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Yah, well, eBook DRM is an amusing situation. As already discovered by the music industry, there is no level of affordable encryption that can't be defeated by an adept computer user. Ironically, most people who want to read on a digital device instead of a paper are...adept computer users.
This is simply going to take time to shake out. In the old days, the process was simple: start with a high price, if you don't sell enough then lower the price. However, the fame of piracy has muddled things a bit: start with a high price, lose a bunch of potential sales to piracy. Rather than lower the price, they attempt to squash the piracy so that they can go back to their old method of setting prices. The longer it takes for them to realize they can't fight piracy head on, the more people learn how to pirate content.
It's just so tiring to watch. I realize they feel they can't survive if they charge only $3 a book, but MAN, at least they'd have the $3. There has to be some way to cut costs or something. In any case, it seems most of the eReader titles are down to $6 to $9. Not too bad. I'm doing well enough that I can accept that, but I know there are many people who won't (unfortunately).
- Jim
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