Holy crap: Tor Books is dropping DRM on their ebooks!

[mckitterick]

Huge news from Tor Books, folks!

“Our authors and readers have been asking for this for a long time,” said Tom Doherty, Tor President and Publisher. “They’re a technically sophisticated bunch, and DRM is a constant annoyance to them. It prevents them from using legitimately purchased e-books in perfectly legal ways, like moving them from one kind of e-reader to another.”

About damned time. Not that DRM actually did a thing to stop pirates, as I discovered when my novel was pirated within a day of its Kindle publication. DRM does nothing but irritate legitimate e-information buyers, so I'm not surprised in the least that Macmillan finally made the leap, at least with Tor Books.

Good for them. Show your support by buying Tor/Forge Books, people!

Apparently, Macmillan consulted with Charles Stross about the topic, as he's long been a proponent of DRM-free books. Check out his blog entry for a full discussion.

We are entering the Age of Information Gets to Be Free - scary and exciting!

Chris

Comments

[roseconnelly.livejournal.com]

I'm one of those technically savvy people that strip out the DRM so I can read my Kindle/Nook/Google purchased books however I want. I have three Barnes and Noble purchased books on my Kindle right now. It also allows me to convert it to another format and back it up preventing e-book providers from deciding I suddenly do not have the right to read the book I purchased.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

And you are exactly the customer for whom they're disposing of DRM.

[roseconnelly.livejournal.com]

I very much appreciate it! My next book I purchase to read during kid practices must be from Tor!

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I get the feeling that Tor/Forge doing this will mean the others MUST follow, or else they'll lose tons of sales.