While everyone salivates around the iPhone part of the ruling, one specific needed detail was indeed missing from the list – circumventing eBook DRM to convert the text to a format for another device.

Here’s an example:

You own a DRM protected eBook that you bought for your Sony Reader. You later purchase a Kindle. Kindle cannot read the EPUB format that your book is in, but you want to read the ebook on your Kindle. Can you circumvent the DRM in order to convert the ebook to MOBI format? Most license agreements at present say “no.” Amazon’s agreement specifically states that all you own is the right to read the content on the Kindle. You don’t own the book itself.

This is quite unlike a hardback book where you own the physical copy of the book. You bought it and you can do what you want with it. You can give it away, you can sell it, you can even burn it. What you can’t do is photocopy it and redistribute the content.

Ebook licensing ideally should duplicate this model. But at minimum, it needs to allow for law-abiding citizens to be able to crack the DRM in order to read content we purchased on some other device.

A step up from this would include the ability to deal with content from the library. Here’s an example:

My library offers ebooks as PDF, EPUB, and MOBI. But sometimes there are books that are in only one format (let’s say EPUB). I want to read that on my Kindle, but I can’t without circumventing the DRM and converting it to MOBI format, which clearly violates the EULA. But I only want to read it on a different device. I’m not going to strip the DRM and host it on some bit-torrent site or otherwise redistribute it. I just want to read it on an incompatible device.

I am waiting for the Library of Congress to rule on these issues as well, but I won’t hold my breath. It seems that they are more concerned with the iPhone than they are with people who just want to read. In fact, when this story was announced, I could only find one article out of 478 on news.google.com that actually detailed the ebook component of the decision. The vast majority (read: all the others that I searched) only talked about the iPhone, even though ebook text-to-speech circumvention was also part of the decision.

When all e-books are blocked from screen readers or e-reader read aloud functions, and no digital edition is available with such accessibility features.

– from DMCA revised: unlocking, jailbreaking phones, e-book text-to-speech, deemed fair use

Here is the text of the statement: Statement of the Librarian of Congress Relating to Section 1201 Rulemaking

Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts ofpublic domain books. The project tries to make these as free as possible, in long-lasting, open formats that can be used on almost any computer. As of December 2009, Project Gutenberg claimed over 32,000 items in its collection.

If you have a lot of classics in your “To Be Read” file, you can bet the text if available from Project Gutenberg since most of these books are older and have passed into the public domain.  Project Gutenberg is careful to verify the status of its ebooks according to U.S. copyright law. Material is added to the Project Gutenberg archive only after it has received a copyright clearance, and records of these clearances are saved for future reference. Unlike some other digital library projects, Project Gutenberg does not claim new copyright on titles it publishes. Instead, it encourages their free reproduction and distribution.  Most books in the Project Gutenberg collection are distributed as public domain under U.S. copyright law.

Although still considered experimental by PG, most of the books are now available already formatted in EPUB and MOBI formats.  That means you Sony, Nook, and Kindle users can read these on your device with no messy conversions required.

PG indexes all of their books and for data-hounds, this information is downloadable and searchable.  Further, you can download ISO files (CD images) containing all books on PG, or categorized by genre (like Sci-Fi).

If you are really ambitious, you can read most of the Harvard Classics (Five Foot Shelf) on PG.

I highly recommend reading some of the articles listed on the PG About Page.

The iPad, not being a specialized device, appeals to a broader audience; but serious readers still prefer e-ink to backlight.  So that makes the mainstream direct competition the Sony Readers and the Nook.  I like Sony’s devices (I own an earlier PRS-500) and the Nook as well, but I much prefer my Kindle.  I only wish that it had open support for the EPUB format, which would open up a world of content beyond Amazon.

To me, this closed system is not only counter-intuitive, but also out of character for Amazon.  They gained market share from Apple in the MP3 market by offering DRM-free music that was not restricted to iTunes and the iPod.  Why they don’t do the same for ebooks is beyond me.

So if you have a Kindle (or are thinking of getting one), you need to know how to get EPUB formatted books onto your device.  I am not going to tell you how to hack DRM so you can steal books and share them amoungst your friends.  What I will do, however, is to give some insight on how to change the format of content you have access to in order to read it on your device.

