MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Profit or Prevention: Which is more important?

basschick · 10-22-2008, 01:41 AM

i work with subscription websites. there's a lot harder numbers there. a LOT of people try to pass around site logins - probably as many as buy memberships. but here's the thing - most of those people talk on boards and they pride themselves on not joining sites. they are not just average guys - they are dedicated to free stuff.

2 very large sites i work with removed their DRM due to complaints from their members and affiliates and their sales and retention went up - a lot. they not only made more money but now regular guys who have been members speak highly of them, sending even more members. sure, there are still those jerks on the password trading boards, but there are programs to keep them out and other than having those sites taken down whenever they pop up, it makes more sense to make more money.

another thing about DRM - it doesn't work. there are ways to remove DRM on almost anything. there are sites out there full of videos that were DRMed and now play freely. those pirates used to just put a quality camcorder on a tripod in front of a large monitor and record the videos, but now there are programs to do it that can be found with a little work.

then there's people like a lot of the folks here. we'd pay for it either way - DRM or no DRM. but we'd feel better about it without. we wouldn't have to worry about what would happen if a store had connectivity problems or went out of business. so we'd probably buy more.

10-22-2008, 01:41 AM	#56
basschick Wizard Posts: 1,096 Karma: 4695691 Join Date: May 2008 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	i work with subscription websites. there's a lot harder numbers there. a LOT of people try to pass around site logins - probably as many as buy memberships. but here's the thing - most of those people talk on boards and they pride themselves on not joining sites. they are not just average guys - they are dedicated to free stuff. 2 very large sites i work with removed their DRM due to complaints from their members and affiliates and their sales and retention went up - a lot. they not only made more money but now regular guys who have been members speak highly of them, sending even more members. sure, there are still those jerks on the password trading boards, but there are programs to keep them out and other than having those sites taken down whenever they pop up, it makes more sense to make more money. another thing about DRM - it doesn't work. there are ways to remove DRM on almost anything. there are sites out there full of videos that were DRMed and now play freely. those pirates used to just put a quality camcorder on a tripod in front of a large monitor and record the videos, but now there are programs to do it that can be found with a little work. then there's people like a lot of the folks here. we'd pay for it either way - DRM or no DRM. but we'd feel better about it without. we wouldn't have to worry about what would happen if a store had connectivity problems or went out of business. so we'd probably buy more.