INDEX // mb Ideas on Publishing Books in Canada (and other attempts to write good)

Hi Mark:
Interesting strategy. I’d love to see Bezos capitulate and make Kindle books DRM-free. But, I don’t think most publishers really want their ebooks to be DRM-free. At least from what I can tell, most of them are trying to lock up the ebooks as much as possible. Consumers, and even authors (I believe) would like to see DRM go away, but publishers seem to be looking for new and more hack-proof ways to secure their econtent products.

Should be interesting to see what happens in coming months…

Posted by Kat Meyer on 11 December 2008 @ 9am

Sorry, but for those of us who came across this article via other sources, could someone please explain what DRM is and what DRM-free means? Thanks.

I have been considering purchasing an Amazon Kindle, although I like the look of the Sony better. But the Sony doesn’t have as wide a selection of books, and the wireless isn’t built in, at least that’s what I understand.

That is how I ended up on this page. If you could explain DRM or link to something that does, I would appreciate it.

Posted by PossibleKindle on 27 December 2008 @ 9am

@possiblekindle — in short DRM is copy protection for digital content.

Kindle’s use of DRM effectively means you rent books instead of buying them.

DRM stands for digital rights management — where the content creator manages what the customer can do with the content. In most cases that means preventing the book from being moved around, copying the book to another computer, or using the book at a later time with new equipment.

It is not as bad as it sounds. The majority of songs sold on iTunes have copy protection. And most people don’t know it.

If you buy a kindle and if you buys books for the kindle you will be fine. If you get rid of the kindle but want to keep the books you will be out of luck.

I hope that helps.

Posted by mb on 27 December 2008 @ 10am