How so? You can read it online, or in a number of free Kindle apps for other devices.

Still DRM-laden. Won't buy, even at 0 dollars, sorry. It's a question of principle: I'm strongly against DRM, therefore I will boycott DRM'ed products.

I understand your perspective, though I personally find it a bit extreme, and possibly even self-limiting in this case.

I assume adnam is talking about free as in freedom, vs. free as in beer.

Assuming your goal is to read the book (not remix it), it doesn't seem like that would be a huge difference in practice.

In this case there happens to be a big difference. Try putting this book on your Nook or any other eReader that doesn't have a Kindle app.

Fair enough (though I think the Nook is pretty much the only eReader in that category)

I did. It took about 30 seconds, from downloading the ebook from Amazon, converting it in Calibre, and pushing it to my Nook.

Removing DRM is acceptable for certain personal uses, including, for example, making purchased media usable on your personal hardware.

> Removing DRM is acceptable for certain personal uses, including, for example, making purchased media usable on your personal hardware.

Depends on the legislation you're in. In Germany it's quite certainly illegal.

> I did. It took about 30 seconds, from downloading the ebook from Amazon, converting it in Calibre, and pushing it to my Nook.

You are a technically savvy user. 99% of normal humans are not.

DRM is a serious issue, even if the book itself is free.

>Depends on the legislation you're in. In Germany it's quite certainly illegal. //

It's considered tortuous infringement (unlawful) in the UK too.

how do i read it online? I have no kindle.

It offers downloading a windows app, no good for linux. It won't let me download unless i have a registered kindle program. Why can't they just let me download the file first? Significantly more friction than just downloading a pdf.

You can use Amazon Cloud Reader: https://read.amazon.com/

This will let you read it online. It looks like there's some offline support but I haven't tried it myself.

I have no (major) problem reading it online, but it just wont let me. If i go to your link, i am sent back to the kindle store. Then if i try to 'buy', i am required to have a kindle serial number, there is no other way to proceed. (I assume if gives you an ID or something if you download the app, but there is no 'read online without a kindle' choice).

It worked for me with my existing Amazon account, but then I have a Kindle.

I thought I'd test with a new account, so in an incognito window:

  * Went to https://read.amazon.com/
  * Created a new account
  * Got redirected to Kindle store, found free book, hit "Buy now with 1-Click"
  * Filled in a billing address
  * Got a page thanking me for my order, hit "Read now in Kindle Cloud Reader"
  * Book loaded

You're welcome to use this account--login: "M8R-2neeuu@mailinator.com", password "test123".

Hope this helps.

thanks! very helpful.

I agree that .azw/.mobi is an inferior format to .epub/.pdf, but Calibre is free software for Linux that converts most formats without an issue (and given that the Amazon version already has formatting issues, I doubt that's a problem).

The best thing to do, though, is what Cory Doctrow does: http://craphound.com/down/?page_id=1625. He even has (had) an option for a Gamebody Advance reader!

I actually assumed it was talking about ebooks as well.

Still, talking about a book on Amazon, most people will be thinking physical books, I imagine.

ebooks are outselling physical books now, so maybe not _most_ people, but _some_ people.