Argument in favor of DRM

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by rkomar

What would you do if you couldn't de-worm your ebooks? The technology to keep you from doing that currently exists. It isn't deployed yet, but things are moving in that direction. I would not call it a "straw man".

No, in this case it would be a hypothetical argument. But if such DRM is eventually used, I would buy my books elsewhere. Problem solved.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by ApK

But I don't it's an unreasonable notion that if a sufficiently annoying DRM took a sufficiently large amount of time/knowledge/tools (etc, take your pick), then more people would turn to waiting for someone with the right time/knowledge/tools to do it, and get a copy from them. It's not very huge leap.

The dividing line is between stealing and buying. If I pay for an eBook (and I'm not going to get into the rent/buy argument) then I feel it is my right to read it when and where I want. This does not translate into, "if they make a DRM I can't break, then I have the right to steal the book." The steal/buy dividing line is rock solid for me. Removing DRM from my books is never going to suck me into going to illegal download sites. That's a line I won't cross. Period.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by rcentros

The dividing line is between stealing and buying. If I pay for an eBook (and I'm not going to get into the rent/buy argument) then I feel it is my right to read it when and where I want. This does not translate into, "if they make a DRM I can't break, then I have the right to steal the book." The steal/buy dividing line is rock solid for me. Removing DRM from my books is never going to suck me into going to illegal download sites. That's a line I won't cross. Period.

For some folks the progression would be:

1. I bought the book, I have a right to read it where I want, so I will strip the drm.

2. I bought the book, I have a right to read it where I want, but stripping the drm is beyond my capabilities or tolerance of effort, so I will get a stripped copy from someone who has already done it.

3. I promise I will go out and buy this book as soon as possible, but I'll grab the stripped copy first and make sure it's good.

4. Ooh, look at all the free stuff!

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by ApK

For some folks the progression would be:

1. I bought the book, I have a right to read it where I want, so I will strip the drm.

2. I bought the book, I have a right to read it where I want, but stripping the drm is beyond my capabilities or tolerance of effort, so I will get a stripped copy from someone who has already done it.

3. I promise I will go out and buy this book as soon as possible, but I'll grab the stripped copy first and make sure it's good.

4. Ooh, look at all the free stuff!

Well, "some folks" are thieves.

[FacebookVirus]

Originally Posted by shalym

...which is happening to those who bought Sony readers right now, and will probably be happening to those who bought a Nook in the very near future. I would bet that Kobo will be taking over the Nook customers eventually, just like they did the Sony customers, and we will be hearing from the Nook people who go to buy a book from Kobo.com and can't read it on their Nooks because it is using Kobo's proprietary format. As I said, it's already happening to the people who use Sony's readers.

Shari

Some of us saw it and made the transition a year ago.

[crane3]

Originally Posted by rcentros

No, in this case it would be a hypothetical argument. But if such DRM is eventually used, I would buy my books elsewhere. Problem solved.

For some of us it is too late. I have a "book" for the Palm Tunsten E2; rather it's a dictionary that is tied to ereader.com's ereader pro & is in "pdb" format. I cannot use it because of DRM.

The book is Webster's International Dictionary, Unabridged & would love to have it on my tablet. The dictionary is no longer found on ereader.com.

If I cannot dedrm it, then just an android reader will do. However, DRM is what disables any book for use when the bookseller goes out of business & leave the user "high & dry". When B&N took over, the dictionary wasn't one of the books chosen to be converted by them (B&N).

With a paper copy, everything works but with DRM ebooks, it is buyer beware of ripoffs by the sellers using DRM.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by latepaul

Even if it wasn't trivial to remove I wouldn't call DRM oppressive. Annoying perhaps.

The fact is that if I were to avoid DRM then that means there's certain authors I like that I'd either have to not read or read in paper. I don't agree with DRM but I just don't feel strongly enough to do that.

Some eBook stores have gone out of business and the DRM used can never be updated. DRM has been known to be tied into the computer used. So if you replace the system hard drive or the computer, those eBooks can never be read again since the DRM says it's a different system and generates a new key.

So even if DRM seems harmless, it can be very harmful by not letting you have access to your legally purchased content.

[latepaul]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Some eBook stores have gone out of business and the DRM used can never be updated. DRM has been known to be tied into the computer used. So if you replace the system hard drive or the computer, those eBooks can never be read again since the DRM says it's a different system and generates a new key.

So even if DRM seems harmless, it can be very harmful by not letting you have access to your legally purchased content.

How likely is it that these defunct DRM schemes will be re-introduced? Not very for the same reason you're wary of them.

In any case I still consider DRM more of an annoyance - I didn't say harmless - than "oppressive". It's true that the annoyance could rise to the level where I'd rather not deal with it - in which case I'd stick with my very healthy TBR pile and go back to paper for any new books I just had to have. But I can't see that happening in the foreseeable future.