Quote:
Originally Posted by RSaunders
Perfect, unbreakable, DRM would be the sort of program I'd pay for. Not that I've ever seen such a thing attached to a book. Cheap, easy-to-undo, DRM is pretty common. That's not a program that I'd pay to encourage.
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I don't ever expect to see perfect unbreakable DRM.
It's the old conundrum of computer security. The more secure a system is, the harder it is to use, and the more creative the users get about circumventing it. The only perfectly secure computer is the one that is disconnected from the network, powered off, and locked in a bank vault somewhere, and even then I'm not 100% sure about the "secure". I'm
am sure it's perfectly unusable.
The urge to apply DRM at all stems from a viewpoint that the market isn't willing to pay for electronic content unless forced to, and Steps Must Be Taken to make sure they don't simply give it away to all their friends. My take is that the market
will pay for electronic content, if it's content they want to read, fairly priced, and easy to purchase. Despite the number of torrent files out there pointing to sourrces for ripped copies of hit albums, Apple still does very well thank you with iTunes. Apple understands that offering what the customer wants, pricing it properly, and making it easy to buy works. People
will pay for it.
Publishing may catch on someday. We're at least beginning to see cracks in that ice.
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Dennis