Quote:
Originally Posted by Cinisajoy
Yes, but it is NOT Amazon that decides whether to DRM.
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In my opinion, it is Amazon who decides if DRM is an option or not.
Amazon is huge in ebooks, just like Steam is for games.
What do you think would happen if Steam stated "No more DRM", just like Gog.com does? Gog.com is still not big enough to force the issue at around 10% market share, but Steam is. Games publishers would lose something like 50% of their market coverage if they'd refuse to publish games on Steam. So, if Steam says no DRM, there will be no DRM, period.
If Amazon would decide that there is to be no more DRM, nowhere, publishers would lose most of their ebook sales if they'd refuse to publish a book through Amazon. What's Amazon's market share? 80%? 90%?
IMHO, these big players decide what goes or not.
With regard to formats, as I stated, there's no reason to develop proprietary formats. EPUB is sufficient to create ebooks, and everything a company wants to add specifically for their e-readers could be an extension to it which would not be mandatory to have to read the book.
To use Gog.com/Steam as an example again:
Steam REQUIRES me to use a client to install the games, and to have it running when I run the game. I can't download the game, archive it, and later install it onto this, or another computer without using the internet.
On Gog.com, I can do exactly that. Yes, they have a client as well, and it can download and install games. However, that client just downloads normal installation files which I can archive, install without using the client or the internet, and then run the game without the client. As long as I have a compatible computer on which a game will run, it will install and work, even in 50 years time.
I like the Gog.com format much more, because it makes me independent of everything and everyone after I acquire and download the media.
This is the same as with un-DRM-ed EPUB (and AZW3, as the format has been reverse-engineered), but with KFX, you'll be dependent on Amazon. At least as long as the files are DRM-ed; I don't know if there are un-DRM-ed KFX files around which have been used to reverse-engineer that format.