DRM portability question

[Bagpuss]

Help...

I've downloaded the free PDF's from DriveThruRPG at work to see what the fuss was about. Register Acrobat 6, etc. etc. Not to painful as I already have a MSN Passport. They open fine, so I figure I want these at home as well.

So I logon to DTRPG at home and go to download them again (they are free after all, and its a process I'm use to doing with RPGNow), but I get an error "410 Gone" checking DriveThru's website troubleshooting its says that's because you've already downloaded it (well duh! of course I have I want another copy however).

Okay so I read about transfering between machines. And the FAQ says you need to open the "My Bookshelf" in Acrobat and select Backup. So I do that but it doesn't let me Backup just one book, I have to backup ALL or at least ALL Roleplaying (and what with all the PDF's I've aquired that's a lot of data).

So my question is, can I just copy the individual DRM file, like I could with a normal PDF or do I have to use the Backup feature for it to work?

If you have to use Backup then DRM has really restricted the portability as you can only move all your e-book collection or none at all.

The other thing that worries me reading the FAQ is

Please note that we will not replace your eBooks if you lose them, so please make sure to make backup copies.

So unlike RPGNow which keeps a record of my purchases so that if my harddrive dies I can download the file again. DriveThruRPG forces me to backup every file thus effectively doubling the amount of storage I need for any file or making me pay again if my harddrive dies.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I hate DRM (or should that be "my hat of DMR knows kno limit"?).

I've seen it with Sony's ATRAC format and simply refused to use it. I'll refuse to use it with PDFs as well (and if it kills the PDF market for me - so be it).

 

[Bagpuss]

Nearly every CD in the UK now comes with copy-protection meaning that it won't play on my mpeg player, result I never buy music CD's anymore. If PDF's go a similar way I won't buy PDF's anymore.

 

[Gez]

DRM is a tool of the crypto-trotskist P2P conspiracy to bring the downfall of copyright by pushing disc and book industries into a policy of the worst that will be fatal for them.

 

[Zappo]

Don't worry, you can copy the file as you would copy any other file. The protection is at the application level, not on the filesystem.

 

[Bagpuss]

Yes I'm aware of that but some people have reported that if you just copy the file that it won't open at the other end, even if your Acrobat is registered and logged in with Adobe.

 

[Gez]

I've seen a documentaries on ecologists bringing endangered species of monkeys back to wildlife.

First, you take a monkey born and bred in captivity. Your monkey was raised to buy books, tapes and discs.

Slowly, you have to teach him how to find it by himself in nature. For that, you introduce slowly a natural environment to him, by establishing broadband Internet connections.

Once the monkey starts to know how to thrives all by himself, discovering his first Napsters, Kazaa, P2P, and other W4r3Z FTP, he is ready for being put back in the wild. Then come the most delicate maneuver: The monkey has always considered you to be his friend, provider of goods and foods, his mom; you have to teach him to go away from you, to fear you. To do that, you immerse the monkey in his new Internet home, and then you threaten and attack him with spectacular lawsuits and DRM. The monkey will think you've became mad, flee, and never again approach you or another human, making him safe from poachers.

It's the only logical explanation to these industries' strategy.

 

[SneakyB]

Don't worry, you can copy the file as you would copy any other file. The protection is at the application level, not on the filesystem.

Not according to testing that I've done. It does NOT work.

 

[RCanning]

Lots and lots of discussion about this on this forum.

 

[Zappo]

Not according to testing that I've done. It does NOT work.

Uh... I've tried it just now and copies work normally. It even worked with the network cable detached. Did you try to copy it from a computer to another? That wouldn't work.

The other explanation that I can think of is that Acrobat Reader stores a cache of authorizations or something like that, and my copied file only worked because the authorization was cached or something like that. Did you reboot your computer or wait a long time between opening the two files?

Sounds weird, though. I can't think of a practical way to distinguish between two copies of a file without specific OS support.