MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Is DRM necessary? Should publishers be concerned about piracy?

Bob Russell · 10-03-2006, 09:50 AM

We've had a lot of discussions about the evils of DRM and how selling ebooks without DRM may actually increase e-book sales. Some people feel that DRM is good because it provides enough comfort to publishers that we get copyrighted works in e-book form. Others feel that DRM is so limiting that there's never a circumstance when it's worth buying DRM'd content, and even if you do, it's more like a short term rental because as the technology changes, the content can become useless on new platforms.

But we haven't really talked a lot about the publishers' side... if you were a publisher, would you be concerned about piracy if you released your content in non-DRM'd form?

If free copies of non-DRM'd ebooks end up being circulated, and people choose to read the free copies instead of purchasing it, you've basically lost the whole basis of your business. So if you think people will avoid paying money for something they can get for free, you would believe that DRM is completely necessary.

On the other hand, if you provide non-DRM'd e-books to customers at a reasonable price, the market might grow so fast that a small percentage of free copies might be a small price to pay for the explosion of legitimate sales. After all, free pirated versions are already available if you really want them bad enough to locate them. And some people are so anxious to buy non-DRM'd e-books that they will buy a paper book and scan it, or get a pirated copy but buy a DRM'd e-book or a paper book just because they prefer to pay for the book!

So what do you think? Is it in a publisher's best interest to go DRM-free, or would they just be giving away the shop and losing all their profits?

10-03-2006, 09:50 AM	#1
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	Is DRM necessary? Should publishers be concerned about piracy? We've had a lot of discussions about the evils of DRM and how selling ebooks without DRM may actually increase e-book sales. Some people feel that DRM is good because it provides enough comfort to publishers that we get copyrighted works in e-book form. Others feel that DRM is so limiting that there's never a circumstance when it's worth buying DRM'd content, and even if you do, it's more like a short term rental because as the technology changes, the content can become useless on new platforms. But we haven't really talked a lot about the publishers' side... if you were a publisher, would you be concerned about piracy if you released your content in non-DRM'd form? If free copies of non-DRM'd ebooks end up being circulated, and people choose to read the free copies instead of purchasing it, you've basically lost the whole basis of your business. So if you think people will avoid paying money for something they can get for free, you would believe that DRM is completely necessary. On the other hand, if you provide non-DRM'd e-books to customers at a reasonable price, the market might grow so fast that a small percentage of free copies might be a small price to pay for the explosion of legitimate sales. After all, free pirated versions are already available if you really want them bad enough to locate them. And some people are so anxious to buy non-DRM'd e-books that they will buy a paper book and scan it, or get a pirated copy but buy a DRM'd e-book or a paper book just because they prefer to pay for the book! So what do you think? Is it in a publisher's best interest to go DRM-free, or would they just be giving away the shop and losing all their profits?