Comments on: Henry Melton on digital pirates, DRM http://www.teleread.com/drm/henry-melton-on-digital-pirates-drm/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:30:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Spider Mattheson http://www.teleread.com/drm/henry-melton-on-digital-pirates-drm/comment-page-1/#comment-1040231 Spider Mattheson Sun, 19 Apr 2009 07:30:27 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/18/henry-melton-on-digital-pirates-drm/#comment-1040231 This guy seems rather ignorant about the effectiveness of DRM. Also, I don't think it's a good idea to coddle or baby society. People don't like to be treated that way and when they are, they rebel. DRM does more to promote piracy than it does to prevent. Melton can call it immature or ignorant to "the economics of media production" but recently there has been increasing evidence that copyright and patent laws may do more to stifle future creativity than promote it. When people aren't guaranteed a life-long monopoly, they tend to strive to innovate and produce more so as to continually earn an income. Regardless, piracy can't be stopped. The best bet is to find a reason to make people purchase the work. Fortunately, this is not a lost cause. More than a few artists have been able to make this work for themselves. Complaining about the facts and calling the consumers "immature" doesn't change the fact and simply points out a person's unwillingness to adapt to an evolving market. Maybe he should try being a little more creative by reaching out to consumers and giving them a reason to buy. I'll give some props to Melton for offering DRM free versions of his books but his reasoning is flawed. A proof of purchase can be faked and even if someone did buy the book, it does not mean that person is not willing to put it up somewhere for free. Melton, like most of the entertainment industry, is unwilling to face the facts of the future market of his product. Who is more immature than whom? This guy seems rather ignorant about the effectiveness of DRM. Also, I don’t think it’s a good idea to coddle or baby society. People don’t like to be treated that way and when they are, they rebel. DRM does more to promote piracy than it does to prevent. Melton can call it immature or ignorant to “the economics of media production” but recently there has been increasing evidence that copyright and patent laws may do more to stifle future creativity than promote it. When people aren’t guaranteed a life-long monopoly, they tend to strive to innovate and produce more so as to continually earn an income. Regardless, piracy can’t be stopped. The best bet is to find a reason to make people purchase the work. Fortunately, this is not a lost cause. More than a few artists have been able to make this work for themselves. Complaining about the facts and calling the consumers “immature” doesn’t change the fact and simply points out a person’s unwillingness to adapt to an evolving market. Maybe he should try being a little more creative by reaching out to consumers and giving them a reason to buy.

I’ll give some props to Melton for offering DRM free versions of his books but his reasoning is flawed. A proof of purchase can be faked and even if someone did buy the book, it does not mean that person is not willing to put it up somewhere for free. Melton, like most of the entertainment industry, is unwilling to face the facts of the future market of his product. Who is more immature than whom?

]]> By: Brad http://www.teleread.com/drm/henry-melton-on-digital-pirates-drm/comment-page-1/#comment-1040166 Brad Sun, 19 Apr 2009 04:03:08 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/18/henry-melton-on-digital-pirates-drm/#comment-1040166 Mr. Melton has it exactly right! I also applaud him for giving away DRM-free ebooks to people who bought his ebook, no matter the format or if it has been DRMed. If other authors follow Mr. Melton's lead, publishers and companies who insist on restrictive DRM (cough...Amazon) would be forced to change. Mr. Melton has it exactly right! I also applaud him for giving away DRM-free ebooks to people who bought his ebook, no matter the format or if it has been DRMed. If other authors follow Mr. Melton’s lead, publishers and companies who insist on restrictive DRM (cough…Amazon) would be forced to change.

]]> By: Cat Faber http://www.teleread.com/drm/henry-melton-on-digital-pirates-drm/comment-page-1/#comment-1040101 Cat Faber Sun, 19 Apr 2009 00:41:56 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/18/henry-melton-on-digital-pirates-drm/#comment-1040101 <i>DRM on every major e-book format (not to mention DVD, HD-DVD, most computer games, etc.) has been cracked, and the cracks can be found with about five minutes of Googling.</i> Except topaz, right? DRM on every major e-book format (not to mention DVD, HD-DVD, most computer games, etc.) has been cracked, and the cracks can be found with about five minutes of Googling.

Except topaz, right?

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