DRM protected books could soon be DOA
In some welcome news, it looks like another avenue for pushing DRM is soon going to be dying off, and not too soon. DRM has been one of the most universally hated things that a company has done, and the book publishers are getting that, much to the crowds happiness.
The trend will allow consumers who download audio books to freely transfer these digital files between devices like their computers, iPods and cellphones — and conceivably share them with others. Dropping copying restrictions could also allow a variety of online retailers to start to sell audio book downloads. The publishers hope this openness could spark renewed growth in the audio book business, which generated $923 million in sales last year, according to the Audio Publishers Association. Source: NYTimes
Unlikely that I will read something on my Ipod or on my cell phone, but this has some hope for 3rd party sellers of books and other materials. There is no secondary market right now for e-books, kindle TOS forbids transferring the copy to anyone else. If the book publishers allow 3rd parties to sell e-books, or capture e-books from other people for resale, this will also change how second hand e-books are traded. While difficult to track and capture, dropping DRM opens the door to this kind of sale, which has been universally practiced with books since day one.
Dropping DRM here opens a Pandora’s box, opens interesting avenues for resale, and could alter the business in a good way.
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