Humble Bundle Abandons History of DRM Free Media

Last updated on December 6, 2025

For over a decade, Humble Bundle has offered DRM-free media for a great price, while also supporting charity. Even years later, I can’t get their “jingle” out of my head:

Pay what you want, DRM-free,
Mac/Windows/Linux, and helps charity

Sadly, this is no longer true.

I love software books, and Humble Bundle has done a great job negotiating with technology publishers to offer great bundles. DRM-free is how they started. Even now, these DRM-free bundles are for sale:

• Hacking bundle by No Starch Press, 18 ebooks for $36 (PDF & ePub)
• Machine Learning, AI, and Bots bundle by O’Reilly, 18 ebooks for $25 (PDF & ePub)
• Software Architecture bundle by Addison-Wesley, 19 ebooks for $25 (PDF only)
• Software Strategy & Risk Management bundle by The Pragmatic Programmers, 19 ebooks for $18 (PDF & ePub)
• AI Algorithms and LLMs bundle by Manning, 29 ebooks for $45 (redeemable for PDF & ePub)
• Microsoft Certification Prep bundle by Microsoft Press, 21 ebooks for $25 (PDF only)
• Cybersecurity Career bundle by Packt, 21 ebooks for $18 (PDF & ePub)

However, this does not represent a commitment to DRM-free ebooks. The Get-Your-Sh*t-Together Growth bundle by HarperCollins, with 30 ebooks for $18, seems to be encumbered with DRM via Kobo. While Kobo sells some books in the bundle in DRM-encumbered and DRM-free versions, others are only available DRM-encumbered. The bundle page makes no mention of being DRM free, and Humble Bundle discloses in highlighted text, “The titles in this bundle are available through Kobo.com. To access the content, create or log in to your Kobo.com account.”

For the first time since before the Nexus 4 came out, I am smartphone-free. My e-ink device is an Amazon Kindle (ironic, I know). I cannot read books encumbered with Adobe DRM on my phone or e-reader. Even though this bundle has books I want to read and books I’ve read and enjoyed, I will be skipping this DRM dumpster fire.