Tor Books UK Says Ditching DRM Showed No Increase In Piracy
from the of-course-not dept
We've never quite understood the purpose behind DRM, and have said so many times. It doesn't stop infringement, because the DRM is always cracked, and the crack always leads to a clean version. And once you have a clean version, it's available everywhere. Those who want to infringe will do so. So, in the end, the only thing DRM does is (1) annoy legitimate buyers and (2) lock in certain platforms such that the ebook platform providers (hello Amazon!) have much more power than the publishers. Given that, I've been amazed for years that the ebook world hasn't moved more strongly towards a DRM-free world, which the music industry was eventually forced to embrace (with little corresponding harm). A number of smaller publishers have embraced the promise of DRM-free ebooks, and a year ago, Tor, publishers of lots of popular sci-fi works, made plenty of news for going DRM-free in both the US and the UK.Zac Morris was the first of a few of you to point us to a blog post from Tor UK talking about the impact one year later with the key line being:
As it is, we've seen no discernible increase in piracy on any of our titles, despite them being DRM-free for nearly a year.Given the point we made above, this is hardly surprising. In fact, it seems almost silly to look at all the fears some had about the move to DRM-free. In fact, it looked like Tor was a lot more worried about it than its authors. As the blog post notes, when it carefully approached its authors, including some best sellers, they were eager to support the move, with many applauding the publisher for taking that step, rather than being anti-consumer. Tor notes that the very fact that both its customers and authors seemed aligned on this issue made the decision much easier to make in the long run.
Of course, the real question now is who's next? I'm still amazed that any publisher thinks that DRM is a good idea. Now Tor's provided more evidence that removing it doesn't increase infringement rates. So, in one single move, publishers can provide significantly more value and convenience for ebook buyers, and take some of the power away from Amazon without any risk of greater infringement. It's astounding that publishers aren't pushing each other aside to make a similar move.
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(3) Costs real money.
DRM is the modern equivalent of snake oil. It costs a lot of money, does not live up to its claims, and may actually damage the health of your digital products.
The costs of come in two forms. Right up front, IP companies pay big bucks to the DRM/SnakeOil companies for licenses. Then there can be enormous ongoing costs that are hidden in categories such as technical support. One of my former students works in tech support management for a large gaming company. He said that over half of the tech support calls involve DRM-related issues. He also said that DRM considerations also prevent them from building a lot of useful diagnostics into their games, and it can be a lot harder to fix problems because many very simple fixes like re-installing or upgrading an old .dll file would bork the DRM.
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ebook DRM doesn't prevent lost sales, it causes them
Personally, a couple of months back I picked up an ebook reader, a kindle, and despite the built-in ebook store amazon offers, have yet to purchase any of my ebooks from them, specifically due to their DRM, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who has done so.
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Re: ebook DRM doesn't prevent lost sales, it causes them
I have a smartphone that I can download with and work in a tablet fashion. I can read books in full color. Sure, the battery is a problem, but that's the only one at the moment which is easily solvable by charging it.
When you factor in the convenience of one smartphone to an ebook reader that I have to worry about lost time and resources, the answer is obvious. If you have to set up a DRM system, you're basically trying to get me to rent your products. That's fine, but I can pay for the things I want to keep and the reader will never be one of them.
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This only means the current piracy rate is at saturation.
But the question is how do they benefit?
(A possible trick would be to trumpet your "unbreakable" DRM, and/or make a big splash about how pirates are stealing all your great books. But this bit of publicity does nothing for them short term, nor in the long term will ceasing to worry about piracy lead to more readers rewarding you.)
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Re: This only means the current piracy rate is at saturation.
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Re: ebook DRM doesn't prevent lost sales, it causes them
so, guess what ? she don't buy no mo' ebooks, just does the ones she can get from her lie bury system...
way to go ebook publishers: pissed off a big spending, normally complacent customer who refuses to buy your crippled products any more...
(of course, i don't 'buy' ANY ebooks: if it ain't free (not pirated), or on the inertnet archive, or from the lie bury, i don't get it...)
fuckin' idjits: they cut their own throats, then wonder where all the blood pooling at their feet came from...
art guerrilla
aka ann archy
epf
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DUH.
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Re: This only means the current piracy rate is at saturation.
At the very least, they've reduced their costs and made their product more attractive. That should translate into increased sales and/or increased profits.
No tricks needed!
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No confusion at all about the purpose of DRM. This is the purpose of DRM. Vendor lock in.
Fortunately, stripping the DRM from Amazon books is so easy that it doesn't even bother me at all.
