Quote:
Originally Posted by JSWolf
I think B&N came up with the idea for this new DRM and then convinced Adobe to go along with it. And if there was no nook, we'd not have this new DRM. At the very least, B&N should not be selling ePub with this new DRM until CS5 and the SDK are both out so other companies can take advantage of it should they choose to.
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I'd maybe half-agree with this assessment. Problem is that B&N and eReader format books have been using this style DRM for awhile now. In the lead up to getting the nook ready for launch, I'd expect they wanted to keep the DRM they have been using for years supported.
Approaching it from that standpoint, B&N had two options if they wanted to go with ADE-style ePub distribution going forward:
1) Do what Sony did and encourage everyone to redownload books in a 'big conversion' and accept
new restrictions that they didn't have before on the redownloaded books. (Sony's restrictions were similar to ADE's so it wasn't really anything new for customers)
2) Convince Adobe to take on the existing DRM for PDB as an extension to the ADE SDK so that B&N can still 'get with the program' without leaving everyone in the cold or requiring B&N customers to change what they expect to get from their e-book stores.
#1 gets B&N blasted for forcing new restrictions on customers. #2 gets B&N blasted for the short-term pain of them being the first having this second form of ADE DRM (despite the more lax restrictions).
A secret option #3 of selling in both PDB and ePub with each having different restrictions is also possible, but has the downside of being just as confusing to the buyer, if not more.
Yes, I would say B&N has done a poor job communicating the issues of their DRM policies. You have to delve into their FAQ to get the full details, and the FAQ in question isn't exactly linked from any of the books themselves to discuss it (not in any intuitive manner anyways).
However, from an engineering standpoint, and from considering it from more angles, I'd say the path they picked is the best option. The average customer going by what B&N puts up on the page (and not trying to figure out how to stretch their dollar by being a tech-saavy buyer reading between the lines) will pretty much be fine and not even notice the conversion, and within a year it'll be possible to take more and more of their content to devices beyond what they list without having to strip the DRM.