Star Trek eBooks Now DRM Free

Apparition B5 · 03-29-2016, 08:22 PM

In honor of Star Trek's 50th anniversary, CBS & Pocket Books will release more than 700 Star Trek eBooks DRM-free.

Quote:

Beginning today, Star Trek fans will be able to read their newly-purchased Pocket Books Trek novels on the devices of their choice.

“Pocket Books is thrilled to make this iconic series widely available and accessible for the many readers who have enjoyed them, and to introduce Star Trek novels to a whole new universe of fans. We’re excited to re-introduce many classic stories and to enable discovery and ease of purchase that DRM-free provides,” said Louisa Burke, President and Publisher of Pocket Books.”

The DRM-free library can be purchased here, or at most other sites where ebooks are sold.

In addition, the popular Mirror Universe and Vulcan’s Soul trilogies are now $0.99 each. “New visitors to the site will be eligible for a free digital copy of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock movie tie-in novelization when they join the mailing list.”

As a very long time Trekker, that is some fantastic news. IDW already made the Star Trek comic book PDFs available DRM-free, so it's good to see the eBooks now will be as well. Hopefully this will start a trend.

AnemicOak · 03-29-2016, 11:44 PM

Good news. It'll be interesting to see if this trickles down to other Pocket/Simon & Schuster titles or remains mainly with the one line like Macmillan's Tor DRM-Free policy seems to have.

lkmiller · 03-30-2016, 11:22 AM

Simon & Schuster's Saga imprint is DRM-free too. I guess both S&S and Macmillian realize that DRM and SFF fans are not a worthwhile combo.

Sweetpea · 03-31-2016, 03:57 AM

Now, if they'll start to sell bundles, I might buy some of those books.

But we're finally making some headway into the reader's world: buy a book, and read it on any device you want.

Katsunami · 03-31-2016, 05:44 AM

As a Star Trek fan (especially of TNG), maybe I should start looking into this and start collecting/buying at least the TNG novels. But... 700 books... twice the number I already have regarding the Forgotten Realms. I'll never be able to read 1000 books before my retirement.

Katsunami · 03-31-2016, 07:00 AM

Assuming that this database site is complete, there are around 550 books. 700 can only be obtained if the guides and unofficial books are counted as well.

Still, if the official novels are now all available as ebooks, it's worth looking into

edit: or maybe not. These books cost between €8 and €15 (!), at least in The Netherlands and at Kobo Netherlands, and that's true even for the huge backlog. That's too much for books like these. I only pay prices like that (especially as high as $15) if they fall into category "Iconic Must-have Books". Books in a shared universes (FR, Eberron, Ravenloft, etc...) are not worth more than about €5-6 to me. I bought all my FR books during the Kobo sprees.

tubemonkey · 03-31-2016, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katsunami

As a Star Trek fan (especially of TNG), maybe I should start looking into this and start collecting/buying at least the TNG novels. But... 700 books... twice the number I already have regarding the Forgotten Realms. I'll never be able to read 1000 books before my retirement.

Just read the first and last chapters

FizzyWater · 03-31-2016, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katsunami

As a Star Trek fan (especially of TNG), maybe I should start looking into this and start collecting/buying at least the TNG novels. But... 700 books... twice the number I already have regarding the Forgotten Realms. I'll never be able to read 1000 books before my retirement.

You won't have time to read after you retire??

Barty · 03-31-2016, 10:38 PM

Trek fan but have never read any of the books. What are some must read ones?

AnemicOak · 04-01-2016, 12:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barty

Trek fan but have never read any of the books. What are some must read ones?

TOS, TNG, DS9 or VOY?

I'm far from a huge reader of the novels (paging JSWolf), but a couple of classics in my mind would be TOS novels Yesterday's Son and Time for Yesterday by A.C. Crispin.

I've also read some of the DS9 novels that pick up after the series ended and enjoyed them so far.

ottdmk · 04-01-2016, 01:50 AM

I recommend anything Diane Duane has written for the Star Trek series, whether TNG, Classic, etc. Same goes for Peter David.

In particular I recommend Spock's World (by Duane) and Imzadi (from David.)

Katsunami · 04-01-2016, 04:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

You won't have time to read after you retire??

If I don't go blind I will, but maybe it isn't a good idea to start buying 700 books more than 30 years in advance. I've already done that with the Forgotten Realms novels and many other books. I don't expect to be able to read my entire *CURRENT* library in the rest of my life... except if I get down to reading two or three books a week and then live another 10+ years

JSWolf · 04-01-2016, 05:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barty

Trek fan but have never read any of the books. What are some must read ones?

