michaelharley-net-wa2rlv.txt (14005B)
1 [1]Skip to content [2]michaelharley.net [3](Menu) [≡] [×] 2 3 • [4][A]boutAbout 4 • [5][C]ontactContact 5 • [6][P]ostsPosts 6 • [7][S]itemapSitemap 7 8 [8](Toggle light and dark theme) [9](Switch site skin) [10](Toggle modem-light 9 animation) 10 11 I own my books 12 13 July 16, 2026 4 min read 14 15 [11]Permalink 16 17 I love reading. I caught the bug as a middle-schooler when I got caught 18 skipping school, and as punishment, I had to read [12]The Chronicles of Amber 19 (opens in a new tab) and do a book report about it. Even today, opening a book 20 and fanning the pages to get the paper smell activates very fond memories and 21 emotions. 22 23 I remember a time before e-readers came out. I always thought reading on one 24 seemed very futuristic. In military sci-fi books, characters are reading on 25 their data pads, and reading on an e-reader makes me feel like a sci-fi 26 character. 27 28 Physically, e-readers are superior in every way to paper books. I can increase 29 the font size. I can increase brightness. I can read in the sun. I can read in 30 the pool. My entire library fits into my pocket. I can look up the definitions 31 of words. 32 33 Capitalists really hate when consumers love something, so of course they want 34 to ruin e-readers. They do that by implementing digital rights management 35 (DRM), and making people agree to draconian agreements such that the books they 36 "buy" are in fact just renting. They want to lock you into their device 37 ecosystem and force you to buy their hardware. That makes it very hard for 38 consumers to buy a device from a different manufacturer as they basically have 39 to abandon their digital libraries to do so. 40 41 All that to say, I can understand why some people just do not want to deal with 42 fighting with e-reader companies like Amazon so they might prefer paper books. 43 I am up for the challenge though, and here is how I avoid the obstacles and 44 hurdles that these companies put in the path to consumer choice and freedom. 45 46 Removing DRM [13]# 47 48 The most important thing to ebook freedom is removing the DRM the companies put 49 on the books. I wrote about [14]how I remove DRM for backup purposes so I won't 50 rehash that here, but the main thing is buying your ebooks from a distributor 51 other than Amazon. I buy mine from [15]eBooks.com (opens in a new tab) and [16] 52 Kobo.com (opens in a new tab) as they distribute their books with Adobe DRM, 53 which the right tools can remove. 54 55 I do not remove DRM so I can give my books away. I remove DRM so I have a 56 backup of the books I paid for. 57 58 This isn't paranoia. In 2019, [17]Microsoft shut down its ebook store (opens in 59 a new tab), and because the books were DRM'd, every book every customer had 60 ever bought simply stopped opening when the DRM servers went dark. Microsoft 61 refunded everyone, which is a tidy admission that those were never really 62 sales. A decade earlier, [18]Amazon reached into people's Kindles and deleted 63 copies of 1984 (opens in a new tab) that they had already paid for, taking one 64 [19]student's homework notes (opens in a new tab) along with the book. Not 65 great, Bob. 66 67 So I backup my books to an open standard, [20]ePUB (opens in a new tab), with 68 the DRM stripped off. If eBooks.com folds tomorrow, or Kobo decides my account 69 is a problem, or I want to read on hardware nobody has invented yet, my library 70 still works. 71 72 I don't care what their fine print says. I bought this book. It's my book. I'll 73 read it where I like, TYVM. 74 75 But what about Amazon exclusives? [21]# 76 77 I want to support authors. I do not want to support anti-consumer choice 78 cartels by giving them money. 