A question about DRM

[brightwanderer]

Perhaps someone can clarify this for me?

1. If I buy a Kindle, can I read ebooks from any other source, or am I bound to Amazon?

2. If I buy an ebook from Amazon, can I read it on any ebook reader, or am I bound to a Kindle?

Comments

[havocthecat]

I think Google and reading Amazon's FAQ on the matter are excellent starting places for research.

[elf]

Amazon's FAQ is a limited resource for research about the Kindle; since they want Kindle buyers to only get ebooks from amazon.com, and they don't want those ebooks read on other devices, their info about those abilities is vague.

[brightwanderer]

^_^ Indeed, hence my asking here. I have no desire to buy a Kindle if either of those two things are remotely the case.

[elf]

Buying a Kindle definitely doesn't limit you to Amazon's selection, although it limits the non-tech-savvy to non-DRM'd Mobi books. (Which is, at least, one of the very common ebook formats.)

Reading Kindle books on other readers (including the computer itself) takes some tech/script skills; I don't have those skills, but I gather they're not difficult to acquire, and there are people at the Mobileread.com forums who are happy to provide advice & help.

But if variety of ebooks is what matters most to you, other readers are better for that. Amazon tries to ignore the *whomping huge* free ebook collections like feedbooks and manybooks, and not only the big ebook stores like BooksOnBoard ("BoB" on ebook forums), which is DRM'd books only, and Fictionwise, which has non-DRM'd as well, but the hundreds of tiny ebook stores, some with only a few titles.

I will also admit to being biased: I don't like Amazon's monopolistic policies, nor their refusal to acknowledge the non-US market.

[brightwanderer]

I'm sorry, that wasn't intended as a research question so much as a discussion one... I have already looked up the Amazon FAQ, and I'm interested in this community's response - for example, the comment below yours, which gives the _actual_ answer to the question rather than Amazon's "ideal world" answer. It was a poorly phrased post.

[elf]

Question 1) You can read books from other sources, in certain filetypes. Including at least one very popular and well-supported filetype.

Kindles can read non-DRM'd mobi .prc ebooks natively (you can throw them on the Kindle with a USB cord), and I believe .txt files natively. They will also convert non-DRM'd ebooks from other sources from several filetypes, including PDFs, although the conversion for those isn't always smooth.

For DRM'd mobi books from other sources, you'd need a script that gets the Kindle's IDnumber to put in the DRM.

2) Some Kindle ebooks are stuck with the Kindle; some are not.

Kindle books bought from Amazon are *intended* to only be read on Kindles. However, Kindlebooks are Mobipocket ebooks with a special DRM on them; removing the DRM (or possibly, just changing the file extension if there's no DRM) will allow you to read them on other ebook readers. The DRM for the Kindle has been cracked (am busy this morning or I'd scrounge up links). This works for .azw books, but not Topaz-formatted ebooks, which are done with a different OCR method that (I believe) makes them unreadable on other devices, or something like that.

[niciasus]

No you're not bound to purchase all ebooks from Amazon for your Kindle. I purchase ebooks mostly from Fictionwise dot com website and either download it to my computer or email it to my Kindle email address. I found the pricing at Fictionwise is mostly cheaper than Amazon. Amazon charges a 10 cent fee for the transfer to the Kindle using your Kindle email.

When checking out Ebooks just make sure chosen format is applicable to Kindle.

herve leger

[(Anonymous)]

Amazing write-up! This could aid plenty of people find out more about this particular issue. Are you keen to integrate video clips coupled with these? It would absolutely help out. Your conclusion was spot on and thanks to you; I probably won’t have to describe everything to my pals. I can simply direct them here!