> You should be asking why aren't most books available in a DRM free format?

Because most people don't care! I wish they did, because I'm like you, I do care about owning DRM free media! I buy videos game from GOG wherever possible, and audiobooks from a combination of downpour.com and libro.fm. Guess what most people do? They buy games on Steam and audiobooks on Audible.

Audible is the one that really breaks my heart! Games and movies I understand, because the DRM free sources have such narrow selections, but I can find just about any audiobook I want on either Downpour or libro.fm; every once in a while I'll come across an audible exclusive, but it doesn't happen frequently. And yet, everybody uses Audible!

And, sure, there are known ways to strip Audible DRM, but with DRM free stores so readily accessible, why wouldn't you use those?

Perhaps, but it’s a bit moot once you have the book and a reader which opens it. Anna’s archive is a better service because it doesn’t matter what reader you’ve got and the content is there. It was the same with Netflix when it was the only streaming service: it had everything easily accessible.

Gabe figured it out eons ago, steam is the proof.

I bought a book or two after downloading but they had forewords in new editions or I had wanted to search something in the digital edition quickly as a one off and peruse the physical copy at leisure later.

Once again, I repeat, discovering something completely unexpected makes this discovery moment "special". Personnaly, I materialize that discovery by making it real in my real life. So I buy a physical copy. That is also a way to build a me-compliant environment and not let the algorithms decide what I am surrounded with. [let's be frank, algorithms suck at finding who you are and what you will like!]