Trek e-books now DRM free.

[The Laughing Vulcan]

I got this e-mail from Simon and Schuster today that might be of interest to people. They have a sale on certain titles as well, but the real news is that the DRM is apparently gone, and you can read your books on any compatible device of your choosing.

 

[JWolf]

I'm not sure of this. The free eBook they give out can only be read using a Glose app or your web browser. You cannot download it as an eBook format. When you go to buy a Sta Trek eBook, you are not told the format. So it could be that you'd need this Glose app or your web browser. So for now until we know otherwise, do not buy from S&S. Glose is crap and should be done away with.

 

[JD]

I've never even heard of Glose.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Glose seems to be some sort of combination of e-books and social media (presumably the worst of both worlds). That it got a write-up in techcrunch.com in 2014, but still has no Wikipedia article says something about its quality and popularity.

Seems to me that if they're distributing all ST e-books "DRM-free" and also ulterior-motive-free, they'd just distribute them as PDFs.

 

[Steve Roby]

The Glose thing has nothing to do with the new DRM-free announcement, it's another thing they did a while back. Looks like you can get DRM-free epub or Kindle ebooks from a variety of online retailers.

As for PDFs... I like them for magazines, comics, and some other things, but for books I'd much rather have epub. I can read an epub on my phone, my iPad, my Android tablet, or my Kobo ereader, adjust font size, etc. PDFs only work well on the iPad because they're a fixed, inflexible format and need a decent-sized screen.

 

[ryan123450]

I'm much less excited about this than I would be if StarTrek books were available as ebooks from libraries. I'm not sure what the issue is there, but I wish it would get sorted out.

 

[bfollowell]

I'm much less excited about this than I would be if StarTrek books were available as ebooks from libraries. I'm not sure what the issue is there, but I wish it would get sorted out.

Star Trek ebooks are available from public libraries. I'm not sure about your public library, but I know mine has several. They've been available through Overdrive for years. My library just started offering them over the last year or so.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I got this e-mail from Simon and Schuster today that might be of interest to people. They have a sale on certain titles as well, but the real news is that the DRM is apparently gone, and you can read your books on any compatible device of your choosing.

Thank you for sharing this! I checked the Kobo site, and they matched the sale prices from S&S, so I was able to pick up a digital version of the entire Vulcan's Soul trilogy for $3, and complete the Shatnerverse Mirror Universe trilogy for $2! (I had already bought Spectre previously when it was on sale for $1.99 (guess I should have waited! ) and didn't feel the need to rebuy it just to have a DRM-free version.)

I'm probably a bit of a sucker, but I don't really have any problem spending $1 to get a digital version of a book I already own. As long as you keep running these sales, S&S, I'll keep getting them!

And the DRM-free thing is good news, too. Allowing customers to read their purchases in whatever manner they see fit can only be good for ebooks. Nice to see S&S come on board with this.

I'm much less excited about this than I would be if StarTrek books were available as ebooks from libraries. I'm not sure what the issue is there, but I wish it would get sorted out.

Star Trek ebooks are available from public libraries. I'm not sure about your public library, but I know mine has several. They've been available through Overdrive for years. My library just started offering them over the last year or so.

I just checked, and my public library doesn't have any Star Trek eBooks either. (And it does use Overdrive.)

 

[bfollowell]

I'm much less excited about this than I would be if StarTrek books were available as ebooks from libraries. I'm not sure what the issue is there, but I wish it would get sorted out.

I just checked, and my public library doesn't have any Star Trek eBooks either. (And it does use Overdrive.)

Something to remember guys, just because your library doesn't have Star Trek ebooks available, even if they use Overdrive, doesn't mean they aren't available, it just means your library doesn't have them. And just because they use Overdrive doesn't mean they automatically get any certain ebooks. Your library has to purchase these to make them available to you, just like they would with a physical copy, so you may need to get into the habit of requesting them. I know my library has a link to request new titles. I always make a habit of requesting new titles as they're published. Even with a large, well funded library system, if no one's requesting a title, they're probably not going to waste the money on it.

 

[ryan123450]

Just went on a recommendation spree in Overdrive. Thanks for the info!

 

[Avro Arrow]

Something to remember guys, just because your library doesn't have Star Trek ebooks available, even if they use Overdrive, doesn't mean they aren't available, it just means your library doesn't have them. And just because they use Overdrive doesn't mean they automatically get any certain ebooks. Your library has to purchase these to make them available to you, just like they would with a physical copy

Oh, yeah, I understand. Once I read those two posts, I was curious as to whether my library had them or not... since I usually purchase the Trek books, I had never even looked into it before. Just figured I'd share the results!

 

[JWolf]

Heads up...Enterprise Rise of the Federation series on sale for $1.99 each all DRM-Free!! Plus the Q Continuum trilogy by Greg Cox $1.99 each. Also Star Trek: Titan: Absent Enemies is $1.99.

 

[Thrawn]

Thanks for posting that.

The first Romulan War book was so disappointing that I never read the second (I liked Mangels & Martin together but Martin by himself drives me crazy) and so I've never gotten started on Christopher's surely vastly superior Enterprise entries. This may be the motivation I need...

 

[JWolf]

Thanks for posting that.

The first Romulan War book was so disappointing that I never read the second (I liked Mangels & Martin together but Martin by himself drives me crazy) and so I've never gotten started on Christopher's surely vastly superior Enterprise entries. This may be the motivation I need...

The Rise of the Federation series is very good. I do think you'll enjoy it. So much better than the Romulan War disaster.

 

[JWolf]

I just bought the Q Continuum series from Kobo in ePub and they are DRM free.

 

[Smitty]

I assume the DRM free does NOT apply to Kindle editions?

 

[JWolf]

I assume the DRM free does NOT apply to Kindle editions?

I would think so. You could buy one of the Q Continuum books at $1.99 and see if you can view with the Calibre eBook viewer to see if it does or does not have DRM.

 

[jaime]

It's a shame none of this seems to apply to the EU. If amazon had matched the prices it would have been nice too.

Still, maybe some will turn up in an anniversary related sale.

The only discounted Trek book I ever got on Kindle was the Hive graphic novel, and even then...it may have been over priced.

 

[JWolf]

Heads up...Enterprise Rise of the Federation series on sale for $1.99 each all DRM-Free!! Plus the Q Continuum trilogy by Greg Cox $1.99 each.

These are still on sale until May 1st (for the rest of April).

 

[JWolf]

It's a shame none of this seems to apply to the EU. If amazon had matched the prices it would have been nice too.

It is a shame that US based publishers don't give a damn outside the US especially when it's the same publisher. Star Trek books in the UK are published by S&S.