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By David Rothman

FreakonomicsMobipocket DRM isn’t quite in the league of the horrors from Adobe or Microsoft, but if anything, it is getting worse. In fact, it’s now dreadful.

Brand M’s DRM denied me access to a book from a commercial retail library on the Net; so much for my membership fee. The same title worked out just great when bought from the Mobipocket store. Hmm. What’s more, trying to enjoy a public library copy of Freakonomics, I’m again encountering some major hassles with Mobipocket DRM. A little pattern here? Ironically I bought my Palm TX in part to be able to use a current version of Mobipocket, which was’t running well on my Sony Clie. But it would appear that the DRM associated with the new Mobipocket–v.5.2, Build 542–is more demanding than with the typical older versions. I suppose I’ll solve my problem, but I really resent the hassles Mobipocket is inflicting on me. See why so many people hate e-books? They haven’t got time for the pain. I can’t even enter more than three PID numbers without asking for permission from Support.

Dan Rose: This is your baby, your part of Amazon. And Mobipocket’s DRM is just part of the problem. Mobipocket, despite past representations to the contrary, is far from OEBPS compliant. It’s in great standing as an inhabitant of the Tower of eBabel. And now you guys are apparently going to push Mobipocket on some unwilling publishers? I don’t mind that you personally seem to have signed off on the Mobipocket purchase. But I will mind it–a lot–if you won’t even talk about solutions.

Jeff Bezos: Since the TeleBlog gets regular accesses from Amazon.com, maybe someone other than Dan Rose can forward this post on to you. I’d welcome some meaningful dialogue with Amazon on the issue of DRM and also e-book standards. Bypass Dan if he won’t deal in good faith.

If you’re going to do e-book software in-house, then encourage him to go for a genuine standards-oriented approch from a credible outfit such as an OASIS-blessed technical committee. If nothing else, that’ll reduce the anti-trust threat in the future. You know how much shareholders love anti-trust suits. Careful, Jeff. How can independent retailers build their businesses around Mobipocket if it isn’t truly standards compliant? You’re their main rival. Unless you use a stardard-oriented approach, you’ll be the laughingstock of e-bookdom once publishers catch on and hear you use the word “Partner.” Who wants to be Toys R Us II?

Meanwhile, based on my experiences, I haven’t the slightest doubt that DRM-related complexities for consumers are a major reason why e-book sales are so pathetic, and why librarians roll their eyes when the word “e-book” enters the conversation. Come to think of it, maybe I should contact the authors of Freakonomics for some insights on the e-book industry’s self-destructive tenciencies–as illustrated by eBabel and Rube Goldbergish DRM.

Even Hilary Rosen, the former RIAA boss, says that interoperability should come ahead of “protection” if need be. She blames proprietary DRM for the inability of the music industry to reach its full potential online. True, Hilary, so true! And the same applies to e-books. No, the complexity issue isn’t the same as the standards issue, but they’re very much related. The more standandization, the easier it will be for the e-book industry to design and deploy DRM systems that aren’t so revenue-hostile. While I’m hardly a booster of DRM, I believe that if you’re going to have it, you need to do it right.

Reminder: I’m a cofounder of OpenReader, which advocates development of e-book standards in a neutral venue such as an OASIS technical committee.

 
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