Protect your eBook
DRM is the abbreviation for Digital Restrictions Management: a restriction system to prevent a user from using our eBook on multiple devices, possibly generating free distributions of the same.
Two types of protection
StreetLib offers the following two choices when it comes to protecting eBooks:
- Adobe DRM (€0,25 for each order): Adobe's protection prevents anyone who purchases the book from print and copying/pasting the text. It requires the reader to register an Adobe account and restricts access to a maximum of 6 devices (all of which must be named on the same Adobe ID account).
- Social DRM (Watermark) (free): Also known as soft DRM, this is a form of non-invasive protection. The book contains the name and/or email of the person who bought the book (or other information if you wish). This way, you can trace any pirated copies back to the original buyer. In addition to being present on the last page of the eBook, the watermark is hidden in every page. A watermarked eBook can be read on all eReaders, tablets, smartphones, and computers.
- No protection
PLEASE NOTE: Following the sale, StreetLib takes care of directly incorporating Adobe DRM or a watermark into your ebook file. This option is exclusively available for bookstores without proprietary DRM technology.
How to apply the protection
You can customize the protection for your ebook by selecting the appropriate field in the ‘Content’ tab of the book record:
The protection management applied to the eBooks in your catalog can be managed independently together with the other metadata present in the item card.
Once you upload your eBook on the StreetLib platform, at the end of the process, you will be able to choose which protection to apply.
In general, we usually suggest using the Watermark (soft DRM) over the Adobe DRM (strong DRM), in order to make it easy for the end customers to archive, manage and enjoy the digital content they purchased.
Which libraries have proprietary DRM?
Most of the digital content platforms like Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, Google Play Books, Kobo, Scribd, etc... manages the ebook protection within their own proprietary system, meaning that they apply their own proprietary protection method instead of relying on the Watermark or the Adobe DRM provided by the Publishers through StreetLib.
- For example, those who buy the book on Amazon can only read it on Kindle devices and applications, the same happens to those who buy the book on Apple.
- Google enforces the Adobe DRM.
- As for Kobo, the file that you download once you buy the ebook on that store is a .kepub (a file that is protected by Kobo's own protection), which can be read directly on the Kobo ereader and apps. Kobo gives the possibility to download the file also in .acsm format, that is as a file with Adobe DRM protection.
- The same happens if you buy an ebook from one of the stores managed by the international platform Tolino.de (for example IBS belongs to the distribution network).
In summary: while the libraries that have a proprietary DRM will still apply their own DRM regardless of what your choices are, the files sent to all the other libraries will instead be assigned the protection chosen by you during the compilation of the registry.