Charles Stross' Diary (RSS Feed)
08-24-2007, 04:28 PM
I hate to go on flogging a dead horse, but nothing drives the message home quite like a real world example.
Mobipocket, a French company, produce ebook reader software. The software's quite good, as such things go; cross-platform, freely redistributable, and it supports a file format which is a subset of Open Ebook Format. (They also sell publishing tools for producing ebooks compatible with their platform.) Mobipocket are good enough that they were bought by Amazon.com in 2005, as the primary platform for Amazon's ebook sales.
Mobipocket, alas, support DRM on ebooks. As such things go it's not too onerous; you can add device IDs for up to five readers at a time, and ask them to reset your device IDs so you can change them as often as you want. It's an annoying impediment, but it's less annoying than, say, iTunes — you can deregister a device that's no longer in your possession, for example. And their platform supports DRM-free ebooks — indeed, it's one of the formats offered by Webscription (http://www.webscription.net/), the most widely used DRM-free commercial ebook publisher.
Only something's gone horribly wrong (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12951).
A notice published on ebook store Fictionwise (http://www.fictionwise.com/) explains as follows:NOTICE: A major problem occurred with the Mobipocket DRM server at about 6:30 PM Eastern Time, Wednesday, August 15. Engineers at Mobipocket.com have informed us that they hope to be back online sometime this weekend, August 18 or 19. We have switched, where possible, all Secure Mobipocket files purchased during the downtime to an alternative DRM provider, Content Reserve. We have also taken all titles that could not be switched offline in Mobipocket format until the problem is resolved.
So, at this point in time, any Secure Mobipocket title you see onsale can be downloaded immediately. Titles that cannot be downloaded immediately have been temporarily taken offsale in the Secure Mobipocket format.
We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused, and we will post a new message when the problem is resolved.At the time of writing, Mobipocket's website — and DRM server — has been offline for over a week and counting. The company is not out of business (unless Amazon.com has gone bust without anyone noticing!), but they seem to be having software trouble.
Customers who bought DRM-infested Mobipocket books can no longer read them using the Mobipocket Desktop for Windows PCs; it phones home to verify the DRM, and nobody's answering the call.
Customers with DRM-free ebooks (from, for example, Webscription (http://www.webscription.net/)) have no such problem.
The moral of this story is left as an exercise for the reader.
(Original Post) (http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2007/08/why_drm_sucks_redux.html)
Mobipocket, a French company, produce ebook reader software. The software's quite good, as such things go; cross-platform, freely redistributable, and it supports a file format which is a subset of Open Ebook Format. (They also sell publishing tools for producing ebooks compatible with their platform.) Mobipocket are good enough that they were bought by Amazon.com in 2005, as the primary platform for Amazon's ebook sales.
Mobipocket, alas, support DRM on ebooks. As such things go it's not too onerous; you can add device IDs for up to five readers at a time, and ask them to reset your device IDs so you can change them as often as you want. It's an annoying impediment, but it's less annoying than, say, iTunes — you can deregister a device that's no longer in your possession, for example. And their platform supports DRM-free ebooks — indeed, it's one of the formats offered by Webscription (http://www.webscription.net/), the most widely used DRM-free commercial ebook publisher.
Only something's gone horribly wrong (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12951).
A notice published on ebook store Fictionwise (http://www.fictionwise.com/) explains as follows:NOTICE: A major problem occurred with the Mobipocket DRM server at about 6:30 PM Eastern Time, Wednesday, August 15. Engineers at Mobipocket.com have informed us that they hope to be back online sometime this weekend, August 18 or 19. We have switched, where possible, all Secure Mobipocket files purchased during the downtime to an alternative DRM provider, Content Reserve. We have also taken all titles that could not be switched offline in Mobipocket format until the problem is resolved.
So, at this point in time, any Secure Mobipocket title you see onsale can be downloaded immediately. Titles that cannot be downloaded immediately have been temporarily taken offsale in the Secure Mobipocket format.
We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused, and we will post a new message when the problem is resolved.At the time of writing, Mobipocket's website — and DRM server — has been offline for over a week and counting. The company is not out of business (unless Amazon.com has gone bust without anyone noticing!), but they seem to be having software trouble.
Customers who bought DRM-infested Mobipocket books can no longer read them using the Mobipocket Desktop for Windows PCs; it phones home to verify the DRM, and nobody's answering the call.
Customers with DRM-free ebooks (from, for example, Webscription (http://www.webscription.net/)) have no such problem.
The moral of this story is left as an exercise for the reader.
(Original Post) (http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2007/08/why_drm_sucks_redux.html)