From BookRiot: Digital reading exploded in the COVID-19 era, and ebooks, which were once called “disruptive,” are stealing the spotlight again.
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As readers or consumers, have you ever wondered if you really own the ebooks that you buy? Can you build a collection of them outside of the Amazon ecosystem?
The easiest way to really own your ebooks is to buy ones that are DRM-free. Many independent publishers are now open to publishing ebooks sans the said technology. Indie platform Smashwords and, sometimes, Kobo also sell them. Classics in digital format produced by the Project Gutenberg are always DRM-free.
When you download ebooks from the aforementioned platforms, you get to keep the files even after you change or lose your devices. That’s true ownership in a digital sense.
Another option is…not buying ebooks at all, which might not be an option for some. But until we get an innovative form of security that satisfies both parties — the publisher and the reader — we’re stuck with the good old DRM.
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