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“Every digital rights management scheme we’ve encountered does little to quell actual piracy and succeeds only in eliminating legally protected uses. DRM systems are expensive to put in place and that cost is passed on to the consumer.” – About DRMBlog.com, in the new DRMBlog.

The TeleRead take: I loved a comment in the blog’s entry Rent, Lease, or Buy–Which Model Is Best for You?

If I buy a CD player, every CD will work in it. If I buy a television, it will work with all cable companies in my country. If I buy an FM radio it works with every FM station. However, if I buy a new audio player I have to buy one that works with a particular service?

This is a problem and this is where the idea is flawed. Is it not enough that the average consumer needs to know the difference between all the different formats?

AAC, MP3, MP4, MP3-Pro, VBR, OGG, WMA, APE, WAV, RA, FLAC, SHN, VQF

This alphabet soup of acronyms is enough to confuse anyone but on top of this now we are asking the consumer to choose between DRM schemes and service providers also. I pity the poor parent trying to buy their 14 year old a birthday gift.

All right! I haven’t the slightest doubt that the DRMBlog would feel the same about the industry-weakening Tower of eBabel within e-bookdom. I’m not certain which of the DRMBloggers wrote the post–Ginger Cox or Jimmy Palmer–but I certainly agree with whoever did. I intend to get to know those folks. The DRMBlog, which I found via BoingBoing, is a valuable addition to the blogosphere.

A reminder of OpenReader‘s policy on DRM: It’s not our favorite technology. But we will work in good faith with publishers who want it and help them come up with the most consumer-friendly alternative, just so other publishers are free not to use DRM. In the end the marketplace will sort things out.

 
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