paying for storage, and an extra step to download books from the central location when I want to read them.
Seems like the starting point for this would be e-readers with open device content control. So instead of relying on [email protected] or something like that in order to get files onto the device, you’d use your own file server or something for the device to connect to.
Then the long-term ownership just consists of having the epub, mobi, or pdf files of the books you want to own, and passing them through whatever device content control system you’re using.
In other words: calibre.
It does all that and more
Librature has a list of DRM free individuals and small presses https://libreture.com/bookshops/
Oh I forgot also if you check the details on kobo, some of the books are sold DRM free. Mostly I think it was from Tor, but could be other publishers as well.
A lot of (bigger) bookstores also sell ebooks on their websites. There it usually depends on the publisher if they have DRM or not, so just look around.
Piracy or your local library.
CrowdSupply