Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
BTW: Regarding iTunes, since in fact it is relatively easy for most people to burn a CD, or (like I do) use the software on my PC to simply play the song after purchase, and line-record into a new MP3 file, I consider iTunes' encryption system to be fairly easy to circumvent.
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I find it interesting that you use the word
circumvent...
My opinion is that burning to CD is actually part of the iTunes DRM as a whole and that doing this isn't actually circumventing anything. In addition with iTunes Plus you don't even need to burn to CD - you can just right-click the file and select "Convert to MP3".
The problem with applying this same concept to eBooks is that there doesn't seem to be an equivalent
accepted standard to MP3 yet. Remember that ANY music player can play MP3 files in addition to their own specific DRM'd files (not forgetting of course that Microsoft have their own WMA DRM system). There needs to be a standard file type (PDF, EPUB, eReader, who knows?) that ALL readers can use and then as long as individual company's DRM'd books can be converted to that format we'll all be happy.
Unfortunately, I don't think this will happen. MP3 files were around before the increase in popularity of MP3 players and so there was already a file format that could be classed as "standard". Because eBook readers are already on the market I think it's unlikely that such straightforward accessibility (and conversion) will ever be legally possible
Cheers,
Terry.