Yet another thumb of the nose from publishers - Page 15

geertm · 10-16-2010, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vaughnmr

Hmmm... Couldn't you say the same thing about Apple and their iBooks? And what about B&N and it's unique drm. That flavor hasn't been adopted by many others, has it?

But unlike Apple and Amazon (who do not license their DRM to anyone else), B&N has licensed its DRM to Abobe. The B&N DRM is included in the latest release of the Abobe software for e-reader devices and any manufacturer using the Adobe software can add support for the B&N DRM to their e-reader device.
Unfortunately not many have done so, so far. And the most important one, Sony, has chosen not to suport the B&N DRM in their new e-readers.

DMcCunney · 10-16-2010, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by geertm

But unlike Apple and Amazon (who do not license their DRM to anyone else), B&N has licensed its DRM to Abobe. The B&N DRM is included in the latest release of the Abobe software for e-reader devices and any manufacturer using the Adobe software can add support for the B&N DRM to their e-reader device.

Unfortunately not many have done so, so far. And the most important one, Sony, has chosen not to support the B&N DRM in their new e-readers.

I think Amazon is continuing a policy that was in place before they acquired MobiPocket. If you wanted to license MobiPocket for your device, it had to be the only software that supported DRM. So you won't, for example, see a dedicated reader that has both MobiPocket DRM and ePub DRM support. (Bookeen had to release a new device when they wanted to add ePub support, instead of adding it to their existing Cybook product.) There are devices that support both Mobi and ePub, but the ones I've seen use the open source FBReader product as the base. FBReader rolls its own Mobi and ePub support, and doesn't support DRM.

For Amazon, I suspect this is a matter of competition. They want to be the sole source supplier of ebooks to people using the Kindle or Kindle apps, which is why their DRM differs from the original Mobi DRM solution. But they do offer the Kindle as a dedicated reader platform, and probably aren't enthusiastic about other dedicated readers that would directly compete with it and be able to buy books from the Amazon store.

We can hope Sony will reconsider. Sony wants to sell devices, and the devices need content. Sony made a big deal about migrating to ePub and being open, not restricting the Reader owner's choices of where to get content. B&N is a significant source of content, so not supporting it on the Reader is problematic.
______
Dennis

DMcCunney · 10-16-2010, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by murraypaul

There are already Kindle books with audio and video available for the iOS app.

Yes, but what underlying ebook format do they use?
______
Dennis

HarryT · 10-16-2010, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

I think Amazon is continuing a policy that was in place before they acquired MobiPocket. If you wanted to license MobiPocket for your device, it had to be the only software that supported DRM.

Yes, that's perfectly true, and has been attested to by a number of device manufacturers.

Quote:

(Bookeen had to release a new device when they wanted to add ePub support, instead of adding it to their existing Cybook product.)

Not quite right. What Bookeen have actually done is to develop two alternate firmware versions for their CyBook range of reading devices, one of which supports Mobi DRM, and the other Adobe DRM for ePub and PDF. You can download and install whichever of these firmware versions that you wish, or even switch between them (it takes about 5 minutes to reflash the device).

HarryT · 10-16-2010, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Yes, but what underlying ebook format do they use?
______
Dennis

It's an extension of the Mobi format.

DMcCunney · 10-16-2010, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

As of now, the DRM for B&N's ePub has been broken and thus, once stripped, they are standard ePub.

Uh-huh. But how much of the ebook marketplace do you think will know how to strip DRM, or even be interested in learning how to do so?

Most folks just want to read ebooks. If the selection and pricing suits them, they won't care about DRM. (This is why Amazon succeeds with the Kindle. They have enormous selection and pricing the users find acceptable. The users don't care about being locked into Amazon, because they can get what they want.)
______
Dennis

DMcCunney · 10-16-2010, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Not quite right. What Bookeen have actually done is to develop two alternate firmware versions for their CyBook range of reading devices, one of which supports Mobi DRM, and the other Adobe DRM for ePub and PDF. You can download and install whichever of these firmware versions that you wish, or even switch between them (it takes about 5 minutes to reflash the device).

Ah, okay. So you could, for example, reflash your Cybook, and read DRM protected ePub instead of DRM protected Mobi. But it would be one or the other: if you wanted to read both formats on a Bookeen device, you would need two devices.
______
Dennis

HarryT · 10-17-2010, 03:02 AM

Reflashing doesn't wipe your data, so you can read both formats on the same device, but only one format at a time; that's the key point.