All of the one published after the movie Star TreK: Nemesis. That means all books published in 2002 on reading in published order.

Dono · 04-01-2016, 04:05 PM

I read quite a few of the TNG books during the 90s, but unfortunately haven't kept up since. Excited about this news, I immediately tried to create an account at Simon&Schuster. However, after talking with customer support, they only accept orders from people with US addresses... I no longer live in the US anymore.
The news indicates (quote): "The DRM-free library can be purchased here, or at most other sites where ebooks are sold." Can anyone suggest other sites where these books can be purchased without DRM? Ideally I'd prefer PDF format.
Thanks.

Katsunami · 04-01-2016, 06:13 PM

Despite the prices of these books I'm still tempted... I see some writers in there who also wrote (are writing) books in the Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, and Pathfinder universes. It seems this stuff all sticks together

03-31-2016, 07:00 AM	#6
Katsunami Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,111 Karma: 34000001 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: KPW1, KA1	Assuming that this database site is complete, there are around 550 books. 700 can only be obtained if the guides and unofficial books are counted as well. Still, if the official novels are now all available as ebooks, it's worth looking into edit: or maybe not. These books cost between €8 and €15 (!), at least in The Netherlands and at Kobo Netherlands, and that's true even for the huge backlog. That's too much for books like these. I only pay prices like that (especially as high as $15) if they fall into category "Iconic Must-have Books". Books in a shared universes (FR, Eberron, Ravenloft, etc...) are not worth more than about €5-6 to me. I bought all my FR books during the Kobo sprees. Last edited by Katsunami; 03-31-2016 at 07:12 AM.

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03-29-2016, 11:44 PM	#2
AnemicOak Bookaholic Posts: 14,391 Karma: 54969924 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Minnesota Device: iPad Mini 4, AuraHD, iPhone XR +	Good news. It'll be interesting to see if this trickles down to other Pocket/Simon & Schuster titles or remains mainly with the one line like Macmillan's Tor DRM-Free policy seems to have.

03-30-2016, 11:22 AM	#3
lkmiller Laura Posts: 1,368 Karma: 22770108 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: Kobo Sage, Kobo Elipsa, Nook Glowlight 4 Plus, Kindle Oasis 2	Simon & Schuster's Saga imprint is DRM-free too. I guess both S&S and Macmillian realize that DRM and SFF fans are not a worthwhile combo.

03-31-2016, 03:57 AM	#4
Sweetpea Grand Sorcerer Posts: 9,707 Karma: 32763414 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Krewerd Device: Pocketbook Inkpad 4 Color; Samsung Galaxy Tab S6	Now, if they'll start to sell bundles, I might buy some of those books. But we're finally making some headway into the reader's world: buy a book, and read it on any device you want.

03-31-2016, 05:44 AM	#5
Katsunami Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,111 Karma: 34000001 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: KPW1, KA1	As a Star Trek fan (especially of TNG), maybe I should start looking into this and start collecting/buying at least the TNG novels. But... 700 books... twice the number I already have regarding the Forgotten Realms. I'll never be able to read 1000 books before my retirement.

03-31-2016, 10:38 PM	#9
Barty doofus Posts: 2,533 Karma: 13088847 Join Date: Sep 2010 Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kindle Voyage	Trek fan but have never read any of the books. What are some must read ones?

04-01-2016, 01:50 AM	#11
ottdmk Wizard Posts: 1,207 Karma: 3765734 Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Device: Kobo Libra 2, Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus, Lenovo Tab M8 HD	I recommend anything Diane Duane has written for the Star Trek series, whether TNG, Classic, etc. Same goes for Peter David. In particular I recommend Spock's World (by Duane) and Imzadi (from David.)

04-01-2016, 04:05 PM	#14
Dono Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: Tōkyō, Japan Device: none	I read quite a few of the TNG books during the 90s, but unfortunately haven't kept up since. Excited about this news, I immediately tried to create an account at Simon&Schuster. However, after talking with customer support, they only accept orders from people with US addresses... I no longer live in the US anymore. The news indicates (quote): "The DRM-free library can be purchased here, or at most other sites where ebooks are sold." Can anyone suggest other sites where these books can be purchased without DRM? Ideally I'd prefer PDF format. Thanks.

04-01-2016, 06:13 PM	#15
Katsunami Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,111 Karma: 34000001 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: KPW1, KA1	Despite the prices of these books I'm still tempted... I see some writers in there who also wrote (are writing) books in the Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, and Pathfinder universes. It seems this stuff all sticks together

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