Quote:
Originally Posted by rhadin
I think your sentiment is well and good for advanced-knowledge users/readers. You and HarryT don't worry much about DRM because you can strip it. Kudos to you.
But what about the millions of people who haven't got a clue, don't care to have a clue, and don't want to have to strip DRM. I can't imagine my 89-year-old father learning to strip DRM when it was even a struggle to get him to "master" the reading device to begin with. What most readers want is the book experience -- that is, they want to buy a book at the store of their choice, read it on the device of their choice, change devices without a hassle, and still be able to read the book on their new device.
What most consumers want is the DVD experience -- a single format that all film production companies use that is playable on the DVD player they own now and on the one they will own next year. Ask consumers, and few will be able to tell you anything at all about the DVD's copy protection scheme or how to circumvent it. All they want to know and do is take the DVD and put in the DVD player -- regardless of player brand -- press a button and watch the film on the TV of their choice (brand makes no difference).
In the print world, there is a level playing field on which all booksellers compete. Even on that field, Amazon was able to capture a very signifcant percentage of the market. But the ebook field is not a level playing field and Amazon does not want to compete on a level playing field. I think Amazon sees ebooks as a way to leverage consumers into doing more shopping at Amazon for non-book items, which is why it is willing to stand alone when it comes to DRM. In these early years of ebooks, Amazon can get away with its stance; I think in another 5 to 10 years, it may not be able to do so.
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I do agree with you. I am all for DRM free, however, I don't believe a "DRM free" scheme is in the cards for us in the near future. So I am settling for the next best thing. And coming back to your 89 year old father, he can't do it himself. But if someone installs Calibre with the necessary plugins he might well be able to do it. Though I don't think he will be shopping around on all different sites for ebooks? He will probably stay with one site, Amazon arguably being the easiest.