9

Tor has made a few statements in the past about going DRM Free.
Does that carry through to downstream retailers?

If I buy a Tor book on Amazon (marketed as a Kindle book) or on Barnes and Noble (marketed it as a Nook book), can I be confident that it will have no DRM?
I know that I can use it on any device (in my case Sony Reader).

Does it depend on country? Is there anything else I should consider?

I am having real trouble finding sites that clearly state: We are selling a DRM free Epub. Most use terms like Nook book and Kindle book etc. I found one site that was clear, and they don't sell to my country.

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6

Go to the original statement. This includes

Tom Doherty Associates, publishers of Tor and Forge, is pleased to announce that all of their ebooks are now available DRM-free from Amazon, B&N, Apple, Kobo, Google, and most other major ebook retailers.

and

The new DRM-free editions are available from the same retailers that have sold Tor e-books in the past. In addition, the company expects to begin selling titles through retailers that sell only DRM-free books.

I think I have seen comments on web sites etc where a book was not DRM-free and Tor then contacted the supplier to change it.

So, yes, they are DRM-free.

As for shop websites telling whether books have DRM see other questions here.

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  • Even if the file does not contain explicit DRM, do Amazon's ToS not effect "implicit" DRM? – Raphael Apr 13 '14 at 15:46
  • What do you mean by implicit DRM? – user151019 Apr 13 '14 at 22:36
  • You technically can copy the file but you are not allowed to. – Raphael Apr 14 '14 at 7:07
3

Yes, Amazon (and other retailers) generally do carry Tor books DRM-free. On Amazon, you can tell from the book description; see this for Redshirts (relevant text highlighted in blue):

Screenshot of Redshirts Book Description

Tor is not the only publisher carried DRM-free; Baen Books also publishes DRM-free on Amazon and other retailers.

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  • Hoever as noted in other questions not all DRM free books are marked that way – user151019 Mar 4 '14 at 11:45
1

TOR says their books are DRM-free, but I just bought three TOR books via Amazon.com and downloaded them from Amazon's "Your Content" page. They came down as .azw files, which Calibre says are DRM-locked. I can't find anything about how to get my DRM-free TOR ebooks in a format I can read on a non-proprietary reader.

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  • For a non proprietary you want pub so either convert from Amazon in Calibre or buy from nearly another bookstore (except Apple) as they do epic and they will be non DRM for TOR – user151019 Jul 3 '16 at 20:40
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    As I said above, when I tried to convert in Calibre, it says they're DRM-locked. I've already bought the books from Amazon. I found a DeDRM plugin for Calibre, but it wants my kindle serial number to use to access the book. I don't have a kindle, I have a kindle app on my android. – Steven J Owens Jul 7 '16 at 23:26
  • There are Kindle apps for PCs and Macs – user151019 Jul 8 '16 at 9:13
  • Yes, and my local supermarket carries both Fuji and Red Delicious apples. What does either of those have to do with the subject at hand? – Steven J Owens Jul 9 '16 at 10:17
  • It works with DeDRM I believe so not requiring a kindle – user151019 Jul 9 '16 at 10:44
1

I have purchased several Tor books on Google Play that are DRM-free and they work perfectly. Before buying, look for the "This content is DRM free" label in the book details. Then, after purchase, visit your book library on a computer (https://play.google.com/books/purchases), click the dots on the book to get a menu that includes "Download EPUB", which you can read directly using your reader of choice!

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