Bennett, I am downloading my kindle books and stripping the DRM. I bought them, they are mine.
That's my position as well.
Willow ,'Showtime'
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Bennett, I am downloading my kindle books and stripping the DRM. I bought them, they are mine.
That's my position as well.
I'm there in theory. Just haven't got organized enough to strip DRM in practice.
But I'll keep my favorite hardbacks anyway - Bujold, Heyer, Dunnett, etc. I'm just more ... comfortable, secure, happy, something ... with them around the house.
How do you strip DRM? Or maybe I should ask why you do?
You do, because then you can convert it to different formats, and it ensures you can keep a copy of the ebook without being subject to (for example) Amazon's whim.
As to how, you use Calibre. If you google, there are good instructions about how to do it. It's not too difficult.
Or maybe I should ask why you do?
Mostly in order to be able to read an e-book on a different device - most of the library books available through BPL are Adobe Protected PDFs (through Overdrive), which the last time I checked can only be opened on a PC. Not a Mac, and not on a mobile device. So I strip the DRM in order to put them on my phone/iPad/Kindle/etc.
Likewise, if I ever decide I want to switch to a non-Kindle e-reader, I would either have to break the DRM on my Amazon books or buy them all again.
[edit: And yeah, Calibre plugins will do this easily.]
What Dana said. Also, because I hate the way Amazon organizes (or rather, DOESN"T organize) my purchased Kindle books. I can't sort them like I want. I prefer Calibre for that. It also allows you if one site is having a deal on a book to buy it at that site, and then put it on your other-type-of-device.
Jessica, I haven't stripped any library books (though admittedly, most of the library books I've read electronically have been pretty terrible). But you can use the overdrive app on iPad or iPhone, and it's pretty nice. And I've downloaded them to my kindle also, though it's a bit more of a step (so these days I mostly ipad, if I"m reading library books)
Amazon better not take my books away.
I have Calibre, but I haven't really played with it. I guess I should do that.
you can use the overdrive app on iPad or iPhone, and it's pretty nice.
Oh, that's good to know! The last time I borrowed a library e-book, it was not mobile-compatible in any way. (And then after I'd finally wrangled it into a format Kindle would read, the formatting was all fucked up and it was no fun to read anyway. YOU WIN THIS TIME, COPYRIGHT LAW!)
Jessica, I haven't stripped any library books (though admittedly, most of the library books I've read electronically have been pretty terrible). But you can use the overdrive app on iPad or iPhone, and it's pretty nice. And I've downloaded them to my kindle also, though it's a bit more of a step (so these days I mostly ipad, if I"m reading library books)
I don't use the overdrive app (though I probably should), instead I use Adobe Digital Editions which works fine, though not speedily. I also read them on my nook, ipad, and my computer.