[John Bailey]

Originally Posted by gerraldo

You shouldn't be happy at all, your beloved ePub format now in the hands of Sony and Adobe. Oops, there goes freedom outta da window.

Not really. ePub is an open specification. They can't change it and keep calling it ePub. And there is no logical reason to do so.

This sounds kinda like "Microsoft is now completely switching to Linux!". D'you think this would be good news?! A once free & open format in the hands of some greedy monopolists...

Not quite. More like Microsoft releasing Office for Linux, and opening Windows under GPL.

Monopolies are not illegal. Abuse of monopoly is. And for abuse, you need a reason to abuse it. What is Adobe's reason?

I think this will delay the death of DRM. Which is a bad thing.

But can e-books hang on the periphery long enough for the death of DRM to happen? With such a huge drawback as being tied to one manufacturer from day one, the reality of e-books becoming mainstream in any really meaningful way is going to be an incredibly long and hard struggle? How far would MP3 players have got if they all used a different media type? Only AAC on An iPod, Ogg on a Cowon, WMA on a Creative etc. Not a chance of ever buying legit content directly for your player, and every time you change, you had to convert everything. Major fail.

This removes a huge show stopper to getting into e-books. If the maker stops making, currently I stop reading. with this, there will be others who will make a compatible device, which will allow me to read for as long as Adobe exists. (and I use "I" figuratively, as even with this, I can't see myself stooping to accept DRM)

Read my lips: As soon as a format has DRM, it's neither free nor open anymore!

And you "I like stripping Adobe DRM from my eBooks"-people - in most countries this is considered a crime and like nobody has ever been thinking (me included) the music industry would start sueing single users, they'll be coming after you.

Kind of agree. I'm very much against DRM too. Feel free to check out my posting history. And I am very very anti Kindle because of the level of control Amazon have. There is no such thing as a purchased DRM infected item. It is always rented for the duration of the DRM. But as DRM schemes go, this one is one of the less nasty ones.

And I agree 100%! Stripping DRM is not an answer, it's an excuse. You either use DRM and accept it's transitory nature, or you avoid it and have ownership of the media you buy. There is no middle ground.

Sorry folks, but this is just a smart business move against Amazon and it's all about money & power. Stop thinking of Sony like they're the Free Liberation Front. You're just changing one lock for another...

Agree completely. But there is no Big Book of Dirty Tricks that companies get the day they float on the stock market. And there is no obligation to screw your customers at every opportunity. Sometimes it is possible to do something that benefits everybody. It can even be deliberate.

Naturally, they can still do something stupid and blow the whole thing, but from what I have read, that would require a significant change of plans between now and then.

Only a total fool would ever attribute such a move to any kind of altruism. It is pure self interest. Sony can't compete with Amazon's "in" with the publishing industry. So...

Option 1) get the Sony reader on the Kindle store.. No chance!
Option 2) get a better book store.. Unlikely. If not impossible.
Option 3) Establish a default book format that everybody uses. Possible, desirable, and it grows the market. I think we have a winner.

Also, no need to maintain the manager software, or take responsibility for any DRM problems. They just sell the reader, and leave the rest to a neutral party. In this case, Adobe. Who will hopefully start making a Linux reader.

This is as close to the perfect system as we are likely to get for now.

Company A makes the reader.
Company B makes the DRM.
Company C sells the media.

All want to maximise sales, all gain from working openly together, and all have a vested interest in the others playing fair. Not perfect, but for now, it is a big step forward.

The other option is to let Amazon (or someone else) become the gatekeeper. Because as much as I hate it.. The reality is that DRM is going to be around for quite a while to come.