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

bruceathome · 10-03-2006, 10:23 PM

I don't tend to read physical books anymore. If a book that I want is available to purchase as an ebook I will, as long as its price is about $8US or less. I generally don't buy physical books.

I often buy books from Baen. Their prices are reasonable and their content not DRM'ed.

When I buy a book that is DRM'ed, I purchase a format that I can convert to a non-DRM'ed form. This is because I use uBook, which won't read DRM'ed content.

So - is DRM necessary? I don't believe so. I have a basic belief in people's honesty and desire to encourage their favourite authors to write more. Most people won't priate books if they are available at a reasonable price in the format that they want.

My two cents.

p.s. a case in point - the latest Harry Potter book to come out. Not available as an ebook. Available for illegal download on the same day it was released. How many of those who downloaded it illegally would have been happy to pay a reasonable price for it? I would think a great percentage of them. As far as I can see the publisher gained nothing from not releasing it as an ebook, and in fact lost income from this choice. Silly.

10-03-2006, 10:23 PM	#14
bruceathome smartphone addict Posts: 22 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Australia Device: iPhone - moving to android soon	I don't tend to read physical books anymore. If a book that I want is available to purchase as an ebook I will, as long as its price is about $8US or less. I generally don't buy physical books. I often buy books from Baen. Their prices are reasonable and their content not DRM'ed. When I buy a book that is DRM'ed, I purchase a format that I can convert to a non-DRM'ed form. This is because I use uBook, which won't read DRM'ed content. So - is DRM necessary? I don't believe so. I have a basic belief in people's honesty and desire to encourage their favourite authors to write more. Most people won't priate books if they are available at a reasonable price in the format that they want. My two cents. p.s. a case in point - the latest Harry Potter book to come out. Not available as an ebook. Available for illegal download on the same day it was released. How many of those who downloaded it illegally would have been happy to pay a reasonable price for it? I would think a great percentage of them. As far as I can see the publisher gained nothing from not releasing it as an ebook, and in fact lost income from this choice. Silly. Last edited by bruceathome; 10-03-2006 at 11:05 PM.