[conspire] Barnes and Noble ebooks, right to own what you buy

[Ross Bernheim]

DRM is unfortunate. Treating customers as though they were thieves is not a good way to increase sales.
It does not deter the real thieves and only annoys your potential customers. 

It also makes Calibre and the plug-ins necessary for anyone with more than a most modest interest in e-books.
I also recommend Stanza for turning text into e-pub books with chapters, tables of contents etc. A bit of a learning 
curve, but not as bad as a lot of programs I have had to use and the output can be run through Calibre to convert to 
almost any e-reader format you might need.


Ross


On Dec 10, 2012, at 9:49 PM, Rick Moen wrote:

> Bizarre story, but nothing I didn't expect:
> 
>  Yesterday, I tried to download [from Barnes & Noble's Web site]
>  an ebook I paid for, and previously put on my Nook, a few months ago.
>  When I tried, I got an error message stating I could not download the
>  book because the credit card on file had expired. But, I already paid
>  for it. Who cares if the credit card is expired? It has long since been
>  paid for, so the status of the card on file has nothing to do with my
>  ability to download said book. I didn't see anything in the terms of
>  service about this either, but it's possible I missed it.
> 
>  This is just one more reason to either not buy ebooks, or strip the drm
>  off of the ones you purchase so you can you the book you BUY on all your
>  devices without having to purchase multiple copies for no reason and
>  have access to something you already bought when you want it. 
> 
> http://consumerist.com/2012/11/26/heres-why-digital-rights-management-is-stupid-and-anti-consumer/
> 
> That's great.  You bought and paid for it, but now your right to
> download is revoked because your on-file credit card's expiration date
> is past.  Peculiar, eh?
> 
> Specifically, it turns out, a credit card is required for 'unlocking' 
> downloaded ebooks.
> https://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/nook-books-frequently-asked-questions-faq/379003486
> That means the files are DRM-obscured.  For reasons B&N declines to
> explain, you must have on file a _live, chargeable_ credit card any time 
> you check in with the mothership and prove you're the owner who
> originally bought that copy (or are someone being 'lent' a DRMed copy
> by a vetted purchaser, for a 14-day period).  Your credit card details
> (name and credit card number) are actually encoded by the 'Nook client 
> software' for your MS-Windows or Mac OS X machine into the DRMed ebook
> copy that is then installed in your reader.
> 
> (Amazon and the others have similar handcuffs for their Kindles and
> similar things.)
> 
> 
> I own a Nook Classic (which I immediately rooted when I got it by
> putting a custom Android build from nookdevs.com onto a microSD card and
> booting from that rather than the default B&N-installed Android in the
> Nook itself).  As it happens, I've never even once used the B&N 'store'
> for Nooks -- in part because I don't want the hassle of needing to strip
> DRM from what I buy.  And I don't have or need any 'Nook client
> software'.
> 
> 
> As it turns out, you also don't need a specialty 'store' devoted just to
> your e-reader.  With a copy of Calibre (an open-source graphical app in
> Python), you can not only manage common e-readers really nicely but also
> convert other formats to yours, e.g., mobi to epub.  Where can you buy
> ebooks, then?  Anywhere you want.
> 
> If you _do_ end up with a DRM-obscured copy of something, you'll want to
> strip the DRM.  With ebooks, that's best done with Calibre and a set of
> de-DRMing plugins you have to download separately.  Details here:
> http://lifehacker.com/5954466/how-do-i-get-rid-of-the-drm-on-my-ebooks-and-video
> http://apprenticealf.wordpress.com/2011/01/13/ebooks-formats-drm-and-you-%E2%80%94-a-guide-for-the-perplexed/
> http://www.hacktheday.com/quick-simple-guide-hacking-kindle-nook-ebooks/
> 
> 
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