Quote:
Originally Posted by anamardoll
If having their own DRM is keeping them competitively priced, I don't see it. 
And how does that work, anyway? The B&N DRM is Adobe based, is it not? So how is B&N putting their own spin on it preventing them from paying royalties?  |
Having their own DRM allows them to make more profit. I agree that this isn't passed on to readers (as Amazon often tries to do).
My understanding is that Adobe and B&N are using the same standard encryption scheme, but with very different approaches to the encryption key. Adobe software is used for the decryption (and B&N licenses this software for its devices and apps), but no one owns the idea of using username and password as the basis for a key. B&N has long used (via eReader and FictionWise) credit card name and number as a "social" factor in its DRM scheme, but this really is just username and password.
As part of its royalty fee, Adobe serves the actual ebooks. This is probably an advantage to a small bookstore, but a large bookstore could save money by providing its own infrastructure. I am not sure this is even possible with Adobe DRM, but B&N provides its ebooks from its own servers which is easy with the username and password approach.