DRM'd Books vs non DRM

[Duiker]

I bought "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" from the kobo bookstore for a very reasonable price. I downloaded to my reader via ADE and noticed that when I brought it in to ADE it came with a generic "Penguin Canada" cover and NOT the cover shown on the website. I also noticed that opening the book and changing the font size takes a very long time. At least 5-10 seconds just to change the font size. The book also has very poor margins that don't utilise the kobo's screen very well. Overall I'd say pretty bad formatting. I tried to add my own cover using Calibre but because of the DRM it wouldn't let me. I have not downloaded the new kobo update (and have no plans to) so I really wanted a cover.
It took me about 3 minutes to download a non DRM'd copy of the book from the internet (I don't feel bad about this as I've already paid for the DRM'd version). 5 minutes later I had loaded it on my kobo with a nice cover and much much better margin sizes. The book loads fast and the font size is perfect.

[zoran]

Originally Posted by Duiker

I bought "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" from the kobo bookstore for a very reasonable price. I downloaded to my reader via ADE and noticed that when I brought it in to ADE it came with a generic "Penguin Canada" cover and NOT the cover shown on the website. I also noticed that opening the book and changing the font size takes a very long time. At least 5-10 seconds just to change the font size. The book also has very poor margins that don't utilise the kobo's screen very well. Overall I'd say pretty bad formatting. I tried to add my own cover using Calibre but because of the DRM it wouldn't let me. I have not downloaded the new kobo update (and have no plans to) so I really wanted a cover.
It took me about 3 minutes to download a non DRM'd copy of the book from the internet (I don't feel bad about this as I've already paid for the DRM'd version). 5 minutes later I had loaded it on my kobo with a nice cover and much much better margin sizes. The book loads fast and the font size is perfect.

I'm absolutely against drm, to be clear at the very start.
There is fine forum for "sigil" with more than one thread discussing
something you might call "removal". Since epub is html at heart,
should be trivial to do that.
Best regards.

[sabredog]

Geo restrictions are worse than DRM. Both are driving potential ebook purchasers straight to the darknet.

Calibre and non DRM ebooks though is a near perfect combination.

[Pookeysgirl]

Originally Posted by Duiker

I bought "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" from the kobo bookstore for a very reasonable price. I downloaded to my reader via ADE and noticed that when I brought it in to ADE it came with a generic "Penguin Canada" cover and NOT the cover shown on the website. I also noticed that opening the book and changing the font size takes a very long time. At least 5-10 seconds just to change the font size. The book also has very poor margins that don't utilise the kobo's screen very well. Overall I'd say pretty bad formatting. I tried to add my own cover using Calibre but because of the DRM it wouldn't let me. I have not downloaded the new kobo update (and have no plans to) so I really wanted a cover.
It took me about 3 minutes to download a non DRM'd copy of the book from the internet (I don't feel bad about this as I've already paid for the DRM'd version). 5 minutes later I had loaded it on my kobo with a nice cover and much much better margin sizes. The book loads fast and the font size is perfect.

I bought the same book from there but used the kobo desktop app to get it on my reader and the cover was there and margins were the same as any other book I have. When I downloaded the epub to ADE, the cover disappeared and the penguin was in it's place.

[Duiker]

Originally Posted by Pookeysgirl

I bought the same book from there but used the kobo desktop app to get it on my reader and the cover was there and margins were the same as any other book I have. When I downloaded the epub to ADE, the cover disappeared and the penguin was in it's place.

Interesting. I will wipe the version I installed from ADE and try a resync using the kobo software. At the time of purchase I had to use ADE as my mac was not intel based. I'll post the results.

On another note I really don't want to go through the trouble of removing DRM. It's easier to grab from the Darknet. It seems like most of the books I've bought I've also had to turn to the Darknet in order to satisfy my standars of how an ebook should be formatted. How much longer should I keep paying for sub-par material before I turn to the Draknet full time?

[HamsterRage]

I think in general it seems to be best to use the Kobo application to get books from the Kobo store to the Kobo device. Most of the issues I've seen people report here seem to be when they use ADE to download the books.

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by Duiker

On another note I really don't want to go through the trouble of removing DRM. It's easier to grab from the Darknet. It seems like most of the books I've bought I've also had to turn to the Darknet in order to satisfy my standars of how an ebook should be formatted. How much longer should I keep paying for sub-par material before I turn to the Draknet full time?

