Comments on: ‘UK retailers to record labels: DRM is killing us’: Now what happens when Amazon customers wise up about Kindle’s ‘protection’?

By: Mike Cane

Mike Cane — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 17:02:49 +0000

>>>And if it is bitrate you’re talking about, you should also mention the type of encoding (file format), since better compressors can pack higher quality sound in the same amount of bits.

Yes, bitrate. Thanks for clarifying that for everyone. You can tell I’m not an audio person… (nor should you ever ask me to sing!).

By: thedigitalist.net » links for 2007-11-24

thedigitalist.net » links for 2007-11-24 — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 03:34:17 +0000

[...] ‘UK retailers to record labels: DRM is killing us’: Now what happens when Amazon custome… A warning shot fired across the bows of the Kindle as the DRM backlash warms up. Big calls for the .epub to made available on the Amazon device. (tags: kindle drm music) [...]

By: Branko Collin

Branko Collin — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 01:16:26 +0000

Mike Cane, are you talking about bitrate? A sampling rate of 128,000 Hz is quite high, and sampling rates this high are typically only used by recording studios (and perhaps scientists). Very few human ears (typically children) can hear sounds over 22 kHz.

And if it is bitrate you’re talking about, you should also mention the type of encoding (file format), since better compressors can pack higher quality sound in the same amount of bits.

By: Mike Cane

Mike Cane — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 18:05:31 +0000

Paul: Hmmm… you have better luck at Fictionwise than I do. I have 46 books in my Bookshelf. All freebies. Of the first 25 (all I’ve bothered to check), only *3* can be had in Sony LRF format!

By: Mike Cane

Mike Cane — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 17:58:58 +0000

DRM or no DRM, there is an additional factor to consider with music: sampling rate. iTunes does it at 128k, IIRC. I rip higher than that and so do many people. In fact, the DRM-free tracks at iTunes are 256k, which is actually higher than I rip myself. What accounts for the higher sampling is not just being able to reprice them (they’ve since all become 99 cents again), but the prevalence of broadband connections to accommodate the d/ling of larger files. Apple chose the original 128k as being good enough for sound as well as fast enough for d/ling — as well as taking into consideration iPod storage capacity. Now imagine iTunes going to *all* 256 sampling. Would people have to re-buy the music?!

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/04/02itunes.html

At least with ebooks, you don’t have to worry about sampling! The biggest hassles are finding DRM-strippers and the possible annoyance of having to reformat the liberated text to a different file format. If epub is adopted widely, then only the DRM issue remains…

By: Paul Biba

Paul Biba — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 17:36:36 +0000

Keep in mind that a lot, maybe most, of the ebooks available in Mobipocket format are not DRMed. The same for eReader and Sony Reader. Just go to Fictionwise and you will see that most of their books are free of restrictions. Most of my library is in Mobipocket format I am now switching over to Sony format which I can do for free at Fictionwise. All I have to do is re-download the books in the new format. I have 283 books in my library and all of them are available in 12 different formats and can be re-downloaded in a new format any time I like.

We have many discussions about DRM on this site, but I think it is important for newer ebook converts to realize that there is a vast library of current, not Gutenberg-type classics, books that are available in non-DRM format.

The thing that worries me about Mobipocket non-DRM, at this point in time, is that it looks as if Amazon is thinking about phasing it out – at least that’s what the Kindle, and the new Kindle format, implies to me.

By: Tamas Simon

Tamas Simon — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 16:49:36 +0000

I have never bought a Mobipocket ebook but if I had I would feel pretty bad if I could not read it on a dedicated reader device even from the same company.

That’s just sick!

By: Blue Tyson

Blue Tyson — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 13:58:52 +0000

Doubt there are very many people with hundred year old books. If so, they were likely expensive hardbacks, so they should last longer.

There would be countless examples of books falling apart in a fraction of that time, though.

New DRM format a bad idea, certainly.

By: CarolA

CarolA — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 12:58:14 +0000

Yes, some of my favourite PBooks are well over 100 years old – I wonder how many DRM’d books could be read in 100 years!! Amazing how a fragile paper book can survive years of mishandling, a severe climate and various insect pests, but a DRM’d book can be eliminated in one hardware update.
Having to tranfer data to new media might be a pain; I have had to transfer photos from floppies to CD’s to DVD’s, but at least I can do that, they didn’t just disappear.

By: Brian Carnell

Brian Carnell — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 05:22:31 +0000

Omar notes that he can’t read the books he bought from Sony on his Kindle, and vice versa — can’t read those AZW files on his Sony reader.

So I don’t understand why people would buy from either vendor. But then I’ve never understood why people by DRMed music from the iTunes store either.