Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader Locked Up: Why Your Books Are No Longer Yours

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Suppose there was a DRM that, yes, did some of those things you didn't like... but in exchange, any book ever written was available to you, to read on any device you owned?

Would that be worth some mild discomfiture from DRM?

That depends on how annoying it would be. I mean not being able to translate content could mean that if someday I decided to get a new device that read a different DRM format then my 505, I would be screwed. That's where DRM is the biggest issue for me. I cannot predict the future and I don't want to risk losing my content.

[Alisa]

Steve,

Mind your own tone. You're the one that came after me personally. You didn't have to do that. Don't be surprised when I respond.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

That depends on how annoying it would be. I mean not being able to translate content could mean that if someday I decided to get a new device that read a different DRM format then my 505, I would be screwed. That's where DRM is the biggest issue for me. I cannot predict the future and I don't want to risk losing my content.

But you're screwed anyway if you buy books from the Sony Store. They are pretty much alone now in having a book format which can't be converted.

[rlauzon]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

I have a suggestion, rlauzon. Go get a copy of one of Robert Heinlein's manuscripts. (There's an online archive.) Buy one, and compare it to the published novel. After you do this, come back and tell me the publisher didn't add anything.

I think you've confused "publisher" with "editor".

[HarryT]

The fact is, however, that the vast majority of authors who publish independently regretably do not use editors. Editing is one of the services that publishers provide for authors.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HarryT

But you're screwed anyway if you buy books from the Sony Store. They are pretty much alone now in having a book format which can't be converted.

That is why I rarely purchase content from Sony. I purchase in formats I can convert to something else.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Alisa

Steve,

Mind your own tone. You're the one that came after me personally. You didn't have to do that. Don't be surprised when I respond.

Alisa, I apologize if my response came off as a personal attack... that was not my intention. I was challenging your assertion, not you personally.

I have no malice against anyone on these forums. (No. Really.) But I freely admit that, in the heat of debate, I sometimes phrase things too personally, even when I am trying to be as objective as I can. And I offer my apologies to everyone who has been the brunt of a too-personal comment of mine.

In my own defense, I will say that I am so often outright surprised by some of the comments I hear on this site (and again, I am not directing this at you, Alisa), that I sometimes lose my objectivity and clarity. But I'll try harder to steer an even keel in the future.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

That depends on how annoying it would be. I mean not being able to translate content could mean that if someday I decided to get a new device that read a different DRM format then my 505, I would be screwed. That's where DRM is the biggest issue for me. I cannot predict the future and I don't want to risk losing my content.

Jon, when I said "to read on any device you owned," I was sure that you'd understand that I meant in perpetuity. Anyway... I understand that you want to read your content on whatever, and I was trying to suggest a DRM that would apply to the ownership of the document, not its format. Supposedly, if e-books could be transacted in a format like ePub, that could be converted to your format/device of choice (and still retain whatever ownership data the device needed in order to open the file), anyone could buy an e-book and upload it to their device of choice, freely.

The two requirements of such a system would be:

1. The media file would have to include the ownership data/code, in a place where the reading device could find it; and
2. The reading device would only read media so coded with the ownership info.

Seems like a do-able solution, not hard to implement, easy for the consumer (assuming conversion tools are available for their device), and relatively secure enough for the producer. And as theory goes, if it's easy enough for everyone to use, there will be a minimum amount of hacking the system to bypass it.