Quote:
Originally Posted by speakingtohe
Could be wrong, but in general the fact that the ebook industry seems to be thriving and that the majority of ebooks are sold with DRM is an indicator that while not actually helping sales, it is not inhibiting the majority of sales.
I would prefer to buy an ebook without DRM certainly and many others would as well. I would also like to see your evidence that it doesn't work.
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Evidence that it doesn't work exists in the form of all the pirated copies of DRM protected books, which are easy to find.
Also in the existence of stripped books for non-infringing uses like backup or space shifting.
Also in the existence of people who refuse to buy DRMed books.
However, I was not referring to evidence that DRM doesn't work, I was referring to evidence that is neither required nor needed for the good of the authors. Saying that it works because "it's not inhibiting the majority sales" is like saying that my hyena-repellent necklace works because there are no hyenas in my suburban NJ neighborhood.
In other words, that's no evidence at all. There is no evidence I can see that DRM has protected or brought in a single dollar that wouldn't have come in without DRM as well. And I don't mean proof, I just mean some reasonable evidence. Do you know of any?
We can guess that some sales may have been saved by some folks who could not get their hands on a free copy because they didn't know how to strip DRM, but if we're guessing, we'd also have to subtract from those sales the guesses of LOST sales from anti-DRM folks who may have bought it if it didn't have DRM. And that's just in dollar values, not in goodwill and convenience to consumers.