Quote:
Originally Posted by usuallee
Freeloaders will freeload regardless of DRM or not, DRM only inconveniences paying customers, DRM doesn't effect those who download for free at all
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While I generally agree with the sentiment I think the one place where DRM is effective is in keeping the general ebook reading public, such as my mother, from passing their books around among friends. If she wanted to loan/share a pbook she'd have to give up the physical copy and not have access to it while it's being borrowed. If she wanted to loan/share the DRM free eBook she could send it to our entire family at once so they could all read it at the same time plus she'd still have access as well. Now I personally could do that regardless of DRM, since it's removable, but someone like my mother wouldn't be able to do this if the books are DRM'd. I think this is one of the worries that publishers have beyond "regular" piracy and a big reason they often still insist on DRM. As to if the TOR example will change any minds at MacMillan or other houses, who knows. Doesn't seem to have so far.