MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - can there be a market for used digital content?

bwana · 03-28-2010, 10:37 PM

There seems to be a feeling developing from the respondents here that digital media is fundamentally different than physical media. We license it, not buy it. As a result we cant really sell it. Rather like an automobile license that expires every so often.

I am intrigued by Elfwreck's statement that there is plenty of DRM free media around. Unfortunately I am a creature of the physical world and the people around me use the tokens of the mass media as reference points- my kids talk about Rihanna, Britney Spears, Linkin Park. The talk about TV shows. They talk about the Red Sox. All of these media are DRM controlled. I try and engage their brains with DRM free topics. The other night my son and I had an extensive discussion about the mechanism and effects of atomic bomb detonations (one of those random things that kids think about) We goggled and talked about the >1000 detonations the US has done in tests, the various yields, the critical blast radius, the lasting side effects, etc. etc. This information is DRM free. However, it's not something that will quickly engage him and his friends.

My point is that DRM free media are often not the mainstream. I would love for you to prove me wrong and show me the some of the many sources of DRM free media that your children enjoy.

One way that DRM free media could go mainstream is by quantity. Simply by virtue of the DRM-free nature, such media could be repackaged into streams. The thing a customer might then buy would be a particular media stream. This is one reason I like Pandora when it comes to music. And yes I am a paying subscriber there. How do they get around the DRM restrictions? The same way that netflix does for their online distribution I imagine.They buy a subscription to a cable channel and just repackage it.

I am amazed that we even invented this clunkything called DRM. It feels like some steampunk invention out of Dune. Can you imagine if the printing press was treated the same way when they were invented? Can you imagine the church confiscating all printing presses or perhaps only allowing monks to operate them? Would the Gutenberg bible even have been printed? By confining the distribution of electronic media according to old models, we are limiting ourselves.

03-28-2010, 10:37 PM	#13
bwana Member Posts: 14 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2010 Device: none	There seems to be a feeling developing from the respondents here that digital media is fundamentally different than physical media. We license it, not buy it. As a result we cant really sell it. Rather like an automobile license that expires every so often. I am intrigued by Elfwreck's statement that there is plenty of DRM free media around. Unfortunately I am a creature of the physical world and the people around me use the tokens of the mass media as reference points- my kids talk about Rihanna, Britney Spears, Linkin Park. The talk about TV shows. They talk about the Red Sox. All of these media are DRM controlled. I try and engage their brains with DRM free topics. The other night my son and I had an extensive discussion about the mechanism and effects of atomic bomb detonations (one of those random things that kids think about) We goggled and talked about the >1000 detonations the US has done in tests, the various yields, the critical blast radius, the lasting side effects, etc. etc. This information is DRM free. However, it's not something that will quickly engage him and his friends. My point is that DRM free media are often not the mainstream. I would love for you to prove me wrong and show me the some of the many sources of DRM free media that your children enjoy. One way that DRM free media could go mainstream is by quantity. Simply by virtue of the DRM-free nature, such media could be repackaged into streams. The thing a customer might then buy would be a particular media stream. This is one reason I like Pandora when it comes to music. And yes I am a paying subscriber there. How do they get around the DRM restrictions? The same way that netflix does for their online distribution I imagine.They buy a subscription to a cable channel and just repackage it. I am amazed that we even invented this clunkything called DRM. It feels like some steampunk invention out of Dune. Can you imagine if the printing press was treated the same way when they were invented? Can you imagine the church confiscating all printing presses or perhaps only allowing monks to operate them? Would the Gutenberg bible even have been printed? By confining the distribution of electronic media according to old models, we are limiting ourselves.