Kindle store: Indies avoid DRM to reach wider audience

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by Sregener

Yet. The day will come when the publishers insist that being able to examine the content of hard drives is necessary to enforce their copyright and some lawyer will create a compelling enough case that a technologically-ignorant judge will grant it.

If the government can already examine many aspects of your life without your permission and without a legitimate court order (kangaroo courts need not apply), what makes you think your hard drive is sacred?

Nothing is sacred perhaps If someone wanted to they could pretty well find out anything about anybody, even without the internet.

Finding something on my hard drive, would just require them getting a warrant, which if someone wanted to do badly enough I am sure that they could.

But Amazon could not arbitrarily delete my backups from my hard drive(s) using the internet. They could if I had just one backup and it was attached to an internet enabled computer. Not the case for many people.

And some would find it a little hard to believe that a monkey even has a hard drive, so his should be doubly safe.

Helen

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by tompe

Well they can. If Amazon does not allow DRM then publishers will not stop selling books through Amazon.

Sure they would. And can Amazon legally remove the rights of a publisher to protect their product as the publisher sees fit? Smacks of force and coercion to say the least.

Amazon developed DRM for kindle formats because they felt it was to their advantage, possibly because the publishers demanded it before they would sell on Amazon. No one forced DRM on Amazon, and Amazon forced DRM on no one.

Helen

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by bookmole

DRM implies that you are a criminal, that you cannot be trusted to own a piece of electronica without sharing it . . .

Criminal is a strong word. But if, in violation of law, you can get something without paying for it, and with no chance of being caught, most people will probably do it, at least at some points in their lives. That's why cheating on taxes is described as a national pastime in multiple countries. And that's why, according to one US study, Overall, 4 out of every 5 teenagers (80%) have engaged in some type of music piracy in the past six months. Yes, it's an on-line survey. But the survey company (scroll down to methodology in my link), Harris, is mainstream, and the finding is consistent with my own discussions with college students.

What about library borrowers? Most people here seem to think DRM is fine for them. Can anyone explain why it might be OK to imply that a library borrower like myself is a crook, while book-buyers are sacrosanct?

The whole idea of checking out paper books at the library, by the same reasoning, implies that borrowers are criminals. Why not just let people walk out with books on the honor system?

And why not let people drop the cost of goods in a pay box as they walk out of a store?

Answer: In a few small isolated towns where everyone knows everyone else, I've heard of the pay box system working. But, in larger communities, most people are not always law-abiding.

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

And that's why, according to one US study, Overall, 4 out of every 5 teenagers (80%) have engaged in some type of music piracy in the past six months. Yes, it's an on-line survey.

Funny, I don't recall seeing any such surveys when people still pirated music by making analog tape copies. I mean, did anyone complain back then? When I was in high school, many years ago even before the CD was invented, I remember we ALL made copies of music and audio books from each other. Nobody called anyone a pirate or criminal then. What changed?

[MikeB1972]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

Funny, I don't recall seeing any such surveys when people still pirated music by making analog tape copies. I mean, did anyone complain back then? When I was in high school, many years ago even before the CD was invented, I remember we ALL made copies of music and audio books from each other. Nobody called anyone a pirate or criminal then. What changed?

Ease and scale of distribution

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by MikeB1972

Ease and scale of distribution

I am not convinced. Copying tapes wasn't exactly difficult. Distribution even less so (literally everyone I knew copied audio tapes, every age group included). The end result was the same: those who didn't want to buy the original didn't buy the original.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

I am not convinced. Copying tapes wasn't exactly difficult. Distribution even less so (literally everyone I knew copied audio tapes, every age group included). The end result was the same: those who didn't want to buy the original didn't buy the original.

I made liberal use of copying music to tape. First it was reel-to-reel, then cassette. When CD's came around, I switched formats.

Then the internet came along and I no longer had a need to buy music. I now get the vast majority of my music from two sources - FM radio and the net (TuneIn Radio, Radio.com, YouTube, Slacker, etc). Rarely, I'll listen to my CD collection.

Why buy music when it's legally available for free all over the net?

[avantman42]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

Funny, I don't recall seeing any such surveys when people still pirated music by making analog tape copies. I mean, did anyone complain back then? When I was in high school, many years ago even before the CD was invented, I remember we ALL made copies of music and audio books from each other. Nobody called anyone a pirate or criminal then. What changed?

