Jun 19 2008
O’Reilly to Sell Multi-format Bundles and Books without DRM
O’Reilly, a non fiction technological publication, is going to start selling a “select number of books as a bundle of three ebook formats (EPUB, PDF, and Kindle-compatible Mobipocket) for a single price — at or below the book’s cover price — starting in early July.” These books will be sold without DRM and it will only be a select few. I would love to see a romance publisher like Harlequin experiment with this. It would go along way toward alleviating some technological hurdles for readers.
Via Mobileread.
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Jun 19, 2008 @ 07:35:25
The thing about DRM that I wish publishers would realize, is that it doesn’t stop people determined to share the books. It only stops people who want to purchase and read on multiple devices. How many times have you heard someone say they won’t buy an ebook reader/ebooks until publishers get rid of DRM? DRM formatting is easy to break for a moderately tech savvy person, so it’s not stopping anyone from illegal activities. I truly believe it’s the legitimate buyers it’s discouraging. Epublishers did not grow to popularity by using DRM formats–I think that’s an important part of the equation that larger publishers have ignored to their detriment.
Can you tell I don’t like DRM? lol
Jun 19, 2008 @ 07:41:52
Angie, I am glad you pointed it out. On Sunday, my article on ebooks includes how ebook publishing has made money in spite of piracy because if there is any business that would be strongly impacted by ebook piracy, it would be the ebook business where 100% of the sales (in some cases, I know that Samhain and others have print arms) are in digital format.
Jun 19, 2008 @ 08:15:20
Oh cool! I’ve wanted some searchable e-versions of some of their books, but like everyone else won’t buy anything with DRM.
Anyone I know who’s had to deal with a hard drive dying or buying a new computer and losing all their DRM’d ebooks never wants to touch the things again.