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Originally Posted by cfrizz
Some of you prefer to go to extremes in doing what I do, even to the point of either refusing to buy books you would enjoy because of drm,
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I don't consider it extreme to avoid buying something that refuses to give me control of my purchase. I don't buy physical books that can only be read with the manufacturer's approved lightbulbs, either. Nor do I have a bicycle that only works on some streets.
I don't buy new hardcovers, either, because I don't like the format. I don't consider this to be "limiting myself." There are not only more ebooks on my to-read list than I can get through--there are more free, legit ebooks on topics I'm interested in showing up online than I can keep up with.
Publishers who don't provide books in formats I'm willing to read don't get my dollars. Authors who work with publishers who don't provide books in formats I'm willing to read don't get my attention. Shrug. I'm not anywhere near running out of good reading material; if publishers *want* my money, they can provide something I'm willing to pay for.
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Not everyone wants to go through all of that ESPECIALLY when they are brand new to the technology nor do they have to. I wonder how many newbies you all scared off of ereaders/ebooks all together because of your militant stance.
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How many newbies have bought one ebook, had an hour and a half's trouble trying to get the software installed only to discover they were supposed to do that *first* and now can't read their book unless they re-purchase, and gave up on ebooks? How many discovered the hard way that their "ebook reader" couldn't read books from a rival company's ebook store?
If publishers & bookstores were clearer about what DRM is and how it works, rather than saying "it's simple! Just click here and you'll be ready to go!" a lot of anti-DRM people wouldn't be nearly as adamant.
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All I'm suggesting is a more balanced view. Is drm bad? Yes, but there are other options out there besides either not buying books you enjoy because of it or trying to turn oneself into some uber computer geek to strip it out.
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Of course there is. There's also "buy something you can only use in limited ways, and hope it'll keep working after you upgrade your computer." Which, for a lot of people, is sufficient.
But since I don't like the DRM business model, I'm not going to encourage it by suggesting newbies to ebooks support it. I don't buy Nestle products, styrofoam, or items from WalMart, either. People are welcome to support those; I'm not going to help them. I don't expect my personal decisions to have any notable impact on the greater marketplace, but I don't support what I think are unethical business practices.