Where can I buy ebooks that will actually be mine for life?

I'm looking to change my reading and buying habits away from Amazon and need an alternate source for my ebooks. Where can I buy ebooks that won't expire or have their licence revoked and will allow me to download a copy of that ebook I can store on my own system regardless of the websites status?

earthwalker31 ,

A lot of (bigger) bookstores also sell ebooks on their websites. There it usually depends on the publisher if they have DRM or not, so just look around.

version_unsorted ,

A lot of publishers have DRM free content if you buy directly from them.

Verso, Tor, NoStarchPress to name a few

Aceticon ,

Since the beginning of the whole eBook trend I've refused to buy e-books from Amazon exactly because of their DRM, and recently I went looking around for an alternative and discovered Smashwords were I can buy the books and get them at least in ePub format (some also in other formats). They've been getting a steady stream of money from me ever since. (No, it's not a subscription, it's me being an avid book reader).

No idea of how good or not they are compared to other alternatives, but they seem to have more than enough choice for my needs and do satisfy my criteria, - the same as yours - which is that I when I download a book I get to keep it and read in any way I see fit.

mesamunefire ,

If you get it off Amazon, you can use Calibre to download the ebook. Then convert to ebook .epub and now it's yours forever. I don't like this but some books are not possible to get it legally without Amazon.

Or use baen to buy. Or if your really lucky off the authors official website.

Passerby6497 ,

If you're an audible user, libation is a great way to own your audio books the way calibre does.

JacobCoffinWrites ,
@JacobCoffinWrites@slrpnk.net avatar

That beats connecting the speaker jack to the mic jack and recording with audacity.

Passerby6497 ,

I used to do that all the time as a kid, and there are still songs where I expect to hear a windows tone over it in specific spots....

Chee_Koala ,

Head's up - since Jan this year, this route is ONLY available if you have registered a Kindle with them. The new format used by amazon cannot be "unencrypted", even by calibre, without a Kindle "unencrypting" it for you or providing it's key or whatever the dark magic required is.

mesamunefire ,

That's terrible, thanks for the he heads up.

cosmic_cowboy ,
@cosmic_cowboy@reddthat.com avatar

Anna's Archive is a good option if you're wanting to sail the high seas. Very easy to navigate, and almost all titles are available in multiple formats (I.e. PDF, epub)

lud ,

MAM is the best for piracy.

Zagorath ,
@Zagorath@aussie.zone avatar

What's MAM, and in what ways is it better than Anna's Archive?

lud ,

myanonamouse.net/

They have a lot of content and a pretty nice community.

It's a private tracker but it's easy to join even if it's your first.

DaCrazyJamez ,

Oceanofpdf.com works for a lot of titles

ElectroVagrant ,

Surprised nobody's mentioned Weightless ebooks or Smashwords yet. You didn't mention region, so I can't assure these will work for you, but worth checking out regardless to see if they may.

nix ,

Libro.FM as well.

BaldProphet ,
@BaldProphet@kbin.social avatar

Humble Bundle and storybundle.com sell DRM-free ebooks.

DeltaWhy ,

Careful though, not every Humble Bundle is DRM-free. I just got one recently not realizing it was locked to the Kobo app. I have an Android e-reader so I'm still able to read them, but I'm pretty annoyed given that DRM-free used to be one of the major selling points of Humble Bundle.

cerement ,
@cerement@slrpnk.net avatar

“If buying isn’t owning, piracy isn’t stealing”

Bougie_Birdie ,

Free and DRM-free Z-Library

andrewrgross ,
@andrewrgross@slrpnk.net avatar

www.kobo.com is an online bookstore I use. I don't know if all their books are DRM-free, but the handful I bought have been. The full name of the store is Ratuken Kobo. I like it well enough.

DeltaWhy ,

They definitely sell DRM'd books, it might even be the majority of books on the store. I think it depends on the publisher. I have managed to find some DRM-free books there though.

Hello_there ,

This question should be asked at lemmy.dbzero piracy

threelonmusketeers , (edited )

Hello! It looks like you didn't link to a sublemmy correctly. Try this one instead: !piracy

I am not a bot, and this action was performed manually.

Fiivemacs ,

You're missing a word..

threelonmusketeers ,

Thanks; fixed!

For those who are curious, the word was "link".

intensely_human ,

Seems like the starting point for this would be e-readers with open device content control. So instead of relying on my_email@kindle.com or something like that in order to get files onto the device, you’d use your own file server or something for the device to connect to.

Then the long-term ownership just consists of having the epub, mobi, or pdf files of the books you want to own, and passing them through whatever device content control system you’re using.

Docus ,

In other words: calibre.

It does all that and more

delirious_owl ,
@delirious_owl@discuss.online avatar

CrowdSupply

stevieLipschitz ,

For ebooks, the hurtle is really storing them on your own system. Most open source readers can read Amazon's .azw and .azw3. I like to keep everything in epub on my proton drive, but I buy (and sometimes don't buy) them from different places. I went to my local library to come up with a archival method that works. I use an open source ereader app on my phone and laptop, and use 'Send to Kindle' to get books on an old Kindle from 2014, deleting them when I'm finished reading.

By breaking up where I get my books from, and decoupling it from storage and reading method, I'm able to be a lot more flexible and take advantage of deals/exclusives on different platforms. I also feel a little more private. The downside is paying for storage, and an extra step to download books from the central location when I want to read them.

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