Quote:
Originally Posted by Katsunami
I don't have to. Look at the history of formats and DRM and the support of it. Support *WILL* be dropped at some point in time.
If one company is the sole company in a market selling a DRM-ed format, they're basically lawmaker, judge and executioner. That's a logical effect of being the only one. If something happens to this company, many people will lose access to their media.
It has been proven over and over again, in the music, video, and games industries, as well as in the book business.
There is no reason for anyone to keep jackassing with different formats, be they AZW3, KFX, or even KEPUB. One could just pick EPUB, and extend it, but stay with a certain base line. Then, if a reader supports the extensions (which can be proprietary for all I care), the reader has different/better functionality with such a book, but if the reader doesn't, the book would be a normal EPUB book.
With regard to DRM: it's useless.
Always was. Always will be. Pirates gonna pirate, somehow. GOG.com proves you can live without DRM. They provide games for fair prices, fully patched, and with all the extra's. People could just give them away, as there's no DRM whatsoever. But what do we find? GOG.com exists for 8 years now, and people love them because there's no fuss. You buy a game, you own it, and the fact that they patch everything up to the latest versions and have great support.
In short, they're providing exactly what people want, and gamers are throwing money at them, even going as far as adopting a "If it's not on GOG.com, I won't buy it" stance. And yes, I'm one of them.
Proprietary formats and DRM should all die out.
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Yes, but it is NOT Amazon that decides whether to DRM.
It is up to the publisher. Except in a very few cases, Amazon is NOT the publisher. They are the distributor. So don't tell me that it is format specific with Amazon. It is not and never has been.
Amazon has not taken away any formats.
If you buy ebooks, please look at the publisher to see if it has DRM.
If I buy the latest Stephen King ebook., it will have DRM because the publisher insists. It doesn't matter if it comes in azw3, mobi, kfx, epub (from wherever) or pdf, it will have DRM.
If I buy Hugh Howey, it will not have DRM if I get it through Amazon. That is the publisher's choice.
If one doesn't like that a company uses proprietary practices, please do not give that company any money. (Good luck finding a company that doesn't do that.)