Scary thought: Is Amazon hoping that that we’ll all just give up on third-party devices for e-reading books in Mobi format and buy Kindles when the price is lower? The “Just shop elsewhere” argument against this scenario will carry less weight if Amazon locks up enough book with its DRM system. The magic word here is “convenience.” That’s the philosophy behind Amazon’s wireless approach to eliminate PC/reader sync hassles. Similarly it explains why Amazon will combine newspaper subscription options with book-purchase capabilities. Oh, great. Imagine a server shutdown—like Mobi’s recent fiasco—denying you access to both books and news. Let’s hope the system won’t be too centralized.
Reminder for publishers: Without DRM interoperability standards, copy “protection” technology will favor Amazon-style corporations—giving you less say in the distribution process. In a Catch 22, however, tech companies in the IDPF might take forever to agree on interoperability. This is yet another reason for IDPF to get out an epub logo that would apply to DRMless books based on the standard. Social DRM would help as well. (Thanks, Alex.)
"Small quibble. You wrote about Kobo: "They don’t have reviews or a recommendation engine ... " this is only partly true. Kobo now has personalised ..."
Amazon‘s Kindle is supposed to come out on Oct. 15, to be exact. Meanwhile people are still fuming over the DRM horrors associated with Mobipocket, the e-reading system that the Kindle uses. Check out JK’s latest DRM-related Mobi torture.
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