One author's pledge on DRM

[starrigger]

Saturday's Dilbert:

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

It's simple: Amazon made it simple. Using the Kindle is so butt-stoopid simple that customers don't think about the DRM... they don't have to, just to use the Kindle and the Kindle store. And remember, most Kindle users hadn't messed with ebooks before the Kindle... so, NO, they didn't remember anything about that. (Why didn't you tell them?)

The commercial world is chock-full of examples of businesses convincing consumers to do things, including things that are incredibly bad ideas... like max'ing out credit cards and ruining their credit... by the simple expedient of making it butt-stoopid simple for them to do. And we all know Amazon isn't alone in this regard.

The problem is going to rear it's ugly head if anyone gets a different reader that's not from Amazon. Like Someone with a K1 say wants one of the new Sony Readers, gets it and gets totally screwed up trying to figure out how to get the eBook on the new device. Or if you had a Sony 505 and it broke and to replace it, you went with a Kindle and cannot get your eBooks on the Kindle. DRM will bite people and bite them good. At least with devices that use Adobe's Adept, you can interchange the devices and the eBooks will still work.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by starrigger

Saturday's Dilbert:

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Dennis

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by starrigger

Perhaps I should explain my thinking a little further, since that's the flag that most people will raise.

Do I think that some people will steal my books or put them up on the darknet? I'm sure some will. (I don't think the majority will, though.) Most of my books are already up on the darknet. But I think the people inclined to steal them will do so, DRM or no DRM. All but a couple of my books are available somewhere without DRM already.

So, leaving aside the whole question of whether having my books pirated helps or hurts (you know, that obscurity thing), let's just ask, would I rather have some of my books floating around illicitly shared and have more readers, or have the distribution tightly controlled and fewer readers? There's no way to know which would mean more money for me.

My answer is, more readers. I have said before that I would rather go broke from unwisely giving too much away than go broke because my books are languishing in obscurity. Sure, there's a risk. But I think it's a risk worth taking.

In my case, I started with your free eBook(s) and then went and bought more when Fictionwise had them on sale. But if it wasn't for the free eBooks, I would not have bought the ones I did buy.

[Moe The Cat]

Same here, Jon. I started with the freebies Jeffrey put up on his site and went on to purchase more from Fictionwise.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

Remember me why i de-drm my books, or why I have DRM. That's exactly the problem with DRM.

DRM cannot work, for two reasons :
- No security is bullet proof. Everything can and will be cracked.
- Software is buggy. You will always find cases where the drm locks out the legit user.

The pirates have no problem with DRM and the ordinary people gets screwed.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

DRM is about as effective at preventing piracy as the average door lock is at stopping a burglar who is a skilled lock picker. The good ones will go through the door without breaking stride.

But the purpose of a doorlock is not to defeat the professional criminal; it's there to tell the honest person "you're not supposed to go through this door".

DRM is the same. Its purpose is to remind the honest but perhaps misguided user who tries to copy a book for his friends, "sorry, you're not supposed to do that". Obviously it doesn't deter the person who's decided to break the law, any more than a doorlock does.

I'm not defending DRM; just saying why it's there. In an ideal world none of us would need to lock our doors.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Doranna Durgin

Such as it is with my writing, about which I am passionate enough to have devoted my life (well, since I was 12).

However, I do also need to eat. And I do think that I deserve to be paid for my work just as everyone else is, and not to apologize for preferring not to live in poverty (not that anyone has suggested I should, but I feel an implication in the conversation as a whole). So I don't have any embarrassment about my concerns for finding the right balance when it comes to finding the best approach for getting paid for what of mine is being read, whatever it might turn out to be... If I'm uncertain about DRM issues, it's with good reason: my personal stakes are pretty large.

I hope to continue learning here, so I can be wiser about it all.

Where can one find your eBooks available for sale? I've looked on Webscriptions and they are no longer available there.

[johnc]

My problem is with the publisher stopping supporting their DRM. Fortunately in the only case I had was with embiid. They were nice enought to let their customers download the ones they could get permission to without DRM during the shutdown year or so and I was later able to get most of the others when Steve Miller and Sharon Lee went to Baen. But I stay away from DRM books these days.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by HarryT

But the purpose of a doorlock is not to defeat the professional criminal; it's there to tell the honest person "you're not supposed to go through this door".

DRM is the same. Its purpose is to remind the honest but perhaps misguided user who tries to copy a book for his friends, "sorry, you're not supposed to do that". Obviously it doesn't deter the person who's decided to break the law, any more than a doorlock does.

And if it's that ineffective, what's the point of applying it?

The honest customer doesn't need DRM to remind them there are doors they aren't supposed to go through. They won't go through the doors because they are honest, and are aware they shouldn't. The dishonest customer won't be deterred by DRM.

You seem to presume that a lot of otherwise honest people might be tempted by the pirate side of the force, if going there was really easy and DRM free. You may be right, but I'd like to think you aren't.