DMcCunney · 10-17-2010, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Reflashing doesn't wipe your data, so you can read both formats on the same device, but only one format at a time; that's the key point.

I didn't think it would wipe the data. But unless you feel like reflashing on a regular basis, it sounds like you choose one format or the other, or you have two devices. The fact that you can simply reflash is neat, but I wonder how many Bookeen owners actually do?
______
Dennis

markbot · 10-17-2010, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgaiser

From this morning's New York Times:

2 E-Books Cost More Than Amazon Hardcovers

I haven't bought a kindle book in a long time.

mysweety · 10-22-2010, 08:19 AM

I think we need to support independent publishers who do not force drm on us. After all we are the owners of the devices and should be able to read what and where we want.

Just bought a book from OR books www.orbooks.com for a reasonable price and no drm. Smashwords has a good collection of books so why not stay away from the agency model and let them get on with it.

Anyway we should ask ourselves if we really want to read stuff that has been written just to satisfy commercial criteria!

Freeshadow · 10-22-2010, 01:27 PM

mysweety if it would be that simple...
Yes, there is a lot of stuff out there published just because "that sells ATM - let's follow"
Nevertheless there IS a lot of good stuff too where big pub-houses have their hands on, and I won't be lying to myself telling that's all crap.

What I'm actually doing is writing to said houses asking about DRM-free editions, whereby I honestly point out that I'd rather be willing to sell my pback editions and buy uncrippled e-books, but if there 's no such offer, I'd keep the paper and do the ebooks based on these by myself. My hope is that there might be more people doing so, thus the publishers realize where the money is to be taken from.

and YES I'm nasty enough to wait and grab a used pback just to assure my wallet-vote doesn't backfire into "people want pbooks".

If they want to learn it the same hard way recording companies did - well it's a pity but certainly not my fault.

mysweety · 10-31-2010, 07:02 AM

Hi Freeshadow.
I never said that all the stuff published by the big pubs is crap. But i do say that there is loads of good stuff around that is drm free and for a reasonable price. Certainly more than enough to keep me going.

Just to read 10% of the classicas freely availble would probably take a couple of lifetimes.

Anyway good luck with your project.

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10-17-2010, 03:02 AM	#218
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,548 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Reflashing doesn't wipe your data, so you can read both formats on the same device, but only one format at a time; that's the key point.

10-22-2010, 08:19 AM	#221
mysweety Connoisseur Posts: 61 Karma: 7104 Join Date: Jul 2009 Device: Hanlin V3, PB360	I think we need to support independent publishers who do not force drm on us. After all we are the owners of the devices and should be able to read what and where we want. Just bought a book from OR books www.orbooks.com for a reasonable price and no drm. Smashwords has a good collection of books so why not stay away from the agency model and let them get on with it. Anyway we should ask ourselves if we really want to read stuff that has been written just to satisfy commercial criteria!

10-22-2010, 01:27 PM	#222
Freeshadow temp. out of service Posts: 2,815 Karma: 24285242 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Duisburg (DE) Device: PB 623	mysweety if it would be that simple... Yes, there is a lot of stuff out there published just because "that sells ATM - let's follow" Nevertheless there IS a lot of good stuff too where big pub-houses have their hands on, and I won't be lying to myself telling that's all crap. What I'm actually doing is writing to said houses asking about DRM-free editions, whereby I honestly point out that I'd rather be willing to sell my pback editions and buy uncrippled e-books, but if there 's no such offer, I'd keep the paper and do the ebooks based on these by myself. My hope is that there might be more people doing so, thus the publishers realize where the money is to be taken from. and YES I'm nasty enough to wait and grab a used pback just to assure my wallet-vote doesn't backfire into "people want pbooks". If they want to learn it the same hard way recording companies did - well it's a pity but certainly not my fault.

10-31-2010, 07:02 AM	#223
mysweety Connoisseur Posts: 61 Karma: 7104 Join Date: Jul 2009 Device: Hanlin V3, PB360	Hi Freeshadow. I never said that all the stuff published by the big pubs is crap. But i do say that there is loads of good stuff around that is drm free and for a reasonable price. Certainly more than enough to keep me going. Just to read 10% of the classicas freely availble would probably take a couple of lifetimes. Anyway good luck with your project.

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