79 80 I remember back when Amazon first started, and they allowed smaller authors to 81 self-publish their books. Back then, Amazon was the small guy, and it allowed 82 other small guys to avoid the big book publishers. That was a right and good 83 thing. 84 85 But now, Amazon locks its exclusives behind the superior Amazon DRM and I don't 86 know how to create DRM-free backups with the tools I have access to. So in the 87 rare instance that I must purchase a book from Amazon, then I'll hold my nose 88 and give Jeff Bezos my money. What happens after that, and how the book ends up 89 readable on my Kobo, is left as an exercise for the reader. 90 91 Audiobooks [22]# 92 93 The same fight plays out with audiobooks, except here the landscape is still 94 favorable to the consumer. My preference is [23]Libro.fm (opens in a new tab), 95 who sells audiobooks DRM-free from the start. And you can strip even Audible's 96 DRM, so nothing I buy is ever really locked inside their app. 97 98 Same rule as my books: I paid for it, so I keep a copy I control. The medium 99 changes; the principle doesn't. 100 101 I'll sign off this post with a quote. 102 103 Any time someone puts a lock on something that belongs to you and won't 104 give you the key, that lock isn't there for your benefit. 105 106 Cory Doctorow, [24]Information Doesn't Want to Be Free (opens in a new tab) 107 108 Michael Harley Michael Harley [25]Author 109 Filed under: [26]Books [27]Calibre [28]eBooks 110 111 Also on [29]Mastodon (opens in a new tab) [30]Bluesky (opens in a new tab) 112 113 You may also like 114 115 • [31]How to setup Calibre to remove DRM from ebooks on Linux January 10, 116 2023 117 • [32]How I self-host my ebooks and audiobooks July 21, 2026 118 • [33]On ebook readers and why I am opting out of vendor lock-ins March 09, 119 2022 120 121 Signal 122 123 [34](Like this post) like 124 21 likes 125 126 • [35] TheNovemberFella ✊🏳️🌈 🇺🇦☸️🛰️🚀 127 • [36] PurpleJillybeans :PrideDisk: 128 • [37] Ronsboy67 129 • [38] Alexander Corby 🇵🇷 130 • [39] BookShelves eBook Reader 131 • [40] Feral 3D 132 • [41] Wojtek Powiertowski 133 • [42] Pablonius Monk 🇺🇦 134 • [43] Jeremy 135 • [44] Kᑐᑌᑐᕮ 136 • [45] Nick East (Indie Writer) 137 • [46] richlinville.bsky.social 138 • [47] Kevin Gallant 139 • [48] alex 140 • [id] 141 • [id] 142 • [id] 143 • [id] 144 • [id] 145 • [id] 146 • [id] 147 148 4 boosts 149 150 • [49] Ronsboy67 151 • [50] Pablonius Monk 🇺🇦 152 • [51] Jeremy 153 • [52] Kᑐᑌᑐᕮ 154 155 1 mention 156 157 • [53] Bubbles (opens in a new tab) 158 159 [54] 34 votes on Bubbles 🫧 (opens in a new tab) 160 161 3 Comments 162 163 mloxton 164 165 [55]mloxton (opens in a new tab) via Mastodon Jul 16, 2026 166 167 [56]@michaelharley (opens in a new tab) 168 169 I get all the points you make, but that same picture looks a lot different from 170 the author's perspective. 171 172 There is also a transaction issue with your argument. 173 The price of a book may vary according to what rights come with it. Using 174 fictional numbers for illustration. 175 176 Full rights: $50,000 177 Right to read forever on any device: $50 178 Right to read on a specified device $5 179 Right to read on a specified device for a specified time: $1 180 181 A 182 183 [57]Antonio Santos (opens in a new tab) via antoniosantos.io Jul 16, 2026 184 185 I regret not taking a similar approach to Michael Harley sooner. I always 186 thought it didn't matter if I bought my books on Apple Books, because I would 187 always have an iPad to read them on, until I bought a Kindle and wished I could 188 read my books on my Kindle. 