07-15-2003, 11:00 PM
|
|
Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
|
|
eBook Publishers Sickening Of DRM Too!
Publishers of ebooks are beginning to tire if the problems consumers are having with current DRM technologies. I presume this is mainly because consumers either don't buy the ebook because of the DRM hassle or they cost the publisher/retailer money in support calls working through the DRM hassle.
The Association of American Publishers Enabling Technologies Committee and the American Library Association Of Information Technology Policy issued a white paper in March of 2003 titled What Consumers Want In Digital Rights Management (DRM): Making Content as Widely Available as Possible In Ways that Satisfy Consumer Preferences, which you can download here (800K Adobe PDF file) and read the full report yourself. Areas the paper focused on included, but were not limited to:
� Ability to move content from one device to another
� Ability to transfer ebooks, either lending or donating, to another party
� Format interoperability
� Consistency of ebook reader's basic features
� User friendly libraries for consumers to keep their content
I love the first sentence of their recommendations. "The first generation of DRM products was designed to protect content. In many ways, it may do that too well." I'll say. Some implementations (*cough* DRM5 *cough*) protected content so well nobody could easily read the book. Let's hope something useful comes of this study.
|
| |
|
|
|
07-15-2003, 11:18 PM
|
|
Philosopher
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 545
|
|
eBooks
I have bought one book. I cannot lend it out and everytime I upgrade I have to re-activate the device that has been upgraded! :evil: This is why I have not bought more.
|
| |
|
|
|
07-15-2003, 11:23 PM
|
|
5000+ Posts? I Should OWN This Site!
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 5,616
|
|
Re: eBook Publishers Sickening Of DRM Too!
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Ed Hansberry
� Ability to move content from one device to another
|
*cough* RIAA, ARE YOU LISTENING?!?
(sorry if this is considered OT but I have the same issue with both media.)
__________________
iPhone 4! ☠☠☠ Mid-2010 15" MacBook Pro! ☠☠☠ Gateway LT2102h! ☠☠☠ Dell XPS M1210!
|
| |
|
|
|
07-16-2003, 12:48 AM
|
|
Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 6,305
|
|
I had an issue with a ebook i had purchased. After getting a new device and a new email address, I couldnt access the book any more. I paid for it now i cant read it??? Enough!
If I had bought a paperback I could have lent it to 10 friends, moved to a new house in another country and still been able to read the same book.
:frusty:
|
| |
|
|
|
07-16-2003, 02:20 AM
|
|
Sage
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 718
|
|
Well, I'm not sure that lending it to friends is a legitimate complaint of DRM. They should buy their own if they want to read it 
But moving it to another platform or device you own is a legitimate complaint.
|
| |
|
|
|
07-16-2003, 02:25 AM
|
|
Intellectual
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 120
|
|
I am probably as avid a fan of eBooks as you will find, and have been experimenting with formats since the day I first set up my Compaq '2010c PC Companion'. The article overlooked a few formats and readers that I encountered. Somewhere I have at least one 'book' that came on CD and could only be read on that CD. Fortunately most - but not all - of the books I previously purchased were released in other formats. I didn't really like having to re-purchase them however.
Microsoft's approach (which has been adopted for 'Secure Mobibook' and Adobe, I believe) of limiting the number of devices upon which a book may be loaded certainly is a basis for the concern that DRM 'Builds in Obsolescence'. This is my single biggest concern. By now I have a considerable investment of several hundred ebooks, and I just don't want buy something that might 'expire' if my finite number of devices die and I can't get permission for an upgrade.
This approach mirrors the handling of Operating systems and costly applications. To combat piracy it doesn't strike me as unreasonable for Microsoft to protect a license by tying it to a machine. Operating system releases have a limited life expectancy; the books I buy have a far longer one.
Libraries and the eBooks they lend are in a completely different position. Negotiating numbers of times that a book may be read, tying it to a specific device for each 'read', and setting up an expiration date do not seem unreasonable processes for borrowed books.
I occasionally use the Public Library if I can't find a book that I wish to purchase, or if I want to read a book but don't plan to reread it. But because I want the benefits of a physical personal library without the space and dusting requirements, I need to have a sense of permanence for my purchases.
I am, by the way, comfortable with the Peanut Press approach because there are so many available platforms, and I will surely be able to find SOMETHING upon which to load and read my library for a very long time. I just don't feel that way about any other current approach to eBook Security.
|
| |
|
|
|
07-16-2003, 02:43 AM
|
|
Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 6,305
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by DaleReeck
Well, I'm not sure that lending it to friends is a legitimate complaint of DRM. They should buy their own if they want to read it
But moving it to another platform or device you own is a legitimate complaint. |
My point was no publisher is trying to stop me from doing that.
|
| |
|
|
|
07-16-2003, 03:17 AM
|
|
Thinker
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 342
|
|
Maybe I am in the minority, but I enjoy reading ms reader books. I have purchased several and have download the free ms promotional books. Yes, I do wish the libraries were more extensive. I will even admit that I have download not so DMR protected books that I owned in paper format just so I could take them on the road without having to carry them around or because they were not available in .lit format.
I think peoples complaint that they cannot lend out digital books is ludicrous and a sign a ridiculous sense of entitlement that is all to pervasive in today's society. You cannot hold digital and physical property in the same light. If you lend your new potter to you neighbor it does not suddenly multiple into a million perfect copies.
As for different devices. I read .lit books on my ipaq, laptop, and desktop. They are all activated to the same account. If you are talking about a non compatible MS devices? Is anyone shocked when MS doesn't play well with others?
|
| |
|
|
|
07-16-2003, 03:22 AM
|
|
Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 6,305
|
|
You have a good point about a million digital copies. That would not be right at all. There should be a way though to read what you bought and paid more for in this format and not lose it because you changed email addresses.
What about a keycode like we have for software.
|
| |
|
|
|
07-16-2003, 03:29 AM
|
|
Thinker
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 342
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Lasher
You have a good point about a million digital copies. That would not be right at all. There should be a way though to read what you bought and paid more for in this format and not lose it because you changed email addresses.
What about a keycode like we have for software.
|
That is why I set up a hotmail account specifically for my reader books.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Linear Mode
