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Reading DRM-infested books on Linux machines, via Wine or otherwise
April 5, 2008 | 5:44 am
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By David Rothman
Don’t you love it—the way Microsoft tries to use e-reading software to lock you into Windows? And what about other companies that lack Linux readers with DRM capabilities, even if the motives aren’t the same? How can you read DRMed books on Linux machines, and I don’t just mean the embedded varieties of Linux used in various E Ink devices? Here are some ideas from the FBReader list:
- Try eReader under Wine. It isn’t as much a hassle as, say, Microsoft Reader, which reportedly won’t even work on the latest Wine. If I recall correctly, Fictionwise hopes in time to release a version of eReader that runs natively under Linux.
- Mobipocket Reader 4.9 will apparently work with the latest Wine. Alas, 6.1 won’t. Beware—you may find that certain bookstores and libraries won’t necessarily get along with 4.1. Also, the word is that Fictionwise at least works better with with 6.1. True? And in what ways?
- Even if you can get Adobe software going under Wine, remember that it seems to draw the most support complaints. I’d welcome a perspective from Adobe folks as well as an update on direct Linux compatibility, which apparently isn’t available even with the new Digital editions.
- If all else fails and you’re outside the U.S., where bypassing encryption is illegal, you can use the ConvertLit program to unlock MicrosoftReader books, then read them with FBReader, which, of course, works great under Linux on the OLPC XO-1 and many other machines.
Thanks to Mikolaj Machowski and others for sharing their Linux-related e-reading wisdom on the FBReader list. Now jump in with your own observations and thoughts for our comment area.
Meanwhile let’s all hope that the IDPF’s .epub standard becomes popular and that, if an accompanying DRM standard is added, the right software for it will be available in Linux.
Usual reminder: The best way to deal with the DRM eBabel issue is no DRM. If nothing else, consider Social DRM, which could be used on a variety of platforms and simply involves embedding names or other customer-specific information.
Technorati Tags: Linux,Mobipocket,eReader,Microsoft Reader,Adobe,PDF,DigitalEditions
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Comments:
You missed one. It’s also possible to buy a DRMed Mobipocket ebook, remove the DRM, and read it with FBReader. The program one would need to strip the DRM is “mobidedrm”, and it’s written in python. This method is better than buying MSLIT because Wine is not required, one can buy Mobipocket ebooks from using browser.
P.S. For those interested, after you explode the LIT file, compress it into a ZIP file and then rename the ZIP file to OEBZIP. FBReader can read OEBZIP.
Nate, thanks as usual for the added detail, and I encourage other readers to provide their own. That said, because of America’s Hollywood-bought congress, it is illegal to bypass DRM even for legitimate purposes such as the one you’ve described. Such legislation is laughable. Other e-book sites keep mentioning ConvertLit, and since we’re an international blog, I’m going to start including these solutions, while warning people that they are not legal here in the States. Thanks again. David
I’ve not seen a pay-for version of convertlit, not even at the website you linked to. There’s a windows GUI for convertlit (which includes convertlit) which is free. The Convertlit GUI (as it’s imaginatively named) is available here (citizens of countries under the DMCA or EUCD would be advised not to go there)
The linux version doesn’t ship with a GUI but there are 3rd party GUIs available for those that aren’t comfortable with the command line.
For those linux people that are willing to use the command line then this link may be useful for cleaning up the “untidy” html that comes out of the conversion process, note: I haven’t tried those scripts myself yet.
Dave, thanks for the catch. You’re right, and I’ve changed the copy. Also appreciated the additional details for the use of people in countries where DRM bypasses are legal. David
David writes:
because of America’s Hollywood-bought congress, it is illegal to bypass DRM even for legitimate purposes such as the one you’ve described.
Can I send you an e-book edition of Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience, David?
All joking aside, Todd, for the enlightenment of TeleBlog readers, here’s a link to Civil Disobedience. I’ll reproduce the end paragraph below. Somehow I doubt that Thoreau would be the biggest fan of the DMCA—one more way Washington is dissing us. The operative words are “sanction and consent of the governed.” I doubt that the current DMCA would survive a popular vote if the public knew what was at stake.
Thanks,
David
“The authority of government, even such as I am willing to submit to–for I will cheerfully obey those who know and can do better than I, and in many things even those who neither know nor can do so well–is still an impure one: to be strictly just, it must have the sanction and consent of the governed. It can have no pure right over my person and property but what I concede to it. The progress from an absolute to a limited monarchy, from a limited monarchy to a democracy, is a progress toward a true respect for the individual. Even the Chinese philosopher was wise enough to regard the individual as the basis of the empire. Is a democracy, such as we know it, the last improvement possible in government? Is it not possible to take a step further towards recognizing and organizing the rights of man? There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly. I please myself with imagining a State at last which can afford to be just to all men, and to treat the individual with respect as a neighbor; which even would not think it inconsistent with its own repose if a few were to live aloof from it, not meddling with it, nor embraced by it, who fulfilled all the duties of neighbors and fellow men. A State which bore this kind of fruit, and suffered it to drop off as fast as it ripened, would prepare the way for a still more perfect and glorious State, which I have also imagined, but not yet anywhere seen.”
David writes:
> I doubt that Thoreau would be
> the biggest fan of the DMCA
That’s putting it mildly!
A favorite story, perhaps true, perhaps not: when Thoreau was imprisoned for refusing to pay a poll tax he found unconscionable, Emerson visited him in jail. “Henry, what are you doing in there?” Emerson is alleged to have asked. “Waldo, what are you doing out there?” Thoreau is alleged to have replied.
I do not recognize the government’s authority to regulate what folks may do with a DRMed file for their own personal use after they have purchased it legitimately. Willful violation of the law strikes me as a perfectly reasonable recourse. I hope there are others out there who feel similarly.
Here’s a potential polemic for discussion: I often take a similar position in another forum with regard to works that are permanently out of print (mostly sheet music in this particular instance.) We must not allow publishers to lock our culture away in a vault merely because they are unwilling to accept the low margins that would be generated by a new edition. Freely copying and distributing such works in violation of copyright law strikes me as a perfectly reasonable response.
U.S. copyright law is an utter mess. It would be possible to fix it were it not for the greedy self-interest of large corporations.
I live in the EU and subscribe to Audible.com – now there are some audio books that I would like to buy from Audible… but they won’t let me buy them because I am not in the US!
I would get it on bittorrent in a sec, but these particular books were not available..
Does anyone know how Audible determines where I come from – how can I circumvent their check and buy the books I want?
Proxy change doesn’t fool it, neither does making up a phoney US ‘delivery address’…
The only other thing I can think of is that Audible knows that my credit card is not American….
For goodness sake, I WANT to pay for it…. (The books are completely innocent – the Kate Shugak mysteries by Dana Stabenow.)