DRM poll: How do you deal with it.

[igorsk]

I think the issue is Mobipocket's (or should I say Amazon's?) desire to be the only DRM format on a device. They do issue new licenses - Jinke V3/BeBook has acquired Mobi support recently.

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by bill_mchale

Well lets remember that ultimately it is the choice of the author if he or she wants to let a work fall into obscurity. Any author, at any time, can choose to forgo the protections that copyright offers and place their work into the public domain or at least make it more public than the default (via the creative commons license for example).

Authors have this option before they sign a contract with a publisher, but usually not afterward. And the Creative Commons concept hasn't been around long enough to have been an option for the vast majority of works that are out of print, with rights tied up and often unavailable to authors or functioning publishers.

Originally Posted by bill_mchale

Ultimately there is one reason, and one reason only why people in a democratic company have to put up with such ridiculous copyright terms; we let them get away with it.

Freudian slip?

Again, I'm not trying to justify piracy. But when you talk about undermining social contracts, I think you should take into account that considerable erosion has already occurred at the hands of large content conglomerates.

[bill_mchale]

Originally Posted by nekokami

Authors have this option before they sign a contract with a publisher, but usually not afterward. And the Creative Commons concept hasn't been around long enough to have been an option for the vast majority of works that are out of print, with rights tied up and often unavailable to authors or functioning publishers.

How true is this? I know at least some authors, Jeffery Carver for example, have self published books on line. Also, I think that for many older works, say those that existed before 1990 or so, that the rights probably were limited to the print version of the book (after all, film rights would usually be sold by the author not the publisher).

In any case, I have to imagine that most publishing contracts must contain a clause that requires the work to remain in print (or at least not be out of print for more than a given period) or rights will revert to the author. Granted, I am sure some authors have signed contracts that did give away all of their rights, but others, I am not so sure about.

--
Bill

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by Kris777

I read about it here:
http://www.mobipocket.com/forum/view...?p=48710#48710
and it was also discussed on http://www.the-ebook.org/forum/

Mobipocket has never allowed any company that licenses their eBook reader to have another DRM system present on the device. This does not mean they won't license a dealer for Mobi DRM as was implied by the original post. Even this attitude may change with enough pressure in the future. Certainly PDA's offer more than one DRM format but so far only Sony has more than one in a dedicated reader.

Dale

[Kris777]

Originally Posted by bill_mchale

Hey, I want to thank everyone who has participated in the Poll so far. It has been, I think, very enlightening. Obviously more people could vote in it, but I find it interesting that over 50% of voters strip DRM off the books they buy.
Bill

Yes, about 50% of voters replied "I buy books with DRM but remove the DRM later"
but it is interesting what DRM format is most popular for these voters.

[GntlmnBndt]

Originally Posted by Kris777

Yes, 76% of voters replied "I buy books with DRM but remove the DRM later"
but it is interesting what DRM format is most popular for these voters.

I think you misread the results, there... At the moment, it is 76 voters, or about 49%, who say they remove the DRM. This may seem like meaningless detail to some, but your post gave me a bit of a start. I skipped over the results to look at the latest post, and thought the tally had shifted in a big way since I last looked at the thread.

The Bandit

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by GntlmnBndt

I think you misread the results, there... At the moment, it is 76 voters, or about 49%, who say they remove the DRM. This may seem like meaningless detail to some, but your post gave me a bit of a start.

What's more interesting to me is that about 20% don't by books with DRM and 10% don't buy books AT ALL.

Also, it is very interesting that only about 14% "accept" DRM at all. Everyone else, 86% either avoid it or removes it.

Although I also know that the poll is skewed considering the audience here against what we would see with a mainstream ebook reader crowd that don't even know any thing about formats and DRM.

BOb

[Kris777]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

What's more interesting to me is that about 20% don't by books with DRM and 10% don't buy books AT ALL.

Also, it is very interesting that only about 14% "accept" DRM at all. Everyone else, 86% either avoid it or removes it.

Although I also know that the poll is skewed considering the audience here against what we would see with a mainstream ebook reader crowd that don't even know any thing about formats and DRM.

BOb

Agree. Many people don't know about DRM and formats and some of them don't know about Internet but they use eBook readers or other portable devices to read books on it.

[Kris777]

Originally Posted by GntlmnBndt

I think you misread the results, there... At the moment, it is 76 voters, or about 49%, who say they remove the DRM. This may seem like meaningless detail to some, but your post gave me a bit of a start. I skipped over the results to look at the latest post, and thought the tally had shifted in a big way since I last looked at the thread.

The Bandit

Sorry. I will correct my post.

[astra]

Originally Posted by Kris777

Yes, about 50% of voters replied "I buy books with DRM but remove the DRM later"
but it is interesting what DRM format is most popular for these voters.

MS lit format for me only. I have no clue how to handle mobipocket DRM.

[TallMomof2]

If I have to buy DRMed ebooks I purchase the cheapest available format that I can strip.

[bill_mchale]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

What's more interesting to me is that about 20% don't by books with DRM and 10% don't buy books AT ALL.

Also, it is very interesting that only about 14% "accept" DRM at all. Everyone else, 86% either avoid it or removes it.

Although I also know that the poll is skewed considering the audience here against what we would see with a mainstream ebook reader crowd that don't even know any thing about formats and DRM.

BOb

Well, a 7% of the group selected some other solution, and based off of their answers, it seemed like it could be divided into people who accept DRM occasionally, those who try really hard to find a book without DRM before buying it with it and those who strip occasionally. Still, I think the numbers are overwhelming indicative of the fact that people here are unwilling to accept DRM.

Personally I had hoped that the numbers between those who refused to buy books with DRM and those strip it had been reversed, but oh well.

As for the "average" ebook reader; I am not sure we are too far off the norm here. After all, most ebook readers (at this stage) are probably early adapters. In any case, thanks to the record industry, I think many of these early adapters are at least somewhat familiar with DRM. So we will see what happens.

--
Bill

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by bill_mchale

Still, I think the numbers are overwhelming indicative of the fact that people here are unwilling to accept DRM.

That's not really surprising. DRM only benefits the publishers. I can't think of any reason why a consumer would want DRM.

[bill_mchale]

Oh, I agree, there isn't one. There is really no compelling argument for DRM that is based in reality (i.e., if it actually could stop pirating copies, that might be legitimate). Personally, I hope to persuade people to boycott DRM'd books. Don't buy them and then strip the DRM off, it only keeps the publisher thinking that public will buy DRM'd books; don't pirate them, that only justifies the publishers pursuing DRM. Just boycott the publishers.

--
Bill

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by bill_mchale

There is really no compelling argument for DRM that is based in reality (i.e., if it actually could stop pirating copies, that might be legitimate).

DRM has never been about preventing pirating or protecting copyrights though. That's what the publishers claim it's for, but it's completely ineffective for that purpose. The real reason for DRM is for generating additional revenue by artificially limiting consumer rights.