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Originally Posted by Jaden
And there are always publishers blaming piracy for the problems they encounter, not unreasonable pricing or DRM or geo restrictions...
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Hatchette being one. They are on the record stating that DRM is vital.
Some interesting quotes from that business feel good statement.
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We work with retailers and distribution partners to ensure that every book has the opportunity to reach the widest possible readership.
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and
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We protect authors’ intellectual property through strict anti-piracy measures and territorial controls.
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OK, how does territorial restrictions and DRM enable an ebook to reach the widest possible readership?
It is too easy to blame file sharing instead of looking at their own outdated business models, regional pricing (let's rip off Australians), business structuring and restrictive business practices. To make sure the blame on file sharing is reinforced, dodgy reports with dodgy statistics equating every download as a sales loss are released to the media once in a while to continue the spin.
DRM is just one of the great failures that publishers cling to. DRM for library loan ebooks is fine, the old model meant you returned the book once read or the due date of the loan arrived. DRM furthers that premise.
However, if a book is PURCHASED for personal consumption, then DRM is an artificial barrier that severely limits the purchaser in regards to what they can with their paid for content. Fair use is crippled, backup options non existent, locked to one type of ereader etc etc...
DRM deserves the contempt that buyers heap on it and further, those publishers that keep feeding us bovine excreta about how it helps keeps the pirates at bay deserve our contempt even more.