189 190 Somehow, I let myself fall into the same trap with my Kindle, and now I'm 191 locked into reading my books on a Kindle (at least there's a Kindle app for 192 iOS). 193 194 Recently, I started thinking about where I buy my e-books from for the same 195 reasons as Michael: I want to be able to take my books with me anywhere, and 196 back them up in case the provider goes away. So now I try to find DRM-free 197 alternatives, like buying e-books straight from the author, or shopping on 198 DRM-free platforms. I haven't tried removing DRM from books yet, not sure if I 199 want to go thru the hassle. 200 201 I also started doing the same for movies. Instead of buying them digital, I 202 started buying physical copies. Eventually, I might get a Blu-Ray R/W and make 203 digital copies for myself. 204 205 Kᑐᑌᑐᕮ 206 207 [58]Kᑐᑌᑐᕮ (opens in a new tab) via Mastodon Jul 17, 2026 208 209 [59]@michaelharley (opens in a new tab) re: 210 > "So in the rare instance that I must purchase a book from Amazon, then I'll 211 hold my nose and give Jeff Bezos my money." 212 213 I have a different approach: i always buy the **physical** book (which supports 214 the author more, than buying any e-book) and then i simply download the `.epub` 215 for free from... that 1 library that provides almost all e-books for free 🤷🏼♂️ 216 217 Join the conversation 218 219 • [60]Respond via email 220 • Leave a comment 221 222 Your email is never shown. It's only so I can reply, and comments are 223 moderated before they appear. 224 225 Name * [61][ ] Email (optional, private) 226 [62][ ] Website (optional, sets your avatar from your 227 h-card) [63][ ] 228 229 Supports basic Markdown (bold, italic, links, lists, quotes). It's rendered 230 to HTML once the comment is approved. 231 232 [ ] 233 [ ] 234 [ ] 235 Comment * [64][ ] 236 Leave this field empty [65][ ] 237 [69]Post comment 238 or comment as yourself 239 240 Have your own website? Sign in with it via [70]IndieAuth (opens in a new 241 tab) and your name and avatar are pulled from your h-card. Nothing to fill 242 in. 243 244 Website [71][ ] [73] Sign in with your website 245 • Send me a webmention 246 247 Written a response on your own site? Paste the URL and I'll display it 248 alongside the others once I verify it links back. 249 250 Your post URL * [74][ ] [76]Send webmention 251 252 © Michael Harley. [77]CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. 253 254 • [78] Subscribe 255 • [79]Colophon 256 • [80]Privacy 257 • [81]Back to top 258 259 [82] [83]IndieWeb Webring [84] 260 [85]Powered by Debian (opens in a new tab) [86]Get Firefox (opens in a new tab) 261 [87]Internet Archive (opens in a new tab) [88]uBlock Origin (opens in a new 262 tab) [89]Join the Fediverse (opens in a new tab) [90]Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 263 4.0 (opens in a new tab) [91]I support the Right to Repair (opens in a new tab) 264 [92]Home Assistant (opens in a new tab) [93]Proxmox (opens in a new tab) [94] 265 Team Fortress (opens in a new tab) [95]Powered by AMD (opens in a new tab) [96] 266 QuakeWorld (opens in a new tab) [97]Made with Eleventy (opens in a new tab) 267 Piracy Now Catscape Button Devils 268 269 You are visitor #027384 270 271 [98](Close)× [] 272 273 References: 274 275 [1] https://michaelharley.net/posts/2026/07/16/i-own-my-books/#main 276 [2] https://michaelharley.net/ 277 [4] https://michaelharley.net/about/ 278 [5] https://michaelharley.net/contact/ 279 [6] https://michaelharley.net/posts/ 280 [7] https://michaelharley.net/sitemap/ 281 [11] https://michaelharley.net/posts/2026/07/16/i-own-my-books/ 282 [12] https://books.infosec.exchange/book/726/s/the-great-book-of-amber-the-chronicles-of-amber-1-10 283 [13] https://michaelharley.net/posts/2026/07/16/i-own-my-books/#removing-drm 284 [14] https://michaelharley.net/posts/2023/01/10/how-to-setup-calibre-to-remove-drm-from-ebooks-on-linux/ 285 [15] https://www.ebooks.com/ 286 [16] https://www.kobo.com/ 287 [17] https://www.npr.org/2019/07/07/739316746/microsoft-closes-the-book-on-its-e-library-erasing-all-user-content 288 [18] https://www.npr.org/2009/07/24/106989048/amazons-1984-deletion-from-kindle-examined 289 [19] https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2009/07/amazon_kindles_lawsuit_for_del.html 290 [20] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPUB 291 [21] https://michaelharley.net/posts/2026/07/16/i-own-my-books/#but-what-about-amazon-exclusives 292 [22] https://michaelharley.net/posts/2026/07/16/i-own-my-books/#audiobooks 293 [23] https://libro.fm/ 294 [24] https://craphound.com/category/info/ 295 [25] https://michaelharley.net/ 296 [26] https://michaelharley.net/tags/books/ 297 [27] https://michaelharley.net/tags/calibre/ 298 [28] https://michaelharley.net/tags/ebooks/ 299 [29] https://infosec.exchange/@michaelharley/116929585834523848 300 [30] https://bsky.app/profile/michaelharley.net/post/3mqr7fh4dup2c 301 [31] https://michaelharley.net/posts/2023/01/10/how-to-setup-calibre-to-remove-drm-from-ebooks-on-linux/ 302 [32] https://michaelharley.net/posts/2026/07/21/how-i-self-host-my-ebooks-and-audiobooks/ 303 [33] https://michaelharley.net/posts/2022/03/09/on-ebook-readers-and-why-i-am-opting-out-of-vendor-lock-ins/ 304 [35] https://bookstodon.com/@TheNovemberMan 305 [36] https://kind.social/@PurpleJillybeans 306 [37] https://mas.to/@ronsboy67 307 [38] https://indieauthors.social/@AlexCorby 308 [39] https://mastodon.social/@getbookshelves 309 [40] https://mastodon.social/@Feral_3D 310 [41] https://mastodon.social/@wojtekpow 311 [42] https://mastodon.social/@pabloniusmonk 312 [43] https://polymaths.social/@jp 313 [44] https://mastodon.social/@Kdude 314 [45] https://mastodon.art/@NickEast_IndieWriter 315 [46] https://bsky.app/profile/richlinville.bsky.social 316 [47] https://bsky.app/profile/kevin-gallant.bsky.social 317 [48] https://toot.meiyerlan.casa/@miln 318 [49] https://mas.to/@ronsboy67 319 [50] https://mastodon.social/@pabloniusmonk 320 [51] https://polymaths.social/@jp 321 [52] https://mastodon.social/@Kdude 322 [53] https://social.bubbles.town/@bubbles/statuses/01KXNDMAAG8JNS4H3J2RZV6ASR 323 [54] https://bubbles.town/entry/44749901 324 [55] https://zeroes.ca/@mloxton/116929886829689114 325 [56] https://infosec.exchange/@michaelharley 326 [57] https://antoniosantos.io/re-i-own-my-books/ 327 [58] https://mastodon.social/@Kdude/116933566178280292 328 [59] https://infosec.exchange/@michaelharley 329 [60] mailto:[email protected]?subject=Re:%20I%20own%20my%20books 330 [70] https://indieauth.net/ 331 [77] https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ 332 [78] https://michaelharley.net/subscribe/ 333 [79] https://michaelharley.net/colophon/ 334 [80] https://michaelharley.net/privacy/ 335 [81] https://michaelharley.net/posts/2026/07/16/i-own-my-books/#top 336 [82] https://xn--sr8hvo.ws/previous 337 [83] https://xn--sr8hvo.ws/ 338 [84] https://xn--sr8hvo.ws/next 339 [85] https://www.debian.org/ 340 [86] https://www.firefox.com/ 341 [87] https://archive.org/ 342 [88] https://ublockorigin.com/ 343 [89] https://jointhefediverse.net/ 344 [90] https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ 345 [91] https://www.repair.org/ 346 [92] https://www.home-assistant.io/ 347 [93] https://www.proxmox.com/ 348 [94] https://www.teamfortress.com/ 349 [95] https://www.amd.com/ 350 [96] https://www.quakeworld.nu/ 351 [97] https://www.11ty.dev/