Unlocking the Gates of Alexandria: DRM, Competition and Access to E-Books

[drjenkins]

Cory Doctorow (I'm a fan of his books) writes about an "Outstanding paper on the impact of ebook DRM on readers, writers, publishers and distributors" on his blog:
http://boingboing.net/2015/06/23/out...the-impac.html

The paper itself is a 40 page PDF on the Social Science Research Network:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.c...act_id=2620354

My take on their analysis is that it is not DRM per se that is the most insidious, but rather the multiple non-interoperable DRM methods that lock users into a single e-book ecosystem. I know that my own primary use for anti-DRM tools is to convert purchased epubs to a format I can read on my Kindle Voyager.

[Turtle91]

My own use for anti-DRM tools is to allow me to use my epubs on ANY device and not lose that investment if the company goes belly-up...as has happened many times in the past.

[DiapDealer]

I've been a die-hard remover of DRM for a long time, but I can honestly say that I'd probably give up the practice if there were a universal DRM that let me buy from anywhere and read on anything (as long as it wasn't a "dole out a portion at a time" solution requiring a permanent internet connection to work).

The only times I remove it now are for converting Kindlebooks to epubs and fixing the occasional ebook whose formatting I find distractingly bad.

[ZodWallop]

I strip the DRM from all my ebooks, because I want to read them on a device of my choosing. I have a Nook Simple Touch w/Glow that I LOVE. I also wanted to read Masuji Ibuse's Black Rain, which is not available (in e-book) from Barnes and Noble. Bought it via Amazon, stripped and converted it and here I am.

The music industry finally managed to accept the selling of non-DRMed MP3s. I can buy songs from Google Play or Amazon and listen to them on my netbook at home or my phone on the go. I hope for the day e-books are sold as non-DRMed ePubs (setting on a single, universal format; that's another e-book problem) and I can do the same with them.

[drjenkins]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

The music industry finally managed to accept the selling of non-DRMed MP3s. I can buy songs from Google Play or Amazon and listen to them on my netbook at home or my phone on the go.

That's a good model for booksellers to emulate. I even have no problem with concealed watermarks identifying me as the purchaser as long as it doesn't block me from playing the music as I like, or reading my eBook as I like.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by drjenkins

I even have no problem with concealed watermarks identifying me as the purchaser as long as it doesn't block me from playing the music as I like, or reading my eBook as I like.

I completely agree. I can understand wanting tools that prevent me from sharing purchased content.

I just want to be able to buy the e-ink device I want and purchase books from where I want (and edit badly formatted ones). It's being locked into a single corporate ecosystem that grates.

Ultimately, I think that will happen. My only real concern is will e-ink hang on, or will they be abandoned in favor of tablets?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I completely agree. I can understand wanting tools that prevent me from sharing purchased content.

I just want to be able to buy the e-ink device I want and purchase books from where I want (and edit badly formatted ones). It's being locked into a single corporate ecosystem that grates.

Ultimately, I think that will happen. My only real concern is will e-ink hang on, or will they be abandoned in favor of tablets?

You are confusing display pixels with display media (e-Ink).

A decently formatted book should be pretty much be display agnostic (color images on color displays only ) and reflow to match the current display area.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by theducks

You are confusing display pixels with display media (e-Ink).

A decently formatted book should be pretty much be display agnostic (color images on color displays only ) and reflow to match the current display area.

I'm not confusing them. Just clumsily moving from one subject to another.

I meant that by the time my e-book fantasy comes true, I fear e-ink readers will be out of style. I don't like reading e-books on a tablet.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I'm not confusing them. Just clumsily moving from one subject to another.

I meant that by the time my e-book fantasy comes true, I fear e-ink readers will be out of style. I don't like reading e-books on a tablet.

Let's hope that by that time, tablet display technology will have switched to something new, that's even nicer to read on than eink is today and even better for video that what tablets have now.

[barryem]

Personally I think my ebook fantasies have come true. They came true a long time ago. I have no idea where all this is going and I suspect no-one else does either, but for now it's perfect and getting better all the time.

Of course there are problems. There are always problems. But my reading experience is better than it's ever been. I've been reading books for 70 years. I began reading at age 4 and I'm 74 now. I began reading before there were paperbacks and then they came along and I could buy a book to read at any drugstore or drive-in grocery store. That was perfect. Then I got an ereader. That was perfecter. I do realize that "perfecter" isn't a word but it needs to start being one before the next generation comes along and gets perfecterer.

Barry

[latepaul]

Originally Posted by ApK

Let's hope that by that time, tablet display technology will have switched to something new, that's even nicer to read on than eink is today and even better for video that what tablets have now.

Indeed.

At some point there'll be a single display tech that can do both rich colors fast enough for video and be properly visible in daylight. I was going to add long battery life but that may be superseded by better battery technology. Until that time there'll always be at least a niche market for eink.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by barryem

I could buy a book to read at any drugstore or drive-in grocery store. That was perfect. Then I got an ereader. That was perfecter.

I totally get that. I wasn't a fan of e-readers until the Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight came along. I played with one in the store and bought it the next day. My wife saw it and we went and bought her one the day after. I figured my reading would be split between it and paper, but since I bought my Nook, I haven't read a paper book.

Thanks to Alf and the STG's SD card reader, my e-book fantasy is also true. It would just be nice to do it officially and easily, without hoping DRM schemes don't change or worrying that future e-readers will follow the Nook Glowlight's path of dropping the SD card and limiting the amount of space for side-loading.

[toddos]

Originally Posted by drjenkins

That's a good model for booksellers to emulate. I even have no problem with concealed watermarks identifying me as the purchaser as long as it doesn't block me from playing the music as I like, or reading my eBook as I like.

Not only is this a "good" model to follow, it's the right model to follow. Video went a different direction, trying for universal DRM (see UltraViolet). So far, that's utterly failed.

Sell DRM free, watermark inconspicuously to track if my purchase ends up on P2P or similar, and leave it at that. Any "universal" DRM system is going to require jumping through a lot more hoops, will leave out the small players (indie devs writing ebook readers on phones and tablets don't have the money or resources to integrate with that universal DRM), and still has all of the downsides of DRM. Namely, losing my collection if the DRM provider disappears or decides to deprecate my library (that's been done before; Amazon did it prior to Kindle).

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by latepaul

[...] I was going to add long battery life but that may be superseded by better battery technology. [...]

I really want to see the commercialization of the micro-nuke battery cell. Those things could outlive their owner, never mind the device in question!

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I've been a die-hard remover of DRM for a long time, but I can honestly say that I'd probably give up the practice if there were a universal DRM that let me buy from anywhere and read on anything (as long as it wasn't a "dole out a portion at a time" solution requiring a permanent internet connection to work).

The Dutch ebook market is going in that direction. The largest ebook seller, bol.com, uses social DRM (watermarks). They are bog standard epubs otherwise.

I could probably remove the watermarks if I really wanted to, but like you say, why bother? I can already do anything with them that I'd want to, including converting them to AZW3 if and when I ever buy a Kindle again.