Can textbook go drm free ?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

I reiterate -- they are in it for the filthy lucre. That is the usual, default, 99.999999999999999999999999999999999% guaranteed reason for someone selling (for the aforementioned filthy lucre) the product they spent tremendous amounts of time creating, marketing, and selling (or negotiating with a publisher to sell for them).

Especially at those prices.

[tomsem]

California is funding development of open-source textbooks for K-12 consumption. Looks like they'll be doing some pilot implementation as early as next year. Apart from the stated goals of being 'low cost', 'up to date' and 'with public access' the details are a bit thin AFAICT. But it seems they are talking about digital materials without DRM and with some sort of Creative Commons licensing. And it remains to be seen if it will be successful in delivering the stated goals.

Also, while MOOCs (both nonprofit and commercial) may be over-hyped, I think it is not difficult to envisage how they can eventually displace the need for traditional textbooks. Of course textbook publishers are looking for a piece of that pie as well (e.g. Pearson Education).