We have a little look at where to get hold of restriction-free media
Our digital world is an incredible thing to behold. At the touch of a button we can lay our hands on news, music, books, games, films and goodness knows what else, and we can enjoy this content wherever we go and on whatever media device we want. Mostly.
With this digital age, though, comes a set of restrictions that govern what and where we can view the media of our choice. It controls what devices we can view our bought and paid for media on and even goes so far as to spy on our media viewing habits.
These restrictions are collectively called DRM, (digital rights management), a set of access control technologies that, for one part of the equation, help keep the content safe for the copyright holder. But on the other hand, it can be argued, it keeps big businesses in power and strangles innovation and the creative process. As the author Sakina Murdock once said, “A DRM-free book is forever, not just for Kindle.”
There are two sides to every argument: protection of intellectual property or anti-competitive practices. Which side you lean towards is up to you. We won’t get into the argument here; we’ll leave that for the letters page, should you wish to put your view across.
What we thought we’d look at is DRM-free content and where to go to find it. We’ll concentrate on books, music, video and games, which should contain a little something for everyone.
Books
Most ebook sellers will attempt to lock you into a particular system, as per the whole DRM practice, but there are some ebook stores that instead opt for a more liberal approach.
Foboko
Foboko is an American ebook shop from Carson City, Nevada. The company’s mission is to promote literacy and share the authors’ works with the world, with free access to everyone regardless of what device they decide to read the content on.
If you’re an aspiring author, you can get your work on here; otherwise you can sign up for a free account and start. Some books are for free, whereas other cost just a few dollars (you’ll need to convert to pound sterling, obviously), but there’s a pretty good choice of various genres available. If you fancy a look, you’ll can find out more at goo.gl/eJy9S7.
OpenBooks
OpenBooks is an independent ebook shop that has a slightly different method of paying for the books on its virtual shelves. Basically, you read the book first, then you decide how much you want to pay based on how much you feel the book is worth and how much you can afford.
Naturally, there are circumstances where people refuse to pay anything, but generally those who visit and participate in the site have a positive view on society and are quite happy to put their money towards the concept.
There are some really interesting books available through OpenBooks; take a look at goo.gl/AKvtbH and see if there’s anything for you in there.
Book View Café
Book View Café’s outlook on DRM-free books is simple, as the company slogan clearly states” “…because you can never have too many ebooks.”
There are hundreds of ebooks available through Book View Café, ranging across all genres, from sci-fi through to rather saucy romance novels. Prices vary, and you can buy the books in ePub or PDF format for DRM-free reading on pretty much any device.
It’s worth having a browse through the available titles at goo.gl/Z02l0D.
Tor Books
Tor books UK goes back a long way and is the well-known publisher of the old The Adventures of Conan books by the likes of John Maddox Roberts, Steve Perry, Robert Jordan and Leonard Carpenter.
Although the Tor Books ebook collections are now sold through Pan Macmillan, the collection still remains DRM-free and is some of the best sci-fi and fantasy material available today.
More information on what’s available as well as contact details can be found at goo.gl/CJhYKb.
The Robot Trading Company
The Robot Trading Company, formally known as The Angry Robot Webstore, prides itself on the vast collection of DRM-free publications it has on its virtual shelves.
All the ebooks her are sold in ePub format and are compatible with a number of different ereaders, such as Nook, Kobo and so on, as well as phones and tablets with the appropriate reader app installed.
Prices vary, but you’ll find some excellent titles from every genre, at an average of around £5.49. It’s a great ebook shop and well worth a visit, either for casual browsing or for purchasing your next good read. Head on over to goo.gl/sKEtGH and check out the selection.
Music
The music industry is one of the greatest proponents of DRM technology. In fact, it was the music industry that originally sparked the whole DRM argument.
While the debate is far from over and both sides are mostly at each other’s throats, those of us who simply want to listen to music without having to buy a particular item of hardware can do so from the following music stores that currently wave the DRM-free banner.
eMusic
eMusic is probably one of the most popular DRM-free, subscriptionbased online music stores outside of iTunes.
There’s a huge selection of indie titles as well as audio books that cover nigh-on every genre you can think of. Prices are in dollars but seem reasonably cheap when you convert them to pound sterling.
For more info or to sign up for an account and to check out the catalogue, take a moment to visit goo.gl/C8AEnm.
7Digital
7Digital offers many different formats at a range of prices depending on the content. Most of it is DRM-free, but there are some examples that aren’t. You’ll need to have a look at what’s on offer from the list of singles and albums, but there’s generally plenty to satisfy the DRMfree browser.
Prices are good too, from 99 pence through to £10.50 and beyond, plus there are highlights from various festivals, and interviews with aspiring bands and indie groups, as well as the occasional music legend thrown in.
There’s a lot going on, so take a look at goo.gl/0kM79h and see what’s there for you.
Analekta
If listening to ‘Now This Is What I Call Music 50,000’ isn’t your cup of tea, then Analekta may have something more to your liking.
