Yeah, but even if they're DRM-free Amazon can still take them away - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4682392

Until they offer a cast-iron, legally-binding guarantee that any ebook I buy from them cannot be taken away from me, they don't get my money.

If I buy a book, it's my book: If the bookshop I bought it from takes it back, then that's theft.

As far as I'm concerned, the same holds true for ebooks. I buy it, it's mine. Period. Until Amazon agrees with me, I don't buy their ebooks. It's that simple.

They can't take them away from you if you backup your DRM-free books on a different media.

Why should the grandparent jump through the hoops though?

Also, isn't stripping DRM from Amazon ebooks against the TOS? Potentially exposing him/her to some legal trouble?

O'Reilly will put your ebooks into your Dropbox folder if you let them. Amazon could do that. Problem solved.

Link: http://shop.oreilly.com/category/customer-service/dropbox.do

Backups are 'jumping through hoops' now?

As others have said, breaking the DRM for personal uses (backups, changing devices) should be perfectly legal in the US and probably most of Europe as well.

How do you see which books are DRM-free before purchase?

At least some books mention that "At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied." in the book description field. For example: http://www.amazon.com/Pirate-Cinema-ebook/dp/B0089LOEBS/ref=...

Is there a way to tell if this book has DRM?

http://www.amazon.com/Neuroscience-Exploring-the-Brain-ebook...

Yes. This part in the details section:

"Simultaneous Device Usage: Up to 4 simultaneous devices, per publisher limits"

means that it has DRM.

This I would also like to know.