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This comment is probably going to be unpopular with this audience, but there is a really good argument to be made for DRM in the e-book space. When selling a p
by zupreme 11y ago
This comment is probably going to be unpopular with this audience, but there is a really good argument to be made for DRM in the e-book space.
When selling a physical book there is a real barrier to propagation of the entire work in the form of a prohibitive cost or effort for the average person to produce unauthorized copies.
In an era where even little kids know how to do a copy and paste this is definitely not the case with e-books. An author who releases his/her e-book without DRM would be, for all practical purposes giving it away to the vast majority of the reading audience.
Maybe the future of both books and music are that recorded and written works will be freely given as promotion for other more lucrative efforts (like concerts, seminars, and so forth) but as long as the publishing industry and authors rely on the sales of books/e-books for the majority of their income, DRM is here to stay.
- dangoor 11y agoThis is plainly not true. O'Reilly sells their books DRM-free to a very technical audience. In the US, at least, music that is purchased() today is sold without DRM. DRM is user hostile and not required to make money. () purchased does not include Spotify, Apple Music, etc. of course, because those are specifically renting the music.
- Karunamon 11y agoThat may be the case if it weren't for the fact that DRM both completely destroys fair use (I should be able to move my Amazon/Audible purchased books to any device I want), and is completely ineffectual at its stated goal, stopping copyright infringement.
- rhino369 11y agoIt's ineffectual at completly stopping copying, but it's far from completely ineffectual. The average person doesn't have a good tracker and doesn't know how to use calibre. They could learn / be taught but it's a pain. Easier to just pay. It's not all or nothing. If you prevent 70% of copying, that's a huge win. I'm not sure drm is actually worth it, music has shown its not needed in that industry. But that industry had piracy catch on in a way that no other had. My mom can't pirate anything except for mp3s. The napster legacy.