MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Would you buy an e-book with DRM?

Worldwalker · 06-15-2010, 07:57 PM

I absolutely will not buy a DRM-restricted ebook. I'm with Stinger, etc.: I'm voting with my wallet. It may be a very small wallet, but it's all I have. If I buy (or even get as freebies) books with DRM, no matter how easy it would be to sanitize them, the publishers see that as a consumer accepting/tolerating DRM, and it's a vote in their favor. I'm not going to spend my money to vote against my own interests.

DRM does nothing to protect the rights of the authors; I will leave the proof as an exercise in searching torrents. If anything, it encourages people to circumvent it, and possibly annoys some of them enough to push them over the line into illicit distribution as well -- the old "$1000 recipe" urban legend turned real. And, of course, it does nothing but harm to the readers. The only people who gain any advantage from DRM are the companies with a vested interest in device or vendor lock-in. And I'm damn well not going to do anything to support someone whose whole business model is based on screwing me over (and, for that matter, screwing over the authors whose work I enjoy).

So I would not buy an ebook with DRM. I would not buy it in a house. I would not buy it with a mouse. Etc.

Oddly, I don't seem to have any lack of books to read or places to buy them. I've promised myself I'm going to stay away from Baen Books until I ready the last dozen or so books I bought there. Or re-read, in the case of the Lankhmar series, which I've had on dead trees for decades. I'm trying to stay away from Closed Circle, too; we'll see how that works out. And BeWrite ... I just found a very promising-looking mystery series there, so I may be in trouble, resolutions-wise. Plus, of course, there are all of the public domain books to be found here, on PG, etc.

Somewhat to my surprise, I've discovered some wonderful authors. If the publishing industry thinks they're serving a valuable role by selecting the best books for us, I personally think they're asleep at the switch. For example, Irene Radford, author of "Lacing Up for Murder", said she'd had no luck trying to sell it to the big publishers. Yet it is as good as most mysteries of its genre, and better than many, that I've bought on dead trees. (buy it at BookView Cafe and encourage her to write more!) So I'm not reading the latest bestsellers ... well, I never felt any need to read something just because a lot of other people read it (or at least got marketed into buying it) anyway. But between the indies and the classics, I have no shortage at all of DRM-free reading matter.

DRM is to rights management like DDT is to pest management: the whole point is extermination. That's a fine thing when it involves cockroaches, but not when it involves my rights.

06-15-2010, 07:57 PM	#20
Worldwalker Curmudgeon Posts: 3,085 Karma: 722357 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: PRS-505	I absolutely will not buy a DRM-restricted ebook. I'm with Stinger, etc.: I'm voting with my wallet. It may be a very small wallet, but it's all I have. If I buy (or even get as freebies) books with DRM, no matter how easy it would be to sanitize them, the publishers see that as a consumer accepting/tolerating DRM, and it's a vote in their favor. I'm not going to spend my money to vote against my own interests. DRM does nothing to protect the rights of the authors; I will leave the proof as an exercise in searching torrents. If anything, it encourages people to circumvent it, and possibly annoys some of them enough to push them over the line into illicit distribution as well -- the old "$1000 recipe" urban legend turned real. And, of course, it does nothing but harm to the readers. The only people who gain any advantage from DRM are the companies with a vested interest in device or vendor lock-in. And I'm damn well not going to do anything to support someone whose whole business model is based on screwing me over (and, for that matter, screwing over the authors whose work I enjoy). So I would not buy an ebook with DRM. I would not buy it in a house. I would not buy it with a mouse. Etc. Oddly, I don't seem to have any lack of books to read or places to buy them. I've promised myself I'm going to stay away from Baen Books until I ready the last dozen or so books I bought there. Or re-read, in the case of the Lankhmar series, which I've had on dead trees for decades. I'm trying to stay away from Closed Circle, too; we'll see how that works out. And BeWrite ... I just found a very promising-looking mystery series there, so I may be in trouble, resolutions-wise. Plus, of course, there are all of the public domain books to be found here, on PG, etc. Somewhat to my surprise, I've discovered some wonderful authors. If the publishing industry thinks they're serving a valuable role by selecting the best books for us, I personally think they're asleep at the switch. For example, Irene Radford, author of "Lacing Up for Murder", said she'd had no luck trying to sell it to the big publishers. Yet it is as good as most mysteries of its genre, and better than many, that I've bought on dead trees. (buy it at BookView Cafe and encourage her to write more!) So I'm not reading the latest bestsellers ... well, I never felt any need to read something just because a lot of other people read it (or at least got marketed into buying it) anyway. But between the indies and the classics, I have no shortage at all of DRM-free reading matter. DRM is to rights management like DDT is to pest management: the whole point is extermination. That's a fine thing when it involves cockroaches, but not when it involves my rights.