[timwaagh]

Nice if you're into downloading ebooks illegally or from the few sites that don't do ERP. I used to use it too. However since graduating college and starting to make money I didn't download anything anymore due to lack of time more than lack of funds so I don't use it anymore.

[badsectoracula]

This implies that the only use for Calibre has to do with illegally downloaded ebooks... and i'm not sure how that has anything to do with it though.

Personally the only times i have used Calibre is the opposite of that: i used it with books i bought on Amazon to remove the DRM and convert them to epub so that i can read them on my mobile phone using my favorite ebook reader app (and also keep my own offline copies of course).

[timwaagh]

I literally stated 'or the few sites that don't do ERP'. Of course calibre does have legal use cases. Playing with (I think) O'Reilly ebooks and project Gutenberg being some of them.

I did not mean to imply it has no legal use. However stripping DRM and converting is not one of them. It's a form of copyright infringement as well, depending on where you are. I'm not sure how 'calibre has nothing to do with illegal copying' is very credible at this point.

[badsectoracula]

> I literally stated 'or the few sites that don't do ERP'. Of course calibre does have legal use cases. Playing with (I think) O'Reilly ebooks and project Gutenberg being some of them.

The only acronym i've heard for ERP is "Enterprise resource planning" so i'm not sure how that was relevant... and still am not because even searching in Google about what the acronym means all i get is definitions and explanations for "Enterprise resource planning".

> However stripping DRM and converting is not one of them. It's a form of copyright infringement as well, depending on where you are.

It isn't illegal where i am (and FWIW i do not even see it as unethical at all, if anything i consider DRM more unethical) but that is moot since what you originally wrote was "downloading ebooks illegally" which is what i responded about.

[timwaagh]

electronic rights protection. i suppose i should have used DRM.

[barbazoo]

If you wanted to remove Amazon from the equation, I recommend Kobo. Prices are similar and you can remove the DRM quite easily.

[badsectoracula]

Thanks, i'll keep it in mind in the future.

[paxys]

Unlike other kinds of content most books ever written are out of copyright and completely free today. Publishers and distributors, however, have every incentive in the world to keep charging you for them. Efforts like Project Gutenberg and Calibre are going a long way towards taking back control from Amazon & co. for things that shouldn't be owned and controlled by them in the first place.

[timwaagh]

Of course calibre has legal uses too. Certainly books like War and Peace and other classics are still relevant today, however they are the exception, rather than the rule.