Quote:
Originally Posted by kranu
dropping DRM altogether would make it easy for the average person to easily share books with each other. Many people feel guilty about breaking DRM, or feel (rightly) worried about downloading books from online. However, if the process is as simple as emailing a file, people would be much more inclined to share. In turn, fewer people would buy their own books, and as such, Amazon would lose sales.
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I don't share the same opinion.
If I buy an ebook, I should be able to do with that ebook whatever I want, as long as I don't make additional copies of the same book. As a matter of fact, I should be able to sell my own copy if I want, like a regular paper book, why not? I paid for it already, we live in a free world.
With DRM protections, I am not able to read my books on a different device (forget about the format for a minute) So if 1 or 2 years I decide Sony readers are a better choice for me, if I don't break the DRM encryption I won't be able to read my existing books on that new device. I am stuck. It is not because is X or Y format, is because the encryption does not allow me to do that. Take for example B&N books. Yeah, they are ePub files. Can I read those on my Kindle? No. And it is not because the file format, it is because the DRM encryption does not allow me to use Calibre, convert, and move.
I don't need a cop or a higher entity telling me what I can do and what I cannot. Remember alcohol? It was banned and illegal. Of course is not the same, but did not stop people from drinking. DRM is not stopping people from breaking it. There are no statistics about that. And the reason is simple, because people don't want to reveal that, it is still illegal on some countries. But it is happening.
The whole DRM stuff is not to benefit end users, is promoting or helping companies to establish an eco-system where people will have to decide which one is better: B&N, Sony, Apple, Amazon. It should not be like that.
I don't ask permission for lending a book to a friend. I should not ask permission for lending an ebook either. And with today's technology, it is also easy to make photocopies of a paper book, so there is not much difference, only that one is digital.