Friday 10 August 2012

A couple of bits of news...

A couple of press releases came through that I thought you might find interesting. Check em' out,

TOR UK DRM-FREE EBOOKS NOW AVAILABLE FROM TORBOOKS.CO.UK
 
From today (Graeme Note: I actually got the email yesterday but the 'Mockingbird' review took pride of place...), Tor UK, Pan Macmillan ’s science fiction and fantasy imprint, has made its ebooks DRM-free and available to purchase from Torbooks.co.uk and Panmacmillan.com, as well as through other retailers. In a move announced earlier this year, Tor UK has joined sister company Tor Books in New York in removing Digital Rights Management from all its titles so that once you purchase a Tor book, you can download it as many times as you like, on as many ereaders as you like.

“We believe that making our Tor ebooks DRM-free is the best for our readers, allowing you to use legitimately-purchased ebooks in perfectly legal ways, like moving your library from one ereader to another,” says Jeremy Trevathan, Publisher at Pan Macmillan . “We understand that DRM can make your ebooks less easy to read. It also makes building and maintaining your digital library more complicated. For these reasons, we are committed to remaining DRM-free.”
 
The news that Tor UK ebooks are now DRM-free has been met by readers, authors, bloggers and journalists with lots of enthusiasm and support:
 
China MiĆ©ville called the decision ‘a game changer’
 
‘The decision by Tor Books to ditch digital rights management signals the beginning of the end of the ebook format wars’ Cory Doctorow writing in the Guardian
 
‘DRM hasn't stopped my books from being out there on the dark side of the internet. Meanwhile, the people who do spend money to support me and my writing have been penalised for playing by the rules. The books of mine they have bought have been chained to a single e-reader, which means if that e-reader becomes obsolete or the retailer goes under (or otherwise arbitrarily changes their user agreement), my readers risk losing the works of mine they've bought. I don't like that. So the idea that my readers will 'buy once, keep anywhere,' makes me happy’ John Scalzi

As someone who is only just starting to get into e-books this is great news for me and might (just might) persuade me to invest in a reader that's bigger than my phone, we'll see.

Scott K Andrews signing 'School's Out Forever' at Forbidden Planet

SCOTT K ANDREWS will be signing SCHOOL’S OUT FOREVER (ABADDON) at The Forbidden Planet Megastore on Friday 7th September from 6:00 to 7:00pm. “After the world died we all sort of drifted back to school. After all, where else was there for us to go?” 

Lee Keegan’s fifteen. If most of the population of the world hadn’t just died choking on their own blood, he might be worrying about acne, body odour and girls. As it is, he and the young Matron of his boarding school, Jane Crowther, have to try and protect their charges from cannibalistic gangs, religious fanatics, a bullying prefect experimenting with crucifixion and even the surviving might of the US Army.

Welcome to St. Mark’s School for Boys and Girls...

A signing that's on a Friday (Thursdays really don't work for me anymore)? I reckon you might just see me there. I did have issues with the books (review, review and review) but I can't deny that they were all a lot of fun. You could do a lot worse than pick them up :o) 

2 comments:

Scott Andrews said...

Would be great to see you there Graeme! The thing I liked best about your reviews of the trilogy was that each book got a point more than its predecessor, which reassured me that I was at least going in the right direction ;-)

Ellie said...

This is a really big deal and I am hoping it's only the beginning of the general move towards DRM-free ebooks. I have been thinking of getting an e-reader also, and since Tor provides a large chunks of my reading literature, this decision just makes buying an e-reader even more appealing.