Quote:
Originally Posted by carld
Buy a Kindle or a Nook, buy your books from Amazon or B&N, the way most of the general public does, and you'll hardly ever think about DRM or ebook "complications" again.
If you want to make things more complicated than that, well that's up to you.
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If by "hardly ever think about DRM or ebook complications again" you mean for an undefined amount of time - sure.
That only works until your vendor folds or is bought by someone else. There's currently outrage going on with the purchase of PC gaming download service Direct2Drive by Gamefly - people have lost a lot of games in the transition (and the new owners don't guarantee they'll have access to all of the games necessarily).
I don't know why people don't understand this. This has happened quite a few times. People have lost DRM'd music that they legitimately purchased due to the DRM not being supported any more. Amazon themselves even did it to people with their early ebooks, apparently.
I doubt that your ebook's DRM will be properly supported in 10 years, nonetheless in 20 or 40. I'll still be wanting to read my books when I'm 50 or 60, I'm sure.
DRM ebooks are not a purchase. They are a rental until your company decides not to support the DRM and/or the device any more, the company goes under or is bought out, or any number of other things that can happen over the years.
I just bought pre-ordered the newest Robin Hobb book in hardcover BTW over the DRM'd digital version. If I want a book badly enough to pay $10-$15 for it, I'll continue to buy and support the author by purchasing a hardcover instead of a DRM'd ebook rental.