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Today is the International Day Against DRM


Throw off your shackles!

It’s 4 May 2012, the unofficial holiday dedicated making more people aware of DRM and how to remove it.

I have long taken the position that one should always remove DRM in order to make sure you don’t lose your purchases, whether it’s due to switching computers, changing to a new ereader, closure of an ebookstore, or if a publisher simply decides to cut off access to the ebook.

The above issues happen more than you might think, and they could cost you upwards of hundreds of dollars in lost content. Just this past fall Mobipocket shut its doors, and MSReader is set to follow it into the graveyard later this year.  What’s more, even the ebookstore issue crops up more often than you might expect. I recall when Fictionwise lost their contract with OverDrive. I lost a number of titles in the changeover to other suppliers. And given the way that B&N appears to be strangling Fictionwise, it could end up as dead as Mobipocket.

If readers don’t back up and strip the DRM from the ebooks, how will they read them?

There are any number of ways to remove DRM, including a set of plugins for calibre (Google Apprentice Alf). But the easiest method IMO is ePUBee.

This is a FREE 1 step removal tool for Epub and PDF encumbered by Adobe Adept DRM. I’ve just looked over the site and I notice that there is now an app for removing the DRM from Kindle ebooks as well. I haven’t tried the Kindle tool yet, but I think it’s worth your time to take a look.

ePUBee

P.S. The above tools can also remove DRM from loaned ebooks and library ebooks. Please don’t.

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Comments


Stumbling Over Chaos :: That week when linkity didn’t have a title May 4, 2012 um 10:57 am

[…] Today is the International Day Against DRM. […]


Mike Cane May 4, 2012 um 11:28 am

Pffft! And you said you weren’t doing anything for today. I was going to do a post along these lines but now won’t. I’d never heard of ePUBee, either, so thanks for that.

Nate Hoffelder May 4, 2012 um 11:30 am

I posted about it last year.


Kurt May 4, 2012 um 12:15 pm

What is the issue with DRM removal from library books?
Still living in the dead tree past?
As long as i/you don’t give or loan the file to anyone else where’s the beef?
Not only can you now read your library books at your leisure you don’t have to fret because the long wait in line for your digital holds have suddenly all become available at once

Also don’t forget that the licenses for those "copies" of ebooks were paid for with whose money


PA Wilson May 4, 2012 um 12:48 pm

Shared on all my networks. Thank for this. All my books are DRM free, and I really wish there was a standard format so they could be proprietary format free too.

Tyler May 5, 2012 um 11:04 pm

mine are DRM free to….I freed them!


Dan May 4, 2012 um 1:48 pm

Now why would they pick Star Wars day for that?

May the fourth be with you.

Nate Hoffelder May 4, 2012 um 1:53 pm

Live long and prosper.


the rodent May 4, 2012 um 2:01 pm

Yup, all of our e-books are DRM free. All e-books should be so… And we should all be honest and ethical buyers. 🙂


David Pogue Knows Diddly About eBooks, eReaders, or DRM – The Digital Reader May 12, 2012 um 3:49 pm

[…] enough to catch his mistake.What’s more, this second column was published mere days after the International Day Against DRM. That was only 8 days ago, so it is more than a little surprising that David never noticed the many […]


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