EBOOKS, DRM AND THE LAW
There’s an ongoing legal debate about what we should be allowed to do with the digital books, videos and music we buy.
Some publishers don’t use DRM on their ebooks, letting you convert them to read on multiple devices. To do this, you’ll still need some third-party software. The gold standard is Calibre ( www.calibreebook.com), which is open-source, and therefore should always be free. It also lets you transfer your ebooks to a range of e-readers in different formats.
Amazon supports AZW and MOBI formats, while most other readers use ASCM and EPUB. Almost all e-readers support PDF, but ebooks are hard to read in this format.
Even when British law allowed you to copy your ebooks, DRM removal was still a grey area legally due to a lack of test cases. However, the popularity of Drm-removing plug-ins for Calibre surged (such as Apprentice Alf’s DEDRM Tools: www.snipca.com/17690).
Elsewhere in the EU, users have more rights, with most countries allowing personal backups. Some, such as France, even ban manufacturers using DRM to force users to use certain hardware (Kindles, for example). with the ebook stores run by WH Smith ( www.whsmith.co.uk/ebooks) and Foyles ( www.foyles.co.uk/ebooks), all use the free and open EPUB format, protected by DRM (digital rights management) provided by Adobe Digital Editions (ADE, www.snipca.com/17686).
Now for the bad news. ADE is harder to use than Amazon’s, mainly because syncing is tricky. You have to make sure your purchases from different retailers are all linked to the same account. However, it does at least give you the chance to shop at multiple retailers, rather than being forced to use just Amazon.
You can read any ADE EPUB ebook on your tablet using Adobe’s own Digital Editions app for IOS ( www.snipca. com/17688). But much better is Mobisystems’ Universal Book Reader app for Android ( www.snipca. com/17689). If your ebooks are Drm-free and, like us, you prefer Amazon’s interface and syncing features, then you can use Calibre (see box above) to convert them to MOBI format and email them to your Kindle app.