You would not be the first to complain about that. But some ebooks available on the darknet are formatted very badly, being scanned by enthusiasts without much proofing.

Mind you, from yours and many others experiences, commercially available ebooks suffer the same issues oft times as well!

[tpw]

Originally Posted by HamsterRage

I think in general it seems to be best to use the Kobo application to get books from the Kobo store to the Kobo device. Most of the issues I've seen people report here seem to be when they use ADE to download the books.

I hate the kobo/borders app, but do occasionally buy books from Borders as downloadable DRM epubs. It's trivial to deDRM them, and once in calibre you can easily change formatting, margins, the cover etc etc.

I have no problem buying books, but once I do they're mine, no DRM.

I hesitate to go to the "dark side" but the unfortunate truth is that it's easier to do that than to do the right thing. Sigh.

[roguefan99]

Originally Posted by sabredog

You would not be the first to complain about that. But some ebooks available on the darknet are formatted very badly, being scanned by enthusiasts without much proofing.

Of course there are programs that are out there that will fix up the formatting if you have to get a book by darknet because there are no copies avaliable elsewhere.

Unfortanetly this is another fine example of what DRM and geographical locks do. They don't stop the pirates, they just teach people how to become criminals (removing DRM under most DMCA is an illegal act) because they are frustrated with problems associated with the DRM. However I understand perfectly why companies do put DRM on their products.

As for the "mine" comment, thats the reason why I never brought a kindle and used the Amazon store (the 1984 saga)

[dafrizz]

Check out my thread here for another example of why DRM sucks.

Absolutely ridiculous. You want to do the right thing, pay for a book, but all you get is headaches.
At the same time, obtaining the book from "other sources" takes mere minutes and works without a hitch, yet is illegal.
What is the industry thinking ?

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by dafrizz

Check out my thread here for another example of why DRM sucks.

Absolutely ridiculous. You want to do the right thing, pay for a book, but all you get is headaches.
At the same time, obtaining the book from "other sources" takes mere minutes and works without a hitch, yet is illegal.
What is the industry thinking ?

Geo restrictions are far more of an issue than DRM, but that is not the subject of this thread

I purge my purchased ebooks from DRM infestation directly after purchase. I can then chose which format and on which reader my book will be read on.

[zoran]

Originally Posted by sabredog

Geo restrictions are far more of an issue than DRM, but that is not the subject of this thread

I purge my purchased ebooks from DRM infestation directly after purchase. I can then chose which format and on which reader my book will be read on.

That too.
After syncing the reader, where on it you find newly added books?
The most natural way for me is "connect the device and copy file to
directory named <insert>".

[HamsterRage]

Originally Posted by tpw

I hate the kobo/borders app, but do occasionally buy books from Borders as downloadable DRM epubs. It's trivial to deDRM them, and once in calibre you can easily change formatting, margins, the cover etc etc.

I have no problem buying books, but once I do they're mine, no DRM.

I hesitate to go to the "dark side" but the unfortunate truth is that it's easier to do that than to do the right thing. Sigh.

All that is true.

However, if all you want to do is buy the book from the Kobo bookstore and read it on the Kobo eReader, then the Kobo app is the way to go.

Personally, I surf the Kobo bookstore with Firefox and do the purchasing that way. When you use a regular browser, you can add the books to your "Library" before buying them so you can build a "wish list". I've given up on using the Kobo app to surf the store.

After that I just boot up the Kobo app, sync it with the store and then sync it with the Kobo reader. Then I shut it down again. Pretty painless.

[Samantha45]

Originally Posted by Duiker

I bought "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" from the kobo bookstore for a very reasonable price. I downloaded to my reader via ADE and noticed that when I brought it in to ADE it came with a generic "Penguin Canada" cover and NOT the cover shown on the website. I also noticed that opening the book and changing the font size takes a very long time. At least 5-10 seconds just to change the font size. The book also has very poor margins that don't utilise the kobo's screen very well.

I got my copy from the library and have the same issues. I'm just going to tough it out. (also because I don't know where to get a non-DRM'ed one. )

[Samantha45]

Originally Posted by Pookeysgirl

I bought the same book from there but used the kobo desktop app to get it on my reader and the cover was there and margins were the same as any other book I have. When I downloaded the epub to ADE, the cover disappeared and the penguin was in it's place.

oh maybe that's why - the library book goes through ADE.