How to get rid of DRM?

[odamizu]

How did music end up being DRM-free?

Why is the book publishing industry going in the opposite direction?

What needs to happen or what can be done to get book publishers to follow the music industry's example?

Discuss, please?

[susan_cassidy]

Tor and Baen are already DRM-free, along with O'Reilly, and Smashwords.

[fjtorres]

At least half the indie titles at Amazon and elsewhere are also DRM-free.

[odamizu]

Are you saying it was a gradual trend where a few labels offered DRM-free music and then it gradually took over the entire industry?

[cromag]

Ironically, I think the biggest factor in eliminating DRM from online music was Amazon's entry into the market with a DRM-free alternative to (then DRM-ed) Itunes.

[darryl]

My view is that the music industry finally and reluctantly came to terms with some of the new realities of their industry in the internet age. So lacking in vision had they been that Apple came onto the scene to provide the service that a more far sighted industry should have been providing themselves. They were almost in a war with their customers, struggling to retain their existing distrubution system and $20 plus CD's, with digital pricing meant to preserve the sales of those CD's. And, of course, they believed that all consumers were out to "steal" their products and were not prepared to pay anything for music if they could pirate it. Of course, if this was true, the industry as it is today could not exist. DRM simply does not work. Not on music. Not on video's. And not on books. A DRM scheme may work for a time, but is seen by too many talented hackers as a challenge, and is soon broken. In books at the moment, the plain unvarnished truth is that if someone wants to obtain a particular ebook for free, it is trivial for them to do so in 99% of cases. The miracle, if you want to call it that, is that most people do not. Rather than the dishonest, short-sighted people that the industry sees, it seems that most people want to pay for their ebooks. Perhaps not the $14.99 or $15.99 that the Big Publishing cartel would like, but even in these cases it seems most people are waiting for the price to become more reasonable rather than resorting to piracy. The Music, Film and Publishing Industries are now, like it or not, on the honour system. And despite their often terrible attitude to their customers, it seems that most people still want to do the right thing.

I think that what happened with music is that the record companies finally realised that the costly and inconvenient DRM they were paying for made absolutely no difference to the bottom line. The success of ITunes showed that making purchasing easy and convenient combined with more reasonable prices and allowing people to purchase what they wanted rather than forcing them to purchase "bundles" (ie; one song as opposed to an album) actually worked. They made it easier for people to purchase rather than pirate, and a large number of people were and are willing to pay even when they could obtain a free pirate copy for no cost. Personally I want to pay an author or artist for their work, though I must admit I begrudge traditional publishers the outrageous share (IMHO) that they extract.

Unfortunately it is not easy for a dinosaur to live in this modern age. The music and film industry seem to have finally faced the reality of DRM, though still struggling in many respects with their new world. Publishers thought books were immune to technology for a long time, and remained unaffected much longer than these other industries. Unfortunately, it will take time.

Realistic players in these industries must recognise that the honour system type model applies, and that some degree of piracy is inevitable and part of the business. But there still is a business, because most of us are not hard core pirates, want to pay authors and want an industry to continue to exist. The key is to make it easy, convenient and even pleasant to buy, to provide a good product at a reasonable price and to treat your customers with respect. AFter all, it is their goodwill that is keeping you in business.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by cromag

Ironically, I think the biggest factor in eliminating DRM from online music was Amazon's entry into the market with a DRM-free alternative to (then DRM-ed) Itunes.

Yep. The music industry wanted Amazon as the counter to Apple's near monopoly position on selling digital music, rather the opposite of today's ebook industry where Amazon has the near monopoly position. It didn't really work for the music industry, of course, since Amazon mp3 never has been a big player.

Ultimately, I think that the fact that Amazon's ebook DRM is so easy to break has help to assuage the fears of rampant pirating, plus of course, the fact that Baen titles and Tor titles haven't been hurt by no DRM.

Right now, I don't think there is a lot of pressure to remove DRM from ebook by the general buying public. For the major source of ebooks (Amazon), those who want to can easily remove the DRM, and most people are quite content to read Amazon ebooks on their kindle device or kindle app. It would take people wanting to read their Amazon ebooks on some 3rd party device to put pressure to remove DRM.

[RobertDDL]

Originally Posted by odamizu

How did music end up being DRM-free?

