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Comment by nabla9

7 years ago

This is why when I buy a DRM ebook, I also get the pirated copy and put it into my Calibre.

Buying a ebook is just for the payment.

16 comments

nabla9

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taneq  7 years ago

I do the same now with movies, as well as making sure I have unencumbered digital copies of any music I buy. I'm happy to pay for good content but damned if I'm going to buy it again every time the disc scratches (and besides, who even has a CD drive any more?)

la_barba  7 years ago

You just signaled that you find value in the DRM'd product, even if that wasn't your intent. Why not reward creators who choose to distribute their works without DRM? I'm neither pro nor anti-DRM, but I find that people who love to hate on DRM (nothing personal towards you), never seem to be willing to take a hit when it comes to living without popular content that doesn't exist on non-DRM channels/platforms.

  • cyphar  7 years ago

    > I find that people who love to hate on DRM (nothing personal towards you), never seem to be willing to take a hit when it comes to living without popular content that doesn't exist on non-DRM channels/platforms.

    I pay for DRM-free versions of anything if it's available -- even if it's more expensive (I've downloaded many hundreds of dollars of DRM-free audiobooks). I eben refuse to buy physical books from authors like JK Rowling (who tried to force book-owners to return copies of the Half-Blood Prince that were accidentally sold early).

    Here in Australia you sometimes can't even buy the DRM-up-the-wazoo version. Game of Thrones wasn't available through any legal channels for years. And that's ignoring the Australia Tax we get for not being from the US or Europe (the shipping costs of bytes is very high it seems).

    Then again, I also don't watch too many films or shows these days. Mainly because I can't get many DRM-free versions.

    • JauntyHatAngle  7 years ago

      Game of thrones was such a good example of how out of date DRM can get.

      It was quite literally getting released months after it's release in the US in the early seasons, and only on pay TV.

      With the way everyone is connected online, it was ludicrous to think people were going to wait months to watch each episode and not get it spoiled for them and/or not be able to discuss it on worldwide forums.

  • ineedasername  7 years ago

    > Why not reward creators who choose to distribute their works without DRM?

    Your average author doesn't have a choice in this, they have no clout to dictate terms to their publishers over the inclusion of DRM

salutonmundo  7 years ago

Great of something that is ethically bulletproof but quite illegal!

  • ggm  7 years ago

    Depends on your economy. Specifically what he does is of course illegal but the general principle of removing drm from your own purchase isn't

    That the bitstream of semantically meaningful content is identical appears to be the key issue. Why does it matter how you get there?