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Re: Re: ebook DRM doesn't prevent lost sales, it causes them
Speaking of which, how can they justify having DRM on their books but not their music?
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Re:
Just an observation.
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DRM costs you customers.
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Re: This only means the current piracy rate is at saturation.
As for the idea that not worrying about piracy doesn't lead to more readers rewarding you... I'm afraid Jesus disagrees with you there. Treating people kindly, maturely, and humanely ALWAYS results in people wanting to give back. It's the gift that keeps on giving.
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Re: This only means the current piracy rate is at saturation.
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Re: Re:
> advocates who totally disregard the 1st
> amendment rights of those who disagree with
> them?
What do you mean by 'totally disregard'?
If you're suggesting pro-2nd advocates are trying to have the government silence their critics under threat of arrest or sanction, then I will agree with you, that's a hypocritical position for them to take. I would also point out that no one on the pro-2nd side has actually done this.
If you're suggesting that merely arguing back is somehow the equivalent of 'totally disregarding' the free speech rights of their critics, I'd respectfully conclude that's nonsense. In other words, your free speech rights aren't being infringed merely because someone disagrees with you or says you're full of crap.
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Re:
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Re: Re: Re:
I apologise if it seemed I was implying that it was all 2nd amendment advocates.
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Re: Re: Re:
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Re: Re: Re:
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Re: ebook DRM doesn't prevent lost sales, it causes them
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Re: This only means the current piracy rate is at saturation.
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eBook DRM isn't about piracy...
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Re: Re: This only means the current piracy rate is at saturation.
I don't think anyone (besides blue) really thinks piracy is at "saturation." As new tech savvy generations grow up doubtless many of them will pirate as well. The older generations who buy stuff will die off.
All this proves is that DRM wasn't really stopping anybody from pirating ebooks. I wouldn't be surprised if that applies to products across the board.
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Re:
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E-book DRM rejected since 1996
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Re: Re: Re: ebook DRM doesn't prevent lost sales, it causes them
Rather than learn from this mistake, publishers seem to be insisting on repeating it, only with Amazon rather than Apple being the dominant player this time. Unless I'm very much mistaken, all of the major publishers insist on DRM before they'll license their books. Hopefully they'll wake up to why this is a horrible idea while there's still competition.
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Re: This only means the current piracy rate is at saturation.
I'm beginning to suspect that this "out_of_the_blue" guy is a phony -- an entirely fictional (rather cardboard) character, created as clickbait (or comment-bait, if you prefer). How else can one credibly explain his uni-dimensional posting history (even shills show more texture and creativity)?
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Re: Re:
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Tribute to piracy
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Re:
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Re: Re: This only means the current piracy rate is at saturation.
You see, he's firmly stuck in his "creationist" belief (PIRACY!).
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Re: Tribute to piracy
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Re: Tribute to piracy
It may actually improve stuff for paying customers ;)
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Re: Re: This only means the current piracy rate is at saturation.
Try to point this out, even with examples, and she just ignores it, screaming about how evil we are to demand that the principles of a free market be actually implemented.
In the minds of people like her (I know who she is), only via licensing and walled gardens can innovators and creators be properly rewarded for their work. This denies the established fact that the rightsholders are usually NOT the actual creators, they just own the rights. Work for hire, anyone?
Any proof of the above fact is generally ignored because it contradicts her views. She's a walled garden herself, and only views that mesh with hers are welcome in her world.
Trolling this blog is an effort to promote her views, but she's done little to convert anyone. Being unwilling or unable to accept information that contradicts one's views as fact can't possibly win anyone over. The ad hominem attacks on Mike are hardly a demonstration of a position on the moral high ground.
As is often the case of people like this, she doesn't have much to offer herself, this is merely an effort to make herself seem important. It's not working.
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Re: eBook DRM isn't about piracy...
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Re: This only means the current piracy rate is at saturation.
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Baen books & DRM
http://www.baenebooks.com/t-faq.aspx
They also have a free section where you can download many of their older titles. Apparently that is getting a face lift. Due to their decision to sell books through 3rd parties also. http://www.baenebooks.com/c-1-free-library.aspx
From that link:
The new 3rd party setup is apparently causing them problems they didn't have to deal with before, but also gets their authors out to a wider audience.
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Yep...
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Re: This only means the current piracy rate is at saturation.
B) How do they benefit[by not wasting money on DRM development, research, maintenance, and deployment]?
They benefit by not wasting resources on something with 0 return.
Do you know how businesses even operate?
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