Quote:
Originally Posted by sfernald
The more these e-book sellers depend on onerous drm, the more likely they are to push their potential customers over to the darknet......If e-book drm becomes pervasive, then you can eventually count on drm cracking utilities to become pervasive as well, just as they are today for the music drm formats.....
......It is easier to download a book from the Darknet than work with the awkward Sony software, navigate through the confusing Sony store, and actually make a purchase there.
The e-book store that provides the two, convenience and minimal restrictions, along with a reasonable price, should be quite successful. Of course, this probably won't happen for a few years until the e-book market matures to where the music market is right now.
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Sorry for the long quotes, but I think you are right on the money (literally and figuratively) on this.
Amazon made a major investment in developing the hardware, software, and delivery systems for the Kindle, in a market that at the moment really does not exist. 50,000 units sold will not come close to paying that off.
They would not have gotten into the market unless they saw a way to profit from their huge reading customer base and library of books.
If they are successful in creating this market, then competition both from other hardware manufacturers and the "darknet" will force open their DRM policies. This could take years, but if ebooks are to succeed it is a necessary market growth step.
Remember, Apple did not sell DRM free music until there was competition in hardware and software and an established market to make it profitable.