Readium LCP DRM

[xyzzy_foo]

Originally Posted by xyzzy_foo

BOOK☆WALKER Global, the global division of the Japanese eBook store BOOK☆WALKER (KADOKAWA Group), will migrate from the Japan and Global stores’ common proprietary DRM to Readium LCP in February.

BookWalker Platform Update: February Release

Surprise! The New BookWalker Experience Arrives Soon!｜BOOK☆WALKER - Digital Manga & Light Novels

As of yesterday, that wasn't the official announcement; they had just accidentally leaked it early.

[xyzzy_foo]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

What did they mean, "allows use on any viewer?" It doesn't.

In other words, they love to force people onto their own reading systems with their proprietary DRM, which they believe is uncrackable, locking them into a walled garden to keep making money.
It's no surprise that people in Japan complain daily on places like X about the lack of interoperability in Japanese eBooks.

This is also one of the reasons why eReaders aren't popular in Japan. Even if people purchase Kobo eReaders, they have no content to sideload, so they're essentially forced to purchase eBooks from Rakuten Kobo.

Unfortunately for them, however, there's no such thing as uncrackable DRM, and in fact, several DRM schemes have already been cracked. These cracks were kept secret so they wouldn't notice, but companies like Epubor and DVDFab have no hesitation in breaking DRM as a business. They'll find out eventually, too.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by xyzzy_foo

In other words, they love to force people onto their own reading systems with their proprietary DRM, which they believe is uncrackable, locking them into a walled garden to keep making money.
It's no surprise that people in Japan complain daily on places like X about the lack of interoperability in Japanese eBooks.

This is also one of the reasons why eReaders aren't popular in Japan. Even if people purchase Kobo eReaders, they have no content to sideload, so they're essentially forced to purchase eBooks from Rakuten Kobo.

Unfortunately for them, however, there's no such thing as uncrackable DRM, and in fact, several DRM schemes have already been cracked. These cracks were kept secret so they wouldn't notice, but companies like Epubor and DVDFab have no hesitation in breaking DRM as a business. They'll find out eventually, too.

Thank you. That was interesting.

One wonders if that makes book piracy a popular choice (if there are any Japanese ebooks on illegal sites, of course)...

[Cactus Chef]

Originally Posted by xyzzy_foo

This is also one of the reasons why eReaders aren't popular in Japan. Even if people purchase Kobo eReaders, they have no content to sideload, so they're essentially forced to purchase eBooks from Rakuten Kobo.

eReaders aren't popular in Japan? That must be news to Kobo, who released a special edition of the Kobo Aura ONE specifically aimed at Manga readers:

https://global.rakuten.com/corp/news...7/1030_01.html

[Logl]

Does anyone have a way to scrape images from BookWalker’s new web viewer via its API?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Logl

Does anyone have a way to scrape images from BookWalker’s new web viewer via its API?

If there is a Windows app, a hi-res monitor and take screen grabs.

[Logl]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If there is a Windows app, a hi-res monitor and take screen grabs.

Taking screenshots isn’t optimal if I want to fetch the images automatically for my app

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Logl

Taking screenshots isn’t optimal if I want to fetch the images automatically for my app

Neither is the app. But if it can be done, it would be the best solution that I know of.

[xyzzy_foo]

購入した電子書籍がサービス終了後も問題なく読み続けられるような“所有できるDRM”は日本でも普及する だろうか？（してほしい） | HON.jp メールマガジン

Although their paid subscription is required to read the full text, I was curious about the statement in this article that "it has been revealed that Rakuten Kobo will also transition to LCP in 2026," so I investigated the original seminar video (fortunately, while Claude Opus 4.7 failed to analyze it due to bot detection, Gemini 3.1 Pro naturally handled it effortlessly).

According to the video, it was mentioned that "starting next year (next term), Kobo's e-reader devices, apps, and the Kobo e-book store will all directly comply with and support LCP." This seminar was held last November.
Therefore, while the future of the traditional KDRM / Adobe ADEPT DRM remains unclear, it has been revealed that Kobo.com will support Readium LCP. This is a welcome development for me.

However, as the interpreter noted, it is uncertain whether this includes Japan. Japanese publishers are opposed to adopting Readium LCP.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by xyzzy_foo

購入した電子書籍がサービス終了後も問題なく読み続けられるような“所有できるDRM”は日本でも普及する だろうか？（してほしい） | HON.jp メールマガジン

Although their paid subscription is required to read the full text, I was curious about the statement in this article that "it has been revealed that Rakuten Kobo will also transition to LCP in 2026," so I investigated the original seminar video (fortunately, while Claude Opus 4.7 failed to analyze it due to bot detection, Gemini 3.1 Pro naturally handled it effortlessly).

According to the video, it was mentioned that "starting next year (next term), Kobo's e-reader devices, apps, and the Kobo e-book store will all directly comply with and support LCP." This seminar was held last November.
Therefore, while the future of the traditional KDRM / Adobe ADEPT DRM remains unclear, it has been revealed that Kobo.com will support Readium LCP. This is a welcome development for me.

However, as the interpreter noted, it is uncertain whether this includes Japan. Japanese publishers are opposed to adopting Readium LCP.

If Kobo was to drop Adept DRM, then there would no longer be any support for Overdrive. I cannot see Kobo doing that. That would be a major mistake if they did that.

[xyzzy_foo]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If Kobo was to drop Adept DRM, then there would no longer be any support for Overdrive. I cannot see Kobo doing that. That would be a major mistake if they did that.

Dual support for Adobe ADEPT / Readium LCP is currently the most viable path. KDRM is no longer needed. On Kobo.com, it is possible to replace ACSM downloads with LCPL downloads.

[John F]

Originally Posted by xyzzy_foo

Dual support for Adobe ADEPT / Readium LCP is currently the most viable path. KDRM is no longer needed. On Kobo.com, it is possible to replace ACSM downloads with LCPL downloads.

Possible, yes, but does it make financial sense. I wonder how many of Kobo's ebook purchases get downloaded as EPUB. Other ereaders, apps, libraries, ...

Personally, I like Kobo hardware/software, but I'm not in the Kobo garden.

[JSWolf]

All of the eBooks I get from Kobo that have DRM come down as ePub and all of the eBooks without DRM now come down as KePub.

[DNSB]

For what it may be worth, Kobo's v5 firmware for their ereaders which is currently aimed mostly at satisfying the EU's accessibility requirements but it does supports both LCP and ADEPT DRM. While the Readium based Kobo proprietary renderer handles LCP DRMmed ebooks, they still support the RMSDK renderer for Adobe Adept DRMmed ebooks (library loans, other ePub vendors, whatever). I also opened a couple of Kobo ebooks that going by the internal files were KDRM so it appears that all 3 are supported.

When I last looked at 5.13.241243, I opened two LCP DRMmed ebooks, one from University of Chicago press and one from a store with LCP 1.0 and LCP 2.1 profiles.

[Aleron Ives]

Originally Posted by xyzzy_foo

On Kobo.com, it is possible to replace ACSM downloads with LCPL downloads.

I wonder if this will continue to be the case, or whether Kobo will only offer LCPL downloads in the future, and ACSM will be kept only for library loans. Since Kobo is continuing to keep RMSDK in the firmware, perhaps that means both formats will be available from the Kobo website.