> For that one, it's mandated by publishers.

I believe the publishers want DRM. I'm not sure they want DRM that effectively locks in their readers to the Amazon ecosystem. I don't believe publishers would be upset if I could directly purchase books from Apple, Google, Kobo, or any other similar vendor directly on the Kindle.

Is the audiobook market different? I know Cory Doctorow for one would like to sell his audio books through Audible but they require DRM. Care to defend that?

> but they require DRM

There's no option to sell on Kindle's own store with DRM disabled indeed.

edit: A poster has a link saying otherwise. Will ask what's up on the Audible side then.

Sure there is. From here https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0879H8NNB

> At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

(Specific title as just a convenient example from that publisher)

Nothing prevents you from buying from a different seller and reading the materials on your Kindle, other than the fact those other sellers have their own DRM locking you into their ecosystem instead.

That's because publishers practice anti-competitive behavior, too.

We need to quit getting lost in the word, "monopoly". No part of this problem is from a single actor dominating the entire market. The problems are anti-competitive behavior and vertical integration.

DRM is literally intended to support copyright monopoly. The entire purpose and function of DRM is to prevent competition in the form of "copyright infringement".

The same was true for music once upon a time, but that didn't stop Apple from negotiating for DRM-free with the publishers.

Leverage on music was much bigger because of the position that Apple had at the time, together with CDs not having DRM.

That was a unique situation that couldn't be replicated later for video and other media sadly.

Some cursory web searches reinforce an assumption I had: Amazon absolutely dominate the eBook sales market, with figures from 65-80% of all sales being indicated.

So how can you make the case that Amazon doesn't have "leverage" to negotiate DRM-free publishing?

> together with CDs not having DRM

I don't recall printed books ever having any form of "DRM".

In fact, Amazon does allow eBooks to be sold through the Kindle store without DRM, and many are sold that way. It's completely up to the discretion of the publisher.

Whereas I have many eBooks purchased years ago from Apple's store that I can only read on Apple devices, not on my Kindle.

Amazon could leverage their market power to benefit the consumer like Apple did when they eliminated music DRM.

Exactly. The publishers need Amazon, and Amazon doesn't need the publishers. They have more than enough power to be able to dictate terms.

Apple realized this and was able to bully their way to a deal that worked for Apple, and the labels had no real ability to counter Apple. Amazon has yet to do so.

Arguably, Amazon has substantially more market power now than Apple did back in the Jobs days when they were building out iTunes and negotiating with the major labels.

Or not...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Apple_Inc.

What I can't figure out is that many books (such as Tor) have a notice:

  At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without
  Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Are these encrypted anyway on kindle?

Because Amazon allows publishers to choose to sell eBooks without DRM. If an eBook sold in the Kindle store has DRM, the publisher chose to have it that way.

yes, but is the kindle data file encrypted?

no, and it’s pretty trivial to grab and upload to google play books or similar sites