DriveThru Reviews Please

[Vraille Darkfang]

OK,

I've been trying to follow all the threads. No, I'm not a fan of DRM. I KNOW a lot about all the theortical negatives. What I want is some REAL reviews of DrivethruRPG.com. Form those who have visited and PURCHASED actual products (not just got the free stuff).

For those who have bought stuff;

How was your service?

Any Problems?

How did the DRM work for you?

Will You but stuff from them again?

Thanks,
Vraille Darkfang

 

[Psion]

I didn't buy anything, but grabbed the freebies (Exalted, Gamma world d20, and Malhavoc's earth dragon.)

I had no problem downloading them and getting them to run on my desktop.

I already know they won't work on my laptop.

One nitpick other than the already established gripes about the technology: if you are trying to read another PDF doc, you won't be able to do anything with it while adobe reader is downloading the new doc.

 

[Crothian]

The service was fine, not real difference then over at RPG Now

No problems

DRM worked fine, I had to sign up and all that but it was harmless.

As long as they are the only sellers of certain books I will.

 

[Kaji]

Some caveats:

1. I have mostly switched to buying only electronic product for DND goods. Then, I can just drag my laptop around instead of an ever growing bag of books.

2. I don't have a pre-existing problem or much interaction with DRM.

Ok, so I bought Necromancer Games Tome of Horrors II and FFG Traps and Treachery II, because they are only available on drivethrurpg and they have been well reviewed. The actual process, once DRM was set up, was not really a problem. I was disappointed to see no bookmarks in either pdf, which is really a requirement in my mind. I copied and pasted some demons out of Tome of Horrors (into the program I use to organize all my DND stuff) and quickly ran into my copy limit. I can adjust to this minor inconvenience. I tryed the same thing with my FFG purchase, and the copy came over as gibberish (encryptede code, I would guess). I've got a call into FFG and expect to hear back from them on Monday. So all-in-all, I thought it was pretty good, and I'd like to see how it all shakes out in a month or so when they get a chance to process some of the feedback. YMMV.

 

[Crothian]

I was disappointed to see no bookmarks in either pdf, which is really a requirement in my mind.

You and me both. Its a rare pdf that can get by without these.

 

[johnsemlak]

I've grabbed all the freebies.

I had no problems, they view fine on my desktop and print fine. I've been able to move the file to wherever I want on my computer.

The no bookmark complaint is valid. IT's something reasonable to expect from a 'professional' ebook site, though I do forgive them for not putting them in freebie products.

Has anyoen tried the feature where the computer can read the ebook to you aloud (as I understand it)?

 

[Dark Psion]

Downloaded the freebies and bought the new Gamma World:Cryptic Alliances.

The purchase and download was quick and painless.

They opened fine on my system and copied to CD with no problem.

Printing would be a problem, due to the Grey background throughout the Gamma World book. It would probably take a Black ink cartidge to print it and some books like Buffy TVS have photos and Everquest are full color as well.

I took the CD to work and the files would not work on any of the computers there. I also put some non-DRM files from RPGNow! on the CD and they opend fine on all the computers.

I will not be buying any more of the DRM files. To me it is like buying a Used Car.

It may work today, but will it work tomorow?

 

[Morte]

Typed in a username and password at the adobe site, watched as "obtaining permission to open document" splashed for a couple of seconds, then the freebies opened in the browser and I did "save as copy".

Bought one document, "Hard Times" for $7, which is supposed to be one of the best SF RPG books of all time. It worked fine, and is indeed a very good book.

They didn't have anything else I wanted.

 

[Ottergame]

You know what's funny? My bootleg copy of Gamma World I snagged off a P2P client is a better quality version than the version through Drivethrurpg. It even has bookmarks.

 

[francisca]

You and me both. Its a rare pdf that can get by without these.

Are you able to add your own bookmarks? Or is that restricted by DRM as well? (If I recal correctly, you can restrict it with DRM.)