03-26-2009, 05:59 PM | #1 |
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DRM issue exposed on NPR All Things Considered
Last night National Public Radio's news show All Things Considered ran a piece about ebooks and digital rights management. The article basically presented an author saying that she disliked how DRM made it difficult for readers to access her novels.
Then an industry expert was quoted saying that publishers and authors would not be able to make money if the first copy of a book could go around the world in a day. I found that comment exceedingly wrong-headed, because digital distribution of a text (ebook) all around the world in a day makes me think "Wow! I can reach a vast audience and sell to them." The article of course mentions Kindle because the media thinks Kindle is synonymous with ebook. It brings up the fact that many people are buying protected content to which they would lose access if Amazon discontinued Kindle. An Amazon person was quoted as saying no one was complaining about DRM. I personally have to agree with the author who disliked making the ebook buying and consuming process difficult. For most works, I think DRM is a waste of time. I suppose it is arguably needed for valuable nonfiction works that contain the knowledge of experts, but DRM still would only be a bump in the road to pirates. Here's the link to the story. It takes just over 4 minutes to listen to. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=102330373 |
03-26-2009, 07:23 PM | #2 | |
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03-26-2009, 07:53 PM | #3 |
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03-26-2009, 07:55 PM | #4 |
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03-26-2009, 08:07 PM | #5 |
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03-26-2009, 08:12 PM | #6 |
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03-26-2009, 08:18 PM | #7 |
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Yes, complaining to the PR representative about DRM would be something like this...
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03-26-2009, 08:32 PM | #8 |
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Already discussed
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43348 |
03-26-2009, 10:52 PM | #9 | |
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There have been thousands of complaints to Amazon. Also in their general shop there was recently a revolt concerning the DRM on a computer game called spore. It's currently in the Amazon store, 3000+ reviews with 85%+ of those being 1 star and citing 'Draconian DRM' as the reason for the poor rating. That is AFTER Amazon DELETED thousands of 1 star reviews which mentioned DRM. That should have been some kind of indication to Amazon that customers hate DRM. |
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03-26-2009, 11:42 PM | #10 | |
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As for the publishing guy, I'm not surprised he trotted out that old argument. I was disappointed the reporter didn't question him more. The fact is, there are books all over the darknet. There are already several formats out there that are easy to strip and enough people willing to scan and OCR that it's a moot point trying to stop piracy this way. It only takes one illegal copy getting out to mean that you have inconvenienced the rest of your customer base in vain. Like many others, I believe DRM is primarily for customer lock down. Besides, it's unreasonable to think you can stop piracy completely. If they want to discourage piracy, they need to do what the author said: make books easy to get and reasonably priced. Her entire series is available in electronic format and the first one's free. That's the way to sell books. |
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03-27-2009, 06:33 AM | #11 |
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I've said it before, and I'll say it again, if they offer a good-looking product that's easy to use and transfer at an attractive price, the pirates wouldn't get much custom. As it is, the pirates have a monopoly on availability and no silly restrictions. The publishing industry will have to move fast in this game if they don't want to lose most of their custom over the coming years. So far they're making exactly the same mistakes as the music industry, and we all know how well that turned out.
And here's another problem they'll have to face... free ebooks without DRM from upcoming writers and all the classics available from places like Feedbooks. I wouldn't have to spend another penny and I could read for the rest of my life for free with just a smidgen of the wide PD catalogue that's available. I could also limit my choice to upcoming writers (lots of them about and lots producing good work) who refuse DRM on their works. Donating to them is worth the price if not only to support their talent, but also the ease of use of their products. I have bought 1 DRM'd book so far since I got my Sony, and it will be my very last. What a pain in the ass that whole process is. It's Feedbooks and indie authors from now on for me. |
03-27-2009, 12:59 PM | #12 | |
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Take me as an example. I bought three Adobe Digital Editions book. They are all academic books which I'll use over and over again (if I continue to be in this profession). And for both, I want to remove the DRM. I've been having tremendous problems figuring out how to do it and finally emailed a forum member for clearer directions. I haven't yet had the time or energy to figure out how to execute his detailed reply. No, it's not a moot point for some of us. I do hope though that DRM goes away. DRM is so dependent on an ecosystem that is not very permanent. Those DRM servers and institutions can go away and many do. Furthermore, let's not forget that digital technology is evolving rapidly. In a decade, what happens to the Adobe Digital Edition book that I bought when the original server no longer is authenticating using that technology because "it's passé"? What happens then when we want to transfer those DRM'ed files to new computers and new readers? This is also one reason I'm going to, hopefully, be able to remove the DRM from my three purchases. |
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03-27-2009, 01:03 PM | #13 | |
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I'm sure you know what I mean. However, there are LOTS of professions out there where reading published works is not a requirement, so there your point could applied. |
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03-27-2009, 01:20 PM | #14 | |
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Since ebooks are still not that popular, the sites to get books aren't nearly as well known as the sites to download music. When ebooks are more popular, more people will know about these sites. As it is, a quick Google search finds them. There are a lot of folks out there that aren't even slightly tech savvy, would never run a cracking script, and download most if not all their music and video from sites like this. I know very few people under the age of 40 who don't, and quite a few over the age of 40 who do, too. I'm considered a stick in the mud because I insist on paying for what I get. When ebooks get more popular, doing this with books will be more commonplace and people will be more comfortable with it. The only way to prevent it is to make buying books more attractive. The more customers feel that the content providers are trying to take advantage of them, the more will say "screw them, I'll just download it." Last edited by Alisa; 03-27-2009 at 01:31 PM. |
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03-27-2009, 01:21 PM | #15 | |
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