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A DRM dilemma: What should I do?
February 3, 2009 | 3:29 am
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By Court Merrigan
So I came across a book I’d really, really like to read: Agincourt, by Bernard Cornwell. (Titled Azincourt in the UK.) This review says:
For every English boy, there is an instant when it’s two o’clock on an October afternoon in 1415. … Agincourt stood out for its brutality, its heroism, its impossible result. God must have had a hand in its outcome. So they wrote at the time … With his novel "Agincourt," Bernard Cornwell leads us into this world with the hypnotic skill of an old seer seated about an ancient campfire. Of course Shakespeare, with "Henry V," has already taken us on this journey …Mr. Cornwell selects for his protagonist a man as lowly as the king is exalted, as powerless as the king is omnipotent.
I trace the origins of my Shakespeare-homage to reading and then seeing Henry V in college: “And gentlemen in England now-a-bed, Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.” (Get it for free at Manybooks.)
And now here is a novel about that same set of events, from a commoner’s perspective. What’s there not to love?
The DRM that will come with the Kindle version of the book, that’s what. I mean, not only will it come DRM-encrypted, which places it firmly in the dustbin of history, but it costs $15.11. That’s a 46 percent savings over the hardcover, but still… At that price I’d rather have the actual book. I could wait to get it in paperback or used, but, darn it, I want to read it. Now.
So what do TeleReaders think? Should I just fork over my fifteen bucks to Amazon and get to reading, just this once? Or should I not let Amazon railroad me with my own literary hankering? My finger is twitching over the 1-click button on Amazon, telling me I can be reading it in under a minute…
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Comments:
That’s still cheaper than booksonboard.com or ebooks.com, so it seems like a good deal.
I say buy it.
I’ll have to say that while tempting, It’ll really depend on what format its available in at the kindle store. i.e. Mobi or Topaz.
I’ve made a personal decision sometime in the past to only buy books whose DRM can be removed if I need to, so that is the publisher goes out of business or CHANGES their Mind or T&C(I’m looking at you Overdrive / Hatchett) I’ll still have the book I paid for.
So If the book is in Azw (Mobi) format and not Azw1 or .Tpz (Topaz) and are comfortable in stripping the DRM then go for it.
Now I’m not saying you have to do it if you don’t need to, but I’ve found that just having the capability to do so if needed makes me comfortable enough to Pay reasonably high prices for DRM protected books which I would not buy otherwise.
Buy the hardcover and if you like it as much as you think you will, share the book with friends. I am opposed to supporting Amazon’s ebook strategy, which, I believe, if it prevails over the course of time, will be even more anticonsumer and pro-Amazon than currently. Why encourage Amazon?
I am even more opposed to high-priced DRMed ebooks, and buying them sends the wrong message. A DRMed book is not worth more than $8 and actually should be priced like a movie rental (or less).
I don’t know. I’ve broken my no drm rule before for instant gratification, but every time i have I get the immediate pangs of buyers remorse. DRMed books will never be yours and $15 is a lot to pay to rent a book.
I completely agree with what BBusyBookworm said and have taken a similar stance myself. I have a PRS-505 but refuse to buy from Sony for this reason (and other quality issues I’ve had with them).
I am thinking of getting a Kindle this year, so I have a question: can one TELL before purchasing a Kindle book which flavor of DRM is has?
False choice. DRM format is not relevant; the e-book is still owned by the screen and the p-book is still owned by the paper. The real choice is selection between the attributes of paper or screen. You will never be able to physically compare two e-books side by side or re-read an e-book excerpt quickly twenty years later or self-authenticate the edition in hand four hundred years later. My guess is that the original posting references a p-book act. On the other hand the e-book has one click convenience and immediacy to say nothing of its finding and text parsing aids. So which sort of “ownership” is desired? Probably both.
If I was buying the choice would be easier. I could buy the hardback for
I agree with Rick, buy the hardcover – that way the author gets a better cut on the royalty.
The connection between the author’s words and the reader’s enjoyment is what reading is about – not DRM, not corporate middle-man, not even publishers.
Support your authors. Or alternatively, don’t.
You can always forget about books and watch some of the many cerebral reality TV shows for entertainment!
John: Most Kindle ebooks have a sample first option, so one way to detect TOPAZ is to get the sample (requires whispernet access). Another way that seems to work is that AZW ebooks list file size and print length but TOPAZ only lists print length.
There are many reasons for avoiding TOPAZ. Page turns are slow and the embedded fonts are not anti-aliased (and sometimes have other defects). The transfer from pbook to ebook is often poorly done as well. TOPAZ is most often used for technical books, because MOBI (AZW) does not have a mono-spaced font capability (among other issues).