Quote:
Originally Posted by ebookreaders
The new (beta) BeBook firmware update, which adds Adobe drm-ed ePub and pdf support to the first generation BeBook ereader, doesn't support drm-ed Mobipocket ebooks anymore, hence making your legally bought Mobipocket ebooks a heap of worthless bits&bytes.
Amazon is to blame here; they don't allow ereader manufacturers to add Mobi drm on ereaders that also have another drm system installed. So either you can stick with Mobipocket, and will not be able to buy drm-ed ePub ebooks, or you can switch to ePub, and say goodbye to your Mobipocket ebook collection.
More ranting in this Dutch article on the subject. Please join me and also sign the anti-drm petition at Defectivebydesign.org.
So what do you think? Would you rather skip the update, in order to be able to keep reading your drm-ed Mobipocket ebooks? Or are you ready to ditch your old ebook collection in order to switch to ePub with Adobe drm?
(please note that this is not BeBook specific; the Cybook update will also remove support for Mobipocket with drm. Also all new models (Cybook Opus, BeBook mini, etc) will not support protected Mobipocket if you want to read Adobe drm-ed ePub.) |
I dislike DRM as much as the next person, but observationally, I'm kind of surprised that Amazon is not getting sued by one of these small eBook manufacturers. Amazon obviously has deep pockets, so there's $s to be had, and just as obviously, they're acting in a monopolistic fashion (not opening their formats to other manufacturers, not permitting alternate DRM formats on the same device, etc.). DRM seems a necessary evil for now, for the pulishers, to get the content for the devices, but the incompatibility and nonstandardization of DRMs, should not be the case. That's all about lockin and market control.