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?
Calibre and DeDRM can strip Amazon’s DRM and let you save the books forever.
https://github.com/noDRM/DeDRM_tools
You need a registered Kindle, but you don’t need to actually use the Kindle to make it work. Just download the ebook from the Amazon website “for Kindle XYZ” and then import and convert the ebook in calibre.
This is unfortunately the closest answer to what the OP is asking.
To the best of my knowledge, outside of independent authors like Cory Doctorow selling drm-free from their own sites, I’m not aware of any place to shop for ebooks that are not tied to some online DRM scheme.
Humble Bundle books are another option, but it’s highly dependent upon if you want what they’re selling.
Baens library has been doing this for the past 25(?) years. They even have a free library. https://www.baen.com/catalog/category/view/s/free-library/id/2012
Going that far, I’d sooner just apply for a Bibliotik account.
Also works on kobo books which use adobe digital editions. I think the plugin is called obok (I’ve only just realised that kobo is an anagram of book haha)
This is the way anyway
OP wants to avoid Amazon. This is still giving Amazon money and therefore encouraging Amazon’s greed, walled garden and dark patterns.
A better alternative would be using almost any other digital book seller. There’s plenty. And if the author chose or was forced to only sell through Amazon, then you can try library sources (like Overdrive) so the author at least gets something. And if you still can’t get what you’re looking for, then it’s time to sail the high seas.
At least make Amazon the last resort option.
I’ve tried 5× to get it to work and not been able to…I’m even somewhat good with following instructions!
On the high seas
Yarrrrr.
You can borrow them forever from libgen or similar ;)
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)
MAM is the best for piracy.
What’s MAM, and in what ways is it better than Anna’s Archive?
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.
Tor (the publisher, not the anonymizer) doesn’t use DRM on their ebooks.
Pirate the DRM free version of the e-book. And then send money to the author, either is a direct donation if they accept it, or donating a physical copy of the book to the library
Just pointing out that dozens of people work on each traditionally published book other than the author.
And all of them have been paid out. Corporations and royalties are getting the profits.
Does anyone other than the author and publisher get paid on a per-unit-sold basis?
I’m operating under the (perhaps mistaken) assumption that OP wants to “buy” an e-book in part to support those responsible for making it. And of course you can’t support an editor or cover designer or publicist directly, but they do get paid indirectly because books get sold.
That is the way to go
Here’s a good resource:
https://www.defectivebydesign.org/guide/ebooksThanks for this! I think I may have come across it at some point but never bookmarked it for whatever reason, corrected that now!
And Calibre
You can then directly send something to the author
Otherwise you are just paying full price, but renting until the publisher changes their terms.
Free and DRM-free Z-Library
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.
Libro.FM as well.
Humble Bundle and storybundle.com sell DRM-free ebooks.
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.
A lot of publishers have DRM free content if you buy directly from them.
Verso, Tor, NoStarchPress to name a few
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.
If you’re an audible user, libation is a great way to own your audio books the way calibre does.
That beats connecting the speaker jack to the mic jack and recording with audacity.
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…
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.
That’s terrible, thanks for the he heads up.
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.
