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DRM and the stone tablet solution
March 31, 2005 | 4:28 pm
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By David Rothman
Jessamyn West and Jason Griffey have some good posts on DRM insanity.
Now consider a message from veteran e-booker Lee Fyock on the eBook Community list–adamantly insisting that certain live writers and estates are dead set against e-books without DRM; in fact, against e-books period.
Heavy stone tablets vs. Lite Protection
Let the marketplace settle this one. Of course my own thinking is that without DRM the e-book business would be at least ten times its present size, now a miserable $50 million or less in annual global sales. But forget about that. Let’s just carry the clueless authors’ paranoia to its logical conclusion. Maybe books should appear only on stone tablets. To guard against piracy, Famous Writers can specify that their precious masterpieces be chiseled only on tablets above a certain weight.
As for the libraries’ side, I have a more realistic proposal. Support OpenReader. Yes, we’ll provide the DRM option for publishers wanting it–but try to nudge publishers toward more user-friendly DRM or none at all. Non-DRM will be our default. OpenReader will build on existing industry standards, and we’ll welcome the participation of librarians. Don’t expect miracles from the Open eBook Forum–dominated by Microsoft, Adobe and eReader and OverDrive, the very outfits that have created their business models around Draconian DRM.
(Anti-DRM posts found via Rochelle.)
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Comments:
[...] tandard
learn more about DRM
01Apr05 | ‘puters | ebooks, drm
Teleread makes the assertion that it’s not writers [or some writers] who are pushing DRM for e-books, [...]
Writers’ ‘tudes toward DRM will vary, but at least if given the facts, many if not most authors would rather not see their books sold with DRM. It’s a real hassle for readers. Besides, the typical writer, like the typical musician, should worry more about becoming known and less about piracy. The easier it is for the public to try out his or her books, the more of them will be sold. Now–as to who’s most gung ho on DRM. Of course: the people providing it, especially Microsoft, Adobe and eReader. Many small publishers actually hate DRM–their interests overlap with their writers’.
As for the library world, I’d love to see new business models developed to reduce the future use of DRM. Imagine–the $20K that the Binghampton, New York, system spent just on the infrastructure for its e-collection. You can bet that DRM was a major reason for this!