How ebooks work – DRM
How ebooks work
Another feature of the ebook that must be carefully considered is the possible presence of DRM. If I had never heard of them, DRMs (abbreviation of Digital Rights Management) are “digital locks” that are used by publishers to protect copyright and prevent – or at least limit – the unauthorized redistribution of ebooks. At the moment there are various types of DRM, each of them with different characteristics and degrees of compatibility.
- Adobe DRM – is the most widespread DRM system in the field of digital publications. Ebooks protected with this system are neither in ePub format nor in PDF format, but in .acsm format. To use them, you need to download the Adobe Digital Editions software on your computer, create an Adobe ID (if you do not already have one) by going to the Help menu> Authorize computer program and transfer the books on your ebook reader by connecting the latter to the PC and authorizing it through the appropriate Adobe Digital Editions feature. Once associated with an Adobe ID, ebooks should always be read on a device or software associated with the same ID and therefore can not be redistributed or copied freely to other devices. The Adobe DRM system is supported by many reading software and many ebook readers, but not all. You can find a complete list of devices that support Adobe DRMs on this Web page. For detailed information on how Adobe Digital Editions works, you can consult the support page on Kobo’s website.
- Kindle DRM – is the DRM that Amazon applies to most ebooks distributed through the Kindle Store. The books protected with this system are in AZW format and can only be read on ebook readers and Kindle software associated with the Amazon account of the person who purchased the work. They can not, therefore, be transferred freely on devices of other people or read in software other than those licensed by Amazon.
- Social DRM – ebooks that present this form of DRM are not technically “padlocked” like those protected with Adobe DRM or Kindle DRM. They can be in ePub format, in PDF format or in other formats and can be read or copied without restriction on any device. Their only peculiarity is that they present, in their pages, detailed information on the authors and the publishing house of the work, in order to discourage the unauthorized redistribution (or at least limit the damage done by the latter).