First, you need to get a copy of Calibre.  (Incidently, Calibre is a good tool to have anyway.  It is a great program to catalog a large collection of ebooks and you can use it to transfer ebooks to your various devices and to also convert to various formats.)  The Calibre site is http://calibre-ebook.com/.

Calibre can be used to convert different formats to other formats, both in the program and via command-line.  The EPUB to MOBI conversion works very well and I have used it on EPUB books from a variety of sources.

There are many public domain books available from Google Books that can be downloaded as EPUB.  I have had mixed success converting these to MOBI for my Kindle, but I have found that as Google continues to work with their technology, the conversions have improved.

If your library offers this service, you are in luck!  You can get this content onto your Kindle.  Conveniently, for Kindle owners, Kindle can read the MOBI format.  In fact, it is widely known that Kindle’s proprietary format AZW is merely MOBI in disguise.  The only thing you need to focus on is how to get an appropriate MOBI serial number to register your device with the library.  This number is known as the PID number.

Fortunately, most of the heavy lifting has already been done for you.  Igor Skochinsky has written a couple of tools that will get a valid PID from your Kindle serial number and will convert the MOBI file to an AZW readable by your Kindle.  All this for the grand total of $0!

The catch is that you will need to have a language called Python installed, as the tools are written for the Python language.  If you are not familiar with Python, but can follow simple instructions, you will still be able to do this.  Go to http://www.python.org/download/ and download a copy of Python.  I recommend you stick with the 2.x version of Python as this tool (and others) are known to work with 2.x but not 3.x.  Get the appropriate installer.  For most of you, this will be straight-up Windows (and possibly 64 bit).  (Honestly, if you are using Linux, you probably don’t need my help on any of this…)  Download and install according to the directions.

Now get Igor’s tools from http://igorsk.blogspot.com/2007/12/mobipocket-books-on-kindle.html.  He has conveniently included some simple to follow instructions on how to use the tools.  Basically, you will open a command prompt to run python, then create a PID from your Kindle serial number (keep a copy of your PID somewhere and you won’t have to repeat this step in the future), and lastly, you convert the MOBI file to AZW with your PID.

Now you can just transfer the file to your Kindle and read away!  This is great for MOBI books you might have purchased elsewhere (of before you had your Kindle), or for libraries that offer MOBI books.

Some important notes to remember:

• I personally believe that law-abiding citizens should not be restricted to how they utilize content.  For example, if I am allowed to check out a paper book from the library and return it, I shouldn’t be restricted to the device I use to read an ebook from the the same library.  That does NOT mean that the end user license agreement allows this!  If not, then it is up to you as to whether you do this or not.
• This may or may not work on all MOBI files.  (I have encountered some that do not.)  No warranty is expressed or implied.
• Remember that Amazon has the ability to look at your Kindle when the wireless is on.  If you are in fact in violation of any agreements, they can find out.  What kind of bad things can they do to you?  I’d rather not find out.
• If you call Amazon for any support issues, they can look into your device.  See above.
• I can’t guarantee that this will not damage your Kindle.  It works for me.  If it doesn’t work for you and you damage your Kindle – well, that’s your problem.
• You can treat these like any other book while ON the Kindle, but I have had issues using Kindle software for the PC and iPhone.  Same goes for keeping notes and syncing.

Of course, to make any use of this feature, you need a pair of red/cyan anaglyph glasses – those iconic cardboard glasses for viewing in 3D.  But the point is that it’s cool and fun – and isn’t that what reading is all about?

To view a book in 3D on Google Books, add &edge=3d to the book’s URL (Note: be sure to add this parameter before the # in the URL).  (Honestly, they had it right when they first released this feature with a link to the 3D version.  But I guess they figured anyone geeky enough to use it, was also geeky enough to figure out how to add a query string parameter to a URL.)

For those of you that are, like me, big fans of books, information, knowledge, and just plain cool stuff, one of the best things since Project Gutenberg is finally here – Google Print.

I’ve been waiting, no, salivating for the release of the Google Print beta, and it has finally come. This will likely be the world’s largest virtual library and will contain text and content that many of us have never before had access to. Google has been working with partner libraries at the University of Michigan; Stanford, Harvard and Oxford universities; plus the New York Public Library since announcing last fall that it planned to digitize the world’s libraries.

print.google.com [deprecated]

books.google.com