Ultimately, I do think that enough of the market is honest that publishers can issue DRM free books and authors can make money on them, and that piracy is a nuisance, not a disaster.

I'm not defending DRM; just saying why it's there. In an ideal world none of us would need to lock our doors.

And if you do get burgled, you probably install more locks, and ones that are harder to pick. You also make it harder for yourself to secure your premises on leaving, and get back in on return. (And God help you if you lose your keys.)

You can do the same sort of thing with DRM, with the same sort of added inconvenience for the customer. So you cut down a bit on piracy, and likely lose more sales because your customers can't be bothered to jump through the hoops you have in place.
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Dennis

[JSWolf]

The people who will pirate aren't going to buy anyway. The people who are going to buy will buy unless they find the effort to get to read is not worth the hassle.

When the first Jetbook came out, it did not support any DRM. So those who bought one, would not be customers of eBooks with DRM.

DRM is a lock to which the keys have already been handed out.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

The honest customer doesn't need DRM to remind them there are doors they aren't supposed to go through. They won't go through the doors because they are honest, and are aware they shouldn't.

I'm not at all sure that's true. I think there are very many people out there who haven't got the faintest idea about copyright law and what they are and aren't allowed to do. I was recently speaking to a person I work with, and it came up in conversation that he always buys CDs, copies them only his iPod, and then sells the CD on eBay. He was genuinely shocked when I told him that he was breaking copyright law by doing this. I don't like DRM any more than anyone else does, and always remove it from the books that I buy. But I understand copyright law; I think DRM can be helpful for those who don't.

[Freeshadow]

Originally Posted by HarryT

He was genuinely shocked when I told him that he was breaking copyright law by doing this.

lack of knowledge is a different can of worms IMHO but it's sad that honest and knowing people are to suffer because of thre stupid ones...

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The problem is going to rear it's ugly head if anyone gets a different reader that's not from Amazon. Like Someone with a K1 say wants one of the new Sony Readers, gets it and gets totally screwed up trying to figure out how to get the eBook on the new device. Or if you had a Sony 505 and it broke and to replace it, you went with a Kindle and cannot get your eBooks on the Kindle. DRM will bite people and bite them good. At least with devices that use Adobe's Adept, you can interchange the devices and the eBooks will still work.

Should what you postulate happen, I agree it's a problem. But how likely is it to happen? How big a problem is it?

Reader manufacturers are in competition with each other. There is continual pressure to create new, improved models. Amazon has produced the Kindle 1, 2, DX and 3. Sony has unleashed a number of models, starting with the PRS-500, and going on from there. I expect new and improved nooks in the not that distant future. And that's just the big 3. There are a number of other vendors with their hat in the ring.

I really don't expect the vast majority of Kindle owners to suddenly decide that they want a Sony Reader. Why should they? They have good pricing and unparalleled selection at Amazon, and the Kindle app is available for other platforms like smartphones, if they decide they'd like to read, but not drag their Kindle along with them. I can't imagine what Sony would come up with that would be so compelling they'd be tempted to switch. Similar considerations apply to the other vendors.

Frankly, I see this as a non-issue. I know you loathe Amazon, and feel a need to justify your choice of reader, but personally, I'd find other justifications that are more readily defensible.
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Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm not at all sure that's true. I think there are very many people out there who haven't got the faintest idea about copyright law and what they are and aren't allowed to do. I was recently speaking to a person I work with, and it came up in conversation that he always buys CDs, copies them only his iPod, and then sells the CD on eBay. He was genuinely shocked when I told him that he was breaking copyright law by doing this. I don't like DRM any more than anyone else does, and always remove it from the books that I buy. But I understand copyright law; I think DRM can be helpful for those who don't.

I tend to see the impulse to apply DRM as directly related to the perception of the market on the part of the imposer.

One underlying perception will be the "I'm not OK, they're not OK" variety:
"They're all a bunch of dirty so-and-sos, and if I don't apply DRM, they'll rip me off! It's what I'd do if I were them..."

Another will be the "I'm OK, they're not OK" variety:
"They're all a bunch of dirty so-and-sos, and if I don't apply DRM, they'll rip me off! I wouldn't do that, because I'm a good guy, but they're all bad guys!"

You're proposing another flavor: "I'm OK, they might be OK..."
"I need to apply DRM, because the market is ignorant. They might pirate stuff because they don't know it's a bad thing they aren't supposed to do."

I have a innate negative reaction to the first two above. Mine assumes "I'm OK, and most of them are OK"
"I won't apply DRM because I assume the majority of the market is honest, and won't deliberately rip me off. Sure, there will be pirates, but they'll be there DRM or no. I assume enough of the market will be honest and pay for what they get that I'll stay in business and make money. I'll reserve my efforts for making sure I'm producing products worth paying for, at a price my customers think is fair."

The question is how many folks fall into your proposed category, and what the effect on sales and revenues is from preventing them from casually sharing with their friends because they aren't aware they shouldn't.

I may have a more optimistic view of the market than you do.
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Dennis