Quote:
Originally Posted by zacheryjensen
Clearly, you haven't stopped caring.
Also, you must realize that DRM is hardly the only way that people are restricted with purchases. You know, it's illegal to make a copy of a paper book!? WOW! No DRM and it's still "restricted."
|
Well, actually I am just scanning some paper books that my grandfather bought over 70 years ago. First of all, they are all still usable and readable, no need to be "activated" - just open and read. Second, yes, you can legally scan them after 70 years (at least in my country) so even your grandchildren will be able to use the books you bought. That is, simply put, the advantage and inherent greater value that paper books have over ebooks.
In other words, try to imagine buying a car that is restricted only to your own use and only permitted to drive in one city. If you want to drive elsewhere or lend your car to anyone, you must "authorise" it. After several years the company that used to authorise your car goes broke or changes their policy - they're no longer interested in authorising your car. You are left with a useless heap of steel and plastic. How does this compare to a car that you can just use anywhere, anytime you want?
It's exactly like that with paperbooks and DRM-ed ebooks. I can do anything I like with a paper book, now and forever, till it decomposes (which can be 50 to 500 years, depending on paper used). With a DRM-ed ebook I can only do a couple of things that the seller permitted me to do and I am completely at their grace. Electronic readers do not last for ever. In all probability I will have to replace my reader in the next three or four years. What about the DRM-ed books I bought? Will there be any devices compatible with the (then) obsolete DRM schemes? Will the company that sold the book to me still exist? And if they exist, if they feel like that, they can flatly refuse to re-authorise my ebook for any reason they can think of (cause they don't have the rights to this book any longer, cause their server broke, cause they feel you abused your customer rights, cause you exceeded some limit or cause ... anything else).
I have already bought DRM-ed music and books in the past and while they seemed OK at the moment when I bought them, now, after a couple of years already more than half of them are "dead" in every practical sense. I replaced my PC, bought a new MP3 player and I cannot reactivate the stuff I bought for exactly the reasons mentioned in the previous paragraph. So for me it is definitely: "No, thank you." I won't buy DRM-ed stuff any more unless I can immediately convert it into a format I am able to use no matter what device I own at a given moment.