MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Solid State E-Books

yvanleterrible · 09-08-2006, 10:09 AM

This is an idea built on a thread by NatCh. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6271

It's about DRM again!

I would agree on DRM only if it met this criteria. To be on a physical object. Bare with me:

As NatCh pointed out and we all know, SD is the more universally, more practically used media standard today. But there is no affordable way yet to use one card per book. Of course if it was one collection per card it would work but you'd be stuck with books you don't need or can't resell. And we all know that the real price of an SD is inflated because of demand.

Remember also that for a book all you need is 4 to 8 megs; nowadays quite cheap.

An other way this could work would be publicity. Just intersperse adds in a PDF book and that would pay for the card itself. Before you rage at the idea, remember that we geeks depend for information on loads of magazines filled with adds!

All this would be great but the caveat is that you have to physically get the card with the desired book, order it and wait for it in the mail. Of course you could also buy them in book stores(those not too "paper snob"). But if you are stuck in a far away place where even mail has trouble getting, these places where you really need books for mental survival, you're stuck...

Here is the idea...a new tool. With every e-book reader there would be an SD R/W device, onboard or separate.

This is how it operates. You buy cheap 10 meg or bigger SD interfaced blanks in the 2-5$ range or lower,(about the price of DVD blanks) and set them in this special chip controlled writer/reader. On the net you download your book (or multiple books)directly to the writer, and a lock is programmed on the card that prevents the content to be copied. These cards could only be read on a reader equipped with the right chip(after market retrofit possibilities). If the card is destroyed, burned stolen or lost, tough luck! Just like a paper book. But it would never depend on the device it was written too, like now, just on this specific SD card.

This is nothing new and is completely feasible.

By the way in that thread by NatCh someone mentionned losing these rather small expensive SD cards. Well here in Canada the 1 and 2 $ bills were replaced by coins. Everybody learned not to loose them...fast!

I am against DRM but this process is on a course similar to the "physicality" of a book. It would keep most everybody happy, keep the actual book world functionning (albeit in new ways) and also keep, the most important aspect to my mind, the practicalities of digital media minus the copy.

09-08-2006, 10:09 AM	#1
yvanleterrible Reborn Paper User Posts: 8,616 Karma: 15446734 Join Date: May 2006 Location: Que Nada Device: iPhone8, iPad Air	Solid State E-Books This is an idea built on a thread by NatCh. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6271 It's about DRM again! I would agree on DRM only if it met this criteria. To be on a physical object. Bare with me: As NatCh pointed out and we all know, SD is the more universally, more practically used media standard today. But there is no affordable way yet to use one card per book. Of course if it was one collection per card it would work but you'd be stuck with books you don't need or can't resell. And we all know that the real price of an SD is inflated because of demand. Remember also that for a book all you need is 4 to 8 megs; nowadays quite cheap. An other way this could work would be publicity. Just intersperse adds in a PDF book and that would pay for the card itself. Before you rage at the idea, remember that we geeks depend for information on loads of magazines filled with adds! All this would be great but the caveat is that you have to physically get the card with the desired book, order it and wait for it in the mail. Of course you could also buy them in book stores(those not too "paper snob"). But if you are stuck in a far away place where even mail has trouble getting, these places where you really need books for mental survival, you're stuck... Here is the idea...a new tool. With every e-book reader there would be an SD R/W device, onboard or separate. This is how it operates. You buy cheap 10 meg or bigger SD interfaced blanks in the 2-5$ range or lower,(about the price of DVD blanks) and set them in this special chip controlled writer/reader. On the net you download your book (or multiple books)directly to the writer, and a lock is programmed on the card that prevents the content to be copied. These cards could only be read on a reader equipped with the right chip(after market retrofit possibilities). If the card is destroyed, burned stolen or lost, tough luck! Just like a paper book. But it would never depend on the device it was written too, like now, just on this specific SD card. This is nothing new and is completely feasible. By the way in that thread by NatCh someone mentionned losing these rather small expensive SD cards. Well here in Canada the 1 and 2 $ bills were replaced by coins. Everybody learned not to loose them...fast! I am against DRM but this process is on a course similar to the "physicality" of a book. It would keep most everybody happy, keep the actual book world functionning (albeit in new ways) and also keep, the most important aspect to my mind, the practicalities of digital media minus the copy.