This is a DRM-free classical music store that has a vast collection of titles in its catalogue. Although the front page is in English, you may find that subsequent pages, such as the search, end up reverting to French Canadian – it’s not a big deal, though.
Prices range and are in Canadian dollars, but the content can be streamed for free before you decide to buy an album.
There’s certainly plenty to look at here. Just head over to goo.gl/YXIBcM and see what takes your fancy.
Napster
Those of you old enough will recall sitting up all night on dial-up while illegally downloading an album from Napster (note: we never did anything like that).
These days and after the site was shut down for obvious reasons, the name was relaunched and has become one of the better, legal, DRM-free music stores on the internet. It’s mainly streaming based, but you can opt to store the music on your device for offline listening.
It’s subscription-based, starting at £5 per month for unlimited music on your PC or Mac and rising to £10 per month for computers, smartphones and tablets.
Amazon
Despite the whole Amazon is evil stance from a lot of people, the company is probably the biggest DRM-free digital music store there is. Digital music is stored in your Amazon music library and is available to download or play from any computer or other compatible device.
There’s little need to go into what’s available on the Amazon music store; it’ll probably be easier to list what isn’t on there.
Anyway, in case you need a link to the music section on Amazon, it’s goo.gl/XKAA7L.
Play.com
Play.com, one of the many arms of the Rakuten empire, sells an impressive selection of DRM-free music for almost every genre you can think of. You’ll need to set some time aside to browse through the media, mind you, as it’s quite a weighty setup. Prices can be as low as 99 pence, mostly for the content no one has ever heard of. However, there are chart albums available if you look hard enough.
You’ll find the catalogue at goo.gl/cnarfT.
Video
The film and video industry is a little behind when it comes to DRM-free content. While there’s a vast catalogue available from various sources, the content isn’t always the best or most modern you’ll come across.
You sadly won’t find the latest blockbuster movies, but you will find some absolutely wonderful classics, many of which are actually free to download and watch.
The Internet Archive
The Internet Archive remains one of the best places on the internet to get hold of virtually anything. Somewhere within its labyrinthine layers you’ll be able to play Spectrum games, listen to propaganda recording from World War 2 or watch some of finest classic movies ever.
With the likes of Plan 9 from Outer Space, Invasion of the Bee Girls and Return of the Kung Fu Dragon, you can stream or download the content for viewing on any platform.
There’s a ton of stuff to browse through here. Some of it is absolutely terrible, but there are hidden gems if you’re prepared to look for them.
Take a look at goo.gl/aytGof, for anything worthwhile.
GoG.com
GoG (Good old Games) isn’t just for PC games; the company also has a small collection of DRM-free movies you can purchase and download.
Unfortunately, as far as we can tell, none of the movies listed appear worth watching. As you can expect, we haven’t watched them all, but just browsing through the brief catalogue is enough to warrant that claim.
Mind you, if you’re rather fond of Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters or a documentary on the Pirate Bay, then GoG could be the right place for you.
The prices range, but the average cost appears to be €5.49. More information can be found at goo.gl/6Kmlut.
Games
Despite the fact that Steam is now the biggest platform for PC games and gamers, there are many who have taken a dislike to Valve’s approach in the past and have since gone elsewhere for their gaming needs.
Steam isn’t the only culprit of course; many gamers find Ubisoft’s DRM or EA’s Origin a nightmare to use. So where can gamers go in such times?
GoG.com (again)
GoG, as we mentioned above, is now one of the most instantly recognised platforms for DRM-free gaming.
Over the last couple of years, the site has grown to the point where there are now over a thousand titles available, all with a DRMfree label stamped on them. Interestingly, GoG isn’t just for older PC gaming, and you’ll also find a selection of new titles available, including the likes of The Witcher 3.
To browse the collection, simply go to goo.gl/R56UpW and sign up for an account.
Humble Bundle
The Humble Bundle has proved to be a massively popular, limited time scale sale of a collection of DRM-free titles.
You can select how much you want to pay for a collection, with the average payment being around the $3 mark, with over 78,919 purchases to date. The collections differ but now cover Windows, Mac, Linux and Android devices, plus the Humble Bundle supports the American Red Cross and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
If you’re up for some great indie gaming, then the Humble Bundle is a perfect match and can be found at goo.gl/87Naoi.
Desura
Desura is quite popular among Linux gamers and has been for some time. However, it also has an impressive collection of Windows and Mac games available too – all DRM-free, naturally.
Prices range from free through to over £20, with one being valued at £999 (we won’t mention it, as it seems to be something of an odd title).
Regardless though, there’s plenty to keep even the most prolific gamer happy on Desura and you can see what we mean by having a look at goo.gl/xtLy7Z.
DRM-free Forever
This is just a brief look at what’s available, and needless to say there are plenty more sites and online shops with DRM-free content out there for those who want to look for it.