DRM Is Evil, Part 8,492: Nook Pulls Out Of UK, Exploring Options To Let People Retain Access To At Least Some Books
from the drm-sucks dept
Yet another story of how badly DRM screws over legitimate buyers, with no actual benefit for copyright holders. This time, it's about the total failure of Barnes & Noble's Nook ebook reader, which is struggling globally, and shutting down entirely in the UK. Nate Hoffelder has a great article explaining why the Nook has been such an abject failure, but a key point highlighted by the Register is that the company is still working to see if there are ways that legitimate buyers can keep access to at least some of the books they purchased.In one of the most amazing statements this author has read, the company says it's trying to set up a deal with Sainsbury's Entertainment on Demand "to ensure that you have continued access to the vast majority of your purchased NOOK Books at no new cost to you" (emphasis added).Of course, this is hardly a new phenomenon. Remember when Microsoft had a DRM it called "PlaysForSure"? And remember when it shut down those servers, blocking people from ever moving that content to new machines? Or how about when Scholastic shut down its Storia DRM'd book offering, meaning parents who purchased ebooks for their kids had digital pixie dust instead. Or when Rhapsody/RealNetworks killed off an old DRM, killing off access to songs people had legitimately paid to access. Or when digital comics company JManga shut down and with it took down access to purchased content. And remember when Adobe changed its DRM and made old ebooks obsolete?
This kind of thing happens again and again and again. And for what? What benefit does it actually create for copyright holders? At best it only serves to entrench the most dominant retailers, taking power away from the copyright holders (who already took power away from the actual creators). And it tends to do nothing to stop actual copyright infringement, because all of those works are still readily and easily available.
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, lost books, nook, ownership, sales
Companies: barnes and noble, nook
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Revenue
Maximization
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: DRM := ?
Rights
Mismