One last post and I'm done for the night.The ad hominem crew are in a state of most noble confusion. On the last thread they swore that I was shilling for Apple. On this thread I'm supposed to be working for the publishers. I'm going to really confuse the knuckleheads by doing a pro Amazon post next
But enough about the knuckleheads.Elfwreck summed up the thread pretty well above, and I would add the following.
The average user doesn't give a damn about DRM. If they did, we would see rapidly falling sales of ebook sales and ereader devices. Instead we see rapidly RISING sales of ebooks and ereaders. And the most popular device? The Amazon Kindle, which has a proprietary format AND the most restrictive DRM. So all of the digerati who profess solicitude for the average user, relax: the average user is OK with DRM.
What's odd is that the very people who rail against DRM seem to be Amazon devotees. I suspect that the railing against DRM is really a concern with plain old prices.
I think DRM is a two edged sword. On one hand, it stops or slows down casual sharing, which is what the publishers are REALLY concerned about. On the other hand, it gets the digerati really riled up, for reasons ideological and economic.
It seems clear that there is no definitive answer to my question. Whats also clear is that the digerati wants the publishing industry to take a leap of faith into the dark, based on the digerati's earnest assurances that ending DRM would have no effect on revenue. Its not surprising that the publishing industry won't be taking that leap.