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bigmoney · 02-01-2009, 09:45 AM

The music industry finally learned that DRM only served to punish honest consumers: people that will pirate music will never have problems with DRM, but OTOH honest people like you and me that go there and pay 99 cents for a song get really disappointed when they find out (usually much later when a computer breaks or something) that they never really _owned_ those files, they just had the temporary right to use them in a specific device or set of devices. Apple will remove all DRM from their files in iTunes in the coming weeks, Amazon sells DRM-free songs for a while now, and guess what, they are making millions.

I am new to the ebook scene but I had a really bad taste in my mouth when BooksOnBoard asked me to enter my device ID so I could have the privilege of give them some of my money. I just hope they will let me re-download those files the day I get a new device (can anyone confirm that?)

There are lots of studies out there showing that if you remove DRM the piracy levels don't go up (why should they, there are ways to remove DRM anyway) and at the same time honest buyers will buy even more. So I think it would be great if more and more people here from MobileRead (no matter what the "official" position is) would start asking their favorite ebooks sites to sell DRM-free titles, ask the authors to put some pressure as well, and if DRM-free stores are created show their support by buying lots of their stuff. That doesn't have to mean "boycotting" sites that sell DRM'ed stuff, but just get yourself heard if you don't like DRM (and believe me, one day it will bite you) and educate people that don't know what DRM is (that is, most people out there).

BTW I don't think it's very nice to call the guy a pirate just because he mentioned P2P: there are tons of legal content in P2P networks. Just like there is lots of piracy going on through USB keys, email etc, and no-one assumes that someone is a pirate just because he or she got a USB key in their pockets.

Rant aside, for the original question, I would recommend the BeBook because it is the device that supports most formats, and locks you less into a specific vendor. But be warned that reading PDFs in ebook readers, especially the ones formatted for large page sizes like A4, is not that good. I prefer to read txt and rtf files in it.

02-01-2009, 09:45 AM	#21
bigmoney Connoisseur Posts: 50 Karma: 110 Join Date: Jan 2009 Device: BeBook w/ OpenInkpot	The music industry finally learned that DRM only served to punish honest consumers: people that will pirate music will never have problems with DRM, but OTOH honest people like you and me that go there and pay 99 cents for a song get really disappointed when they find out (usually much later when a computer breaks or something) that they never really _owned_ those files, they just had the temporary right to use them in a specific device or set of devices. Apple will remove all DRM from their files in iTunes in the coming weeks, Amazon sells DRM-free songs for a while now, and guess what, they are making millions. I am new to the ebook scene but I had a really bad taste in my mouth when BooksOnBoard asked me to enter my device ID so I could have the privilege of give them some of my money. I just hope they will let me re-download those files the day I get a new device (can anyone confirm that?) There are lots of studies out there showing that if you remove DRM the piracy levels don't go up (why should they, there are ways to remove DRM anyway) and at the same time honest buyers will buy even more. So I think it would be great if more and more people here from MobileRead (no matter what the "official" position is) would start asking their favorite ebooks sites to sell DRM-free titles, ask the authors to put some pressure as well, and if DRM-free stores are created show their support by buying lots of their stuff. That doesn't have to mean "boycotting" sites that sell DRM'ed stuff, but just get yourself heard if you don't like DRM (and believe me, one day it will bite you) and educate people that don't know what DRM is (that is, most people out there). BTW I don't think it's very nice to call the guy a pirate just because he mentioned P2P: there are tons of legal content in P2P networks. Just like there is lots of piracy going on through USB keys, email etc, and no-one assumes that someone is a pirate just because he or she got a USB key in their pockets. Rant aside, for the original question, I would recommend the BeBook because it is the device that supports most formats, and locks you less into a specific vendor. But be warned that reading PDFs in ebook readers, especially the ones formatted for large page sizes like A4, is not that good. I prefer to read txt and rtf files in it. Last edited by bigmoney; 02-01-2009 at 10:03 AM.