STUDY SHOWS: Ditching DRM could reduce piracy, prices

[John F]

I didn't say it was a good solution. It is a solution. I thought you were saying that there was no current solution, which baffled me a little.

And you don't have to share your credit card information with all of the people in the household (although I'm not sure about B&N). When you make a purchase, enter the credit card info. After the purchase, delete the credit card info. Apply a little common sense and you should do fine.

FWIW, I wish there wasn't any DRM.

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by John F

I didn't say it was a good solution. It is a solution. I thought you were saying that there was no current solution, which baffled me a little.

And you don't have to share your credit card information with all of the people in the household (although I'm not sure about B&N). When you make a purchase, enter the credit card info. After the purchase, delete the credit card info. Apply a little common sense and you should do fine.

FWIW, I wish there wasn't any DRM.

This is not really possible with (let's say) Amazon DRM - if you have any subscriptions or things like that. Example: I have an Audible subscription on my account for hubby. Since I don't use Audible or audio books period - its not a big deal for him to have all the download capabilities on his computer/phone while I just pay the monthly bill. BUT if he wanted to read an ebook (vs an audio book) he would have to be attached completely to my account. The only way to remove the credit card information is ALSO to stop our Audible account (and believe me when I say that Audible checks to make sure those CCs are up to date. My bank sent a new credit card and Audible sent several emails asap as soon as the old card became inoperable.)

[SeaKing]

Originally Posted by ScalyFreak

Every time I see this, it kind of baffles me a little that someone would think "just share your account" is a good solution. What do you do if there is a change in the household and someone moves out or someone new moves in? There are credit cards involved with practically every single eReader account out there right now, and to share that information with three different people (some of them perhaps a bit too young to understand why paranoia is a virtue in this day and age of identity theft?) is a very good way to ensure that your credit card company tells you "too bad, should have been more careful" when your credit card information becomes compromised.

And that hasn't even begun to touch the more sticky issue of whether parents would want their children, or even their spouse, to have full access to all the books they read. Very few books written for adults are appropriate for all ages.

My friends and relatives just swap readers about. That is the simple thing to do.
We used to do the same thing with movies from Block Buster but not so much now from the Red Box because of the shorter rental times.

Of course you have to be in the same approximate area.

[ScalyFreak]

Originally Posted by SeaKing

My friends and relatives just swap readers about. That is the simple thing to do.

To me, that is an even worse solution. That's like getting around the DRM on PC games by letting my friends borrow my computer.

[afa]

Originally Posted by ScalyFreak

That's like getting around the DRM on PC games by letting my friends borrow my computer.

What if they borrowed your house to play the games in?

[Freeshadow]

depends on the games (adult rated?) and if I'm going to take part in

[Ken Maltby]

Just a more on topic interruption;

The "Social DRM" that B&N uses, as implemented with the Adobe Reader Mobile 9.1.1,
allows for your entering the unlocking data for an initial ebook, on a device and
thereafter when the user of the device opens that ebook (or any others that use the
same unlocking data) the ebook will open without requiring any unlocking data.

You can in that way "initialize" a device so that it can read ebooks, that you provide,
without having to give the user of the device your CC#. The "Hash #" that represents
your unlocking data is all that is used by the Adobe Reader Mobile to unlock the ebooks
during the loading of the ebooks.

Luck;
Ken

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by SeaKing

My friends and relatives just swap readers about. That is the simple thing to do.
We used to do the same thing with movies from Block Buster but not so much now from the Red Box because of the shorter rental times.

Of course you have to be in the same approximate area.

Originally Posted by ScalyFreak

To me, that is an even worse solution. That's like getting around the DRM on PC games by letting my friends borrow my computer.

*shudder*

I agree. I think I might spaz out if I let someone borrow my ereader.

I don't let people borrow ANY books...let alone my ereader.

I guess I'm stingy that way.

[Freeshadow]

no you aren't - I have bad experiences in borrowing books too - don't do it anymore.

[ScalyFreak]

Originally Posted by afa

What if they borrowed your house to play the games in?

Still not a good solution. Why should I have to give up my computer? Or to take this back on-topic, why should I have to give up my 950, with its wishlists, order history, my browser bookmarks, and everything else that is mine.

The easiest and most convenient method to lend a DRMed book to a friend/family member is still to strip the DRM. That way, they can read it just like they could a paper book I lend them.

[stonetools]

Heh, groupthink is a wonderful thing. Apparently, Scaly Freak doesn't even realise that you don't lend ebooks when you break DRM and send copies of ebooks to others: what you are doing is violating the copyright laws. At least he's honest: there's no talk of backing up and archiving stuff here. What matters is "sharing" (another misnomer) his ebook with others.
Of course, you can't "share" an ebook at all if an author doesn't write a book because its not worth his while to do so. Well-known professional authors-people who write to make a living-are the ones who insist on DRM. NOTHING that has been written on this thread would convince such a writer to give up on DRM, since quite a few folks on this thread oppose DRM precisely because it hinders them from violating copyright (what they falsely call "sharing).
I fear that what will happen is that simply fewer quality novels will be produced, as authors go to other forms of writing where their rights and incomes will be protected. We shall see.
Unless and until the " casual sharing" problem is addressed, DRM will continue.

[afa]

Originally Posted by ScalyFreak

The easiest and most convenient method to lend a DRMed book to a friend/family member is still to strip the DRM. That way, they can read it just like they could a paper book I lend them.

Actually, not really just like a paper book. As others have pointed out, with a physical book lending means you give them your copy. This not only means you will not have access to your book for the duration, but also that there is only that one copy being circulated. That will not be the case with ebooks that are stripped and copied.

I'm certainly no fan of DRM, but in this regard I can see the points that stonetools and HarryT made about casual sharing of ebooks.

I would suggest that we in the 'anti-DRM clan' should be careful about promoting such casual sharing. Once we start making arguments in favor of the same, it starts to color the other side's perception of us and causes them to dismiss our legitimate arguments.*



* Edit: The above post (posted while I was writing this) conveniently proves my point. Talk about a weird coincidence.

[ScalyFreak]

Originally Posted by stonetools

Apparently, Scaly Freak doesn't even realise that you don't lend ebooks when you break DRM and send copies of ebooks to others: what you are doing is violating the copyright laws. At least he's honest: there's no talk of backing up and archiving stuff here. What matters is "sharing" (another misnomer) his ebook with others.

I have made multiple posts in this thread where I mentioned that I have a husband, and the conclusion that I'm gay makes far more sense to you than the conclusion that I'm a woman? Only on the internet...

[ScalyFreak]

Originally Posted by afa

Actually, not really just like a paper book. As others have pointed out, with a physical book lending means you give them your copy. This not only means you will not have access to your book for the duration, but also that there is only that one copy being circulated.

Very true, but that's not possible either, not without stripping the DRM. In my case at least, the ability to move a single copy of an ebook back and forth between as many devices as I want to would negate more than 75% of why I want DRM stripped, because that would allow me to pass it on when done with it.

[afa]

I've never tried it, but B&N have a "LendMe" function for their NOOK Books. Some of them, at any rate.