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deltop · 05-20-2009, 03:59 AM

There are many authors out there selling their novels drm free.

Baen is a publisher which is making money selling ALL their books without drm. If this didn't work why would they still be doing it? Why would authors use them?

You say you consider all our augments invalid.

If people are willing to scan in hardback and paperback copies and distribute them, then how does drm work? It is just being bypassed. Legitimate purchases will buy the drm version but pirates will just download the non-drm'ed scanned copy. DRM didn't help here.

If a drm method requires the content to be decrypted at some point (which of course they all do, otherwise you couldn't read the book!) then there will always be a way to crack it.

Look at authors like Jeffrey A. Carver and Simon Hayes, they are selling ebooks without drm.

http://www.starrigger.net/
http://www.spacejock.com.au/

If it was such a terrible idea why would people who make their money from books do this? I bought all of Simon Hayes novels without even reading the first one he gave away free, just so I could show my support! He doesn't believe his customers are thieves.

I understand your argument about hardback and paperback books. In years gone past your right you would have had to go out and buy the paperback version as well as the hardback if you wanted a more portable copy. But electronic media is viewed differently by the public. The music industry has had to accept that the vast majority of people do not want to be told how and where they can play their music. Music they have paid money for. If I've worked a 50 hour week and spent my hard earned cash on a book/album I don't take kindly to being told I can only listen/read on only 1 of my devices. They have HAD to embrace drm free downloads. The same will happen with ebooks. If a person buys an ebook and you try and tell them they have to buy another copy just to read on a different device they will just get upset.

This is an artificial restriction. It's not a restriction based on how difficult it is to physically copy the books, like it is trying to convert a hardback to a paperback.

When you introduce artificial restrictions like drm, your customers get annoyed. It happened with the music industry why would it not happen with the ebook industry?

05-20-2009, 03:59 AM	#49
deltop Zealot Posts: 136 Karma: 244 Join Date: Aug 2007 Device: Kobo Glo	There are many authors out there selling their novels drm free. Baen is a publisher which is making money selling ALL their books without drm. If this didn't work why would they still be doing it? Why would authors use them? You say you consider all our augments invalid. If people are willing to scan in hardback and paperback copies and distribute them, then how does drm work? It is just being bypassed. Legitimate purchases will buy the drm version but pirates will just download the non-drm'ed scanned copy. DRM didn't help here. If a drm method requires the content to be decrypted at some point (which of course they all do, otherwise you couldn't read the book!) then there will always be a way to crack it. Look at authors like Jeffrey A. Carver and Simon Hayes, they are selling ebooks without drm. http://www.starrigger.net/ http://www.spacejock.com.au/ If it was such a terrible idea why would people who make their money from books do this? I bought all of Simon Hayes novels without even reading the first one he gave away free, just so I could show my support! He doesn't believe his customers are thieves. I understand your argument about hardback and paperback books. In years gone past your right you would have had to go out and buy the paperback version as well as the hardback if you wanted a more portable copy. But electronic media is viewed differently by the public. The music industry has had to accept that the vast majority of people do not want to be told how and where they can play their music. Music they have paid money for. If I've worked a 50 hour week and spent my hard earned cash on a book/album I don't take kindly to being told I can only listen/read on only 1 of my devices. They have HAD to embrace drm free downloads. The same will happen with ebooks. If a person buys an ebook and you try and tell them they have to buy another copy just to read on a different device they will just get upset. This is an artificial restriction. It's not a restriction based on how difficult it is to physically copy the books, like it is trying to convert a hardback to a paperback. When you introduce artificial restrictions like drm, your customers get annoyed. It happened with the music industry why would it not happen with the ebook industry?