One thing that helped was that you can very easily buy a CD and rip it. Sony tried to prevent this, which became a huge PR desaster for them when it turned out they used a root kit on their audio CDs that severely interfered with the user's computer. Plus, copy-protection violated audio CD specifications, so copy-protected CDs tended not to work on some CD players. Plus, you can easily rip any audio by digitizing any audio device's output -- just connect a digital recorder (like, a computer with a sound card) to line out or, if there isn't any, to the player's headphone connector. So, everybody could easily create non-DRM'd audio files of anything they wanted. With ebooks (as with videos), they think they have better cards, with DRM written into the specs, selling their own reading devices, and "ripping" being a considerable effort. Still, I don't think that DRM makes sense even from the vendors' POV -- I buy ebooks from Amazon, for instance, because I can easily remove their DRM, otherwise I wouldn't buy any. But for this very reason -- their DRM doesn't bother those who object to it -- they don't feel pressure from disgruntled buyers, or non-buyers. This silly "we have DRM but you can remove it" situation may go on for quite a while, I'm afraid. Let's just hope they'll give it up one day, without first trying out some new technical or legal crap.

[Ken Maltby]

There is also that with e-book DRM you couldn't use your media in just any device. Sony tried with music but there were just too many mp3 players sold. Now you can buy an mp3 from anyone and it can be played on any mp3 player. A video DVD will play on any DVD player. You don't need to "copy" a DVD to make it playable on a new, different DVD Player.

An e-book user who wants his media usable on any device, without regard to the whims or fortunes of the company that they may have purchased the media from, has a valid reason to remove the DRM. As long as all those purchasing e-book media are not using the same device (like all kindles), there will be some demand for media files that can be read on all/most devices. As things stand now, that means without DRM.

Luck;
Ken

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

A video DVD will play on any DVD player. You don't need to "copy" a DVD to make it playable on a new, different DVD Player.

... as long as you stay within your own region. I have some movies that were only released in the USA, while I'm in Europe. I have had to copy the DVD or even Blu-Ray (which is a lot harder and more expensive to do well), ripping to removing regional restrictions and then to burn it again, to get it to play.

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

... as long as you stay within your own region. I have some movies that were only released in the USA, while I'm in Europe. I have had to copy the DVD or even Blu-Ray (which is a lot harder and more expensive to do well), ripping to removing regional restrictions and then to burn it again, to get it to play.

Can't you make your DVD player multi-region?

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

Can't you make your DVD player multi-region?

I would if I could. I don't intend to replace it because I'm not buying USA-only movies that often, and I do have a blu-ray burner in the computer.

[Bilbo1967]

I see. I thought it was possible for all DVD players. Obviously not though.

[Ripplinger]

Some DVD players can be set to play all regions by a simple code entered in the remote, or by flashing a different firmware that you can download. Some need hardware modifications that are pretty much the cost of a 2nd DVD player (or more), and some can't be changed at all. If it's an important feature to you, make sure you look up that info about any player before you buy it. They are not all equal in that regard. I still have an older 2nd Philips DVD player because I was able to change it to all regions as well as play both PAL and NTSC. I don't have many DVDs from other countries, but a few so it's important to me.

[odamizu]

Let me test my understanding:

1. The music industry gave up on DRM in hopes that allowing Amazon to offer DRM-free music would break Apple's monopoly on digital music sales and also because ripping DRM-free music from a CD was so easy as to make DRM pointless.

2. With books, Amazon was the one with a monopoly, and book publishers along with Apple tried to counter that with agency pricing, which blew up in their faces. With the exception of an enlightened few who have gone DRM-free, most big publishers are heading in the opposite direction and tightening DRM, pressuring Barnes & Noble to increase their security and prompting Adobe to develop "hardened DRM" starting with ADE 3.

3. That said, DRM-removal tools are readily available, making it a non-issue for people who want to remove DRM. That, in addition to most people being unruffled by DRM and willing to stay locked in their chosen eco-system, means there's virtually no pressure on publishers or booksellers to stop using DRM, resulting in "a silly 'we have DRM but you can remove it' situation," to quote RobertDDL.

The only wrinkle here is that in some (many?) places, circumventing DRM is either illegal or in a legal gray area. Here at MobileRead there are limits on what can be discussed with regard to DRM removal, suggesting these laws are not entirely toothless -- which leads to the next question:

What is the likelihood that anti-circumvention laws will ever be tested and upheld in court against non-pirate readers who just want to read ebooks on the device of their choice?