Project Hail Mary Audiobook DRM Exclusive/Market Pullback

Background

Project Hail Mary (PHM) Audiobook appears to have been available in English from Libro.fm and others in the past, but is now an audible exclusive. Limited quantities of the (potentially) non-DRM CD copy still are sold as used on amazon.

[Incident]

Amazon made PHM distribution exclusive to audible, locking digital download copies of the book behind Audible's DRM, so users of FOSS tools cannot achieve full digital ownership of the book in their personal libraries via tools like Jellyfin or AudioBookshelf for self-hosting.

Reddit thread about seeming exclusivity before movie release: https://web.archive.org/web/20250703033434/https://www.reddit.com/r/audiobooks/comments/1k9hsgy/project_hail_mary_audible_only/

Technical discussions of piracy using libation from the Audible only version after movie release: https://web.archive.org/https://www.reddit.com/r/audiobooks/comments/1s3jdjz/project_hail_mary/

Downpour Historical Listing: http://web.archive.org/https://www.downpour.com/project-hail-mary

Amazon/Audible's response:

No comment so far, but they were not asked for one.

Lawsuit

None known; company's practice likely lawful?

Consumer response

Sadness; purchasing all the CDs to rip, and likely piracy from the more legally grey operatives in society

References

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