Amazon Quietly Lets Publishers Remove DRM (Update: Or Quietly Adds DRM?)

from the that-seems-like-big-news dept

Fri, Jan 22nd 2010 3:57pm — Mike Masnick

While everyone was focused on the new Kindle app store or the new royalty rates, perhaps a more interesting new thing slipped quietly by: without telling anyone, Amazon is now giving publishers the option to remove DRM from ebooks. It's odd that Amazon wouldn't publicly announce this, but I'm sure it has its own reasons. I doubt many publishers will actually go DRM-free for now, but at least a few can, and I would imagine that will make some Kindle users a lot more comfortable about buying those ebooks. Update: Hmm. In the comments someone points out that another take on this is that it's actually allowing some publishers who didn't use DRM before to use it. That would explain why it wasn't mentioned...

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: drm, ebooks, kindle
Companies: amazon

11 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

OSCAR MIKE, 22 Jan 2010 @ 4:07pm

Thank God
Not that I'm going to buy a Kindle anyway, but it's a good sign.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Dkp, 22 Jan 2010 @ 4:17pm

they should be making a very big deal about this
[ link to this | view in thread ]
faceless (profile), 22 Jan 2010 @ 4:21pm

from what i read about this on CNET, they're giving small (and self) publishers the option to *add* DRM as previously, anyone who used their Digital Text Platform (DTP) didn't have any DRM on their ebooks at all. All of the "Big" Publishers use a totally different publishing platform that has a different (better?) DRM available for them to use.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Steve (profile), 22 Jan 2010 @ 5:05pm

step 1 complete
Step 1 to me buying an eBook reader is complete. Step 2 will be publishers releasing a good quantity of books I am interested in without DRM. It has to be enough books to justify the cost. I really like the idea of an eBook reader, but previous experiences with pre DRM free iTunes and Audible have scared me away from any service that can lock my purchases to a specific device.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
bob, 22 Jan 2010 @ 7:00pm

whats it equal
Kindle + DRM = P. O. S.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 24 Jan 2010 @ 11:27am

bob you are completely wrong. Steve makes a reasonable point - for him, an ebook reader should have particular requirements that are reasonable.

But Kindle with DRM is not a POS. It works very well and you are not tied to a specific unit with your purchases. You can have multiple Kindle's on an account and share items between them. More importantly, it is clear what you are getting into when you buy it and when you buy the books. Kindle books are sold as Kindle books - not as "ereader books" - so the customer is well aware they are buying for the device.

While I appreciate the concept of a business model that does not use DRM, it is ridiculous to use that as a reason to mark a product a POS, especially when it is very clear to the buyer what he is buying.

/a
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Marcel de Jong (profile), 25 Jan 2010 @ 4:05am

Re:
I can't read Kindle Books on my Bebook ereader. At least not if I also want to use epub ebooks
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Marcel de Jong (profile), 25 Jan 2010 @ 4:08am

Re: Re:
And with that, I mean: anything with DRM makes it a P.O.S.
Because it limits you and creates a monopoly, which you don't want in a free market.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
falexak (profile), 25 Jan 2010 @ 9:49pm

It is good for publisher but not so well for sharing, anyway, thanks Kindle.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
kevin (profile), 14 Apr 2011 @ 12:12am

You've wrote a very well-written entry.
If it's ok with you, I would like to ask permission to use your article as it fits to my problem. I will be glad to negotiate to pay you or hire you for this. pelletizing press
[ link to this | view in thread ]
lrobbo (profile), 12 Jun 2012 @ 11:27am

Cheers Amazon.
[ link to this | view in thread ]