They did complain in the UK. The UK music industry ran a big Home Taping is Killing Music campaign. I think CDs had been invented by then, but they were very rare - most people bought LPs.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

Funny, I don't recall seeing any such surveys when people still pirated music by making analog tape copies. I mean, did anyone complain back then? When I was in high school, many years ago even before the CD was invented, I remember we ALL made copies of music and audio books from each other. Nobody called anyone a pirate or criminal then. What changed?

I remember the record companies being very vocal in their opposition to dual-deck cassette recorders. And the movie business hated home video recorders.

The big media companies have been complaining about piracy for decades. Despite there not being much evidence that it has affected their bottom line, they've managed to get a number of draconian laws passed, which may be why we're hearing a bit more about it in the news nowadays.

[speakingtohe]

In Canada there was a tax put on Cassette tapes that was supposed to go to musicians and before that a tax on photocopier paper that was supposed to go to authors etc.. There was definitely a bit of noise made by rightsholders to accomplish this.

Helen

[BearMountainBooks]

I've posted before on these topics to say, "I'm a writer and NO ONE has ever asked me about DRM. They don't ask me whether I have it, have never complained, etc." Well, recently I made a couple of my short stories free on kobobooks. Lo! Behold! Someone actually wrote me and mentioned that one of the stories had DRM and did I mean to use it.

I explained to the reader that I have put it on about half my books (really as an experiment). For a freebie, I don't want people emailing the book (or any other book come to think of it) because it affects visibility. If people email the copy, I don't get the visibility at the vendors, and visibility is highly coveted by any writer.

At any rate, I removed the DRM from the freebie since there was a request (after some 5 years of doing this)! I have no real beef with or without DRM. The reader didn't either and seemed to have a very good understanding of why it was important for fans to download from the vendor sites.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

For a freebie, I don't want people emailing the book (or any other book come to think of it) because it affects visibility. If people email the copy, I don't get the visibility at the vendors, and visibility is highly coveted by any writer.

Interesting...
I can see where DRM'ing a freebie would make sense as a way to maximize unique downloads, even for authors that don't DRM their paid books.
Sensible.

A new wrinkle to consider.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Interesting...
I can see where DRM'ing a freebie would make sense as a way to maximize unique downloads, even for authors that don't DRM their paid books.
Sensible.

A new wrinkle to consider.

That was my thinking. The problem with free is that people think, "Well, it's free so it doesn't matter if I share it." And technically it doesn't as it isn't a "lost" sale. But visibility is HUGE to an author and as everyone here knows, it's the primary reasons books are free on Amazon. They get the rankings up and then when it goes off free, eyeballs see it and they get sales. It doesn't work for everyone, but it obviously works.

So my fiendish plan was to DRM it so that people would just go grab it from retailer X.

But honestly, the number of people who understand how to mail a book file and transfer it to their kindle isn't all that large. I get asked that question a lot. When I gave away a short story using "Send to Kindle" you wouldn't believe the number of emails I fielded for "how do I get this to work." Some were honest glitches (Send to Kindle doesn't work with at least one version if IE) but some people just didn't understand something new and different.

And for me, it was some new eyeballs, but it doesn't stick. You need the retailer's storefront to get return eyeballs.

When people ask me about DRM, I tell them quite honestly it isn't a trust issue for me. It's to make it EASIER to download from a retailer than to email and share a file.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

That was my thinking. The problem with free is that people think, "Well, it's free so it doesn't matter if I share it." And technically it doesn't as it isn't a "lost" sale.

Not a lost sale but it probably is a (technical) copyright violation.
To some people "free" = "PD", "freely redistributable", etc.
And, unless explicitly stated, it isn't.
Most free ebook promotions are only "free to you, today".

DRM'ing (in-copyright) freebies can drive that home without having to preach. Kinda elegant, actually.

[John Carroll]

As an author, my biggest concern is that my readers can read my books as easily as possible. Therefore, I never add DRM, always allow lending, allow sampling and allow libraries to get my books at the same price as everyone else.

That said, I DO like to make enough to buy a little bit of food and shelter.