Una's Disco: Wonderlands eBook has DRM - Mistake??

[chrinFinity]

Hi all, kindly no spoilers for this book in thread please.

I just purchased Una McCormack's "Wonderlands," a Star Trek: Discovery title, from Rakuten Kobo, as I always do with all my Trek (and other) commercially available ebooks. I am eager to read it, but I can't. It has DRM! Is it supposed to? This is a huge disruption to my technical eco-system, and makes actually reading this book I've purchased a non-trivial exercise.

Pocket books has previously said that all Star Trek novels will be distributed DRM-Free, and in my experience, they have been. Does anyone know why this one in particular is not DRM-Free?

Background information: The Kobo store can sync books, including DRM books, directly with the Kobo device... But that's a feature I cannot use, for technical and privacy reasons. However, Kobo store also allows users to directly download the EPUB files for purchased books, but only when they don't have DRM.

Kobo store even lets you log into your account and read the purchased books directly online, like if I am out somewhere and I don't have my e-reader with me. But that feature also does not work with DRM titles.

This is very aggravating.

 

[chrinFinity]

I just got off the chat with Rakuten Kobo support, they suggest contacting publisher as it is publisher who sets this setting on the distributor portal, apparently.

Either somebody at Pocket Books has made a mistake, or PB has changed their policy on Star Trek DRM.

*edit* And I have reported the issue to Simon & Schuster Now we play the waiting game.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Either somebody at Pocket Books has made a mistake, or PB has changed their policy on Star Trek DRM.

I obviously have absolutely no insight into the goings-on at S&S, but it does seem that this might be a recent unannounced policy change. It appears that most (but not all!) of the recent Star Trek releases are listed on Kobo as having Adobe DRM, beginning as far back as 2020.

The recent titles showing as having DRM are:

• TOS: Agents of Influence
  
• DSC: Die Standing
  
• TOS: A Contest of Principles
  
• DSC: Wonderlands
• TNG: Shadows Have Offended
• PIC: Rogue Elements
• Coda: Moments Asunder
• Coda: The Ashes of Tomorrow
• DS9: Revenant

The titles released after Agents of Influence that are still showing as DRM-Free on Kobo are:

• KEL: More Beautiful Than Death
• VOY: To Lose the Earth
• PIC: The Dark Veil
• TOS: Living Memory
• Coda: Oblivion's Gate

I'm not seeing any obvious pattern as to why those five are exempted. (Assuming Kobo's listings are in fact correct.)

So I guess this doesn't really answer your question, but it should probably be enough evidence that you shouldn't be surprised if S&S gets back to you saying the policy has changed.

 

[ATimson]

Before S&S stopped selling ebooks directly late last year, at least one of those books (Die Standing) also had DRM when sold directly from their site. So that's another data point in favor of a policy change.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Score one for print.

 

[chrinFinity]

Thank you all, that is very disappointing.

S&S did not get back to me yet.

The listings as they are reported on Kobo are accurate, insofar as that kobo site is where I actually download the files from after purchasing, and indeed the ones marked DRM do download with DRM, and the ones marked DRM-Free do download directly as untarnished epub files.

Very sad, it means I will have to either read my paper copies off the collection shelf, or add a bunch of cumbersome steps to my process. I'll follow up here if they respond to my query.

 

[chrinFinity]

Score one for print.

I've been thinking a lot about your comment over the past several days, and I have to say I find it somewhat technophobic. I think you're unfairly generalizing against e-books and literature in electronic formats, because of the particular challenges associated with DRM copies.

To start with, generally, newer technology is not inherently inferior or less reliable than old technology; Instead it is how technologies are used, and how we treat them, that matters.

In my opinion, there is great transformative value in electronic publishing. Just as the printing press revolutionized accessibility and distribution of recorded language, electronic distribution has again.

(DRM-Free) Electronic books are almost infinitely transmissible and can be distributed to any connected device instantly. All you need to be concerned with is energy and storage, and to the degree that it applies to any particular book and jurisdiction, licensing. It's easy to see what an improvement that is over remaining a "print-only" civilization.

I want to be clear I am not attacking or disparaging print books, I own more than 2,000 of them and I love them, and indeed, I read them about 10 to 15% of the time (mostly in the comfort of my home). But as a technology, they are fragile and impractical at volume.

Books are not waterproof, a library can be tragically destroyed in a fire, individual books can be stolen or lost or fall apart from use, and then they are gone unless you can find another copy somewhere.

OTOH, properly obtaining, archiving, and preserving (via backups) your own copies of electronic books, ensures against all of these eventualities.

My e-reader, as it happens, is waterproof (though some aren't). But even if it should be lost or destroyed, I can replace it (with a variety of different devices depending on availability and my immediate need at the time), and re-synchronize my library in minutes. (Even my annotations and bookmarks!)

If I finish a book while I am out, I can choose a new book from my entire library. All in my pocket, or a short private download away (securely stored in my own server).

If you fear the Orwellian scenario, then don't subscribe to services that can switch off your access. Keep copies yourself. Again, the problem is how the technology is used by some folks and companies, not the technology itself.

If you're worried about a doomsday scenario where your computer can't start and your e-reader runs out of battery, there would still be options with solar power, but for real are we seriously expecting we are ever going to lose electricity forever and survive anyway?

DRM is a blight on publishing, but e-books aren't. Print is great (and better, in some ways, especially subjectively/experientially). But e-books are also great, and better, in other ways.

Please don't malign all electronic publishing just because some jerks attached DRM to parts of it. The real enemy is capitalism. Thank you.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

. . . The recent titles showing as having DRM are:

• TOS: Agents of Influence
  
• DSC: Die Standing
  
• TOS: A Contest of Principles
  
• DSC: Wonderlands
• TNG: Shadows Have Offended
• PIC: Rogue Elements
• Coda: Moments Asunder
• Coda: The Ashes of Tomorrow
• DS9: Revenant

The titles released after Agents of Influence that are still showing as DRM-Free on Kobo are:

• KEL: More Beautiful Than Death
• VOY: To Lose the Earth
• PIC: The Dark Veil
• TOS: Living Memory
• Coda: Oblivion's Gate

. . .

If I'm not mistaken, all of the above titles have print editions.

The only eBooks I'm interested in are the ones unlikely to ever appear in a print edition.

Does anybody know whether The More Things Change is DRM-free? And how would I check that and other titles before buying?

 

[ATimson]

Does anybody know whether The More Things Change is DRM-free? And how would I check that and other titles before buying?

Purchase from a reseller like Kobo or Google Play that displays that information for each book.

 

[Avro Arrow]

If I'm not mistaken, all of the above titles have print editions.

While true, that's not really relevant to the question raised in the thread.

Does anybody know whether The More Things Change is DRM-free?

The More Things Change shows as DRM-free on Kobo Canada.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

not really relevant

The print editions are, of course, DRM-free by definition.

 

[JWolf]

Thank you all, that is very disappointing.

S&S did not get back to me yet.

The listings as they are reported on Kobo are accurate, insofar as that kobo site is where I actually download the files from after purchasing, and indeed the ones marked DRM do download with DRM, and the ones marked DRM-Free do download directly as untarnished epub files.

Very sad, it means I will have to either read my paper copies off the collection shelf, or add a bunch of cumbersome steps to my process. I'll follow up here if they respond to my query.

I suggest email Una and see what she has to say.

 

[Brendan Moody]

I imagine what she (or any other writer) would have to say would be “I have no idea, that’s not something I get consulted on or informed of.”

 

[JWolf]

I imagine what she (or any other writer) would have to say would be “I have no idea, that’s not something I get consulted on or informed of.”

I remember back when Tor first went DRM free. The first eBook that was supposed to be listed with no DRM was Redshirts by John Scalzi. It was put up at most (if not all) eBook stores with DRM. The author and Tor did say it was OK to remove the DRM and gave instructions how to do so. Plus, Tor said that if you were to email the receipt, they would send you a DRM free copy.

So maybe Una will get involved. You won't know until you ask. Me, I'd fix the problem myself.

As for waiting for S&S to reply, don't bother. I once bought a Star Trek eBook direct from S&S and the CSS was messed up such that it wasn't properly formatted. I had to deal with it myself or lose my money. S&S never did get back to me.

 

[ATimson]

Redshirts was by John Scalzi, not Jeffrey A. Carver.

Scalzi is unusual among authors in publicly talking about how DRM is bad for consumers. (Not unique; Charles Stross and Cory Doctorow also come to mind.) I think Brendan's right about what most authors would say, though.

 

[JWolf]

Redshirts was by John Scalzi, not Jeffrey A. Carver.

Scalzi is unusual among authors in publicly talking about how DRM is bad for consumers. (Not unique; Charles Stross and Cory Doctorow also come to mind.) I think Brendan's right about what most authors would say, though.

Yes, you are correct. I got the author name wrong. Scalzi did come out on release days and post on twitter and Facebook about removing DRM from his eBook. That legitimized DRM removal since it was done by the author of the eBook.

 

[chrinFinity]

Well S&S never did get back to me. I may or may not reach out to Una McCormack, but now that I know there are so many more books in the same situation, I'm not sure what the point would be.

Seems like a mistake at S&S, or more likely they've changed internally and don't care about this issue any more.

Also @JWolf my understanding with TrekBBS is we are allowed to discuss DRM only if we do not talk about methods of stripping or removing it. Don't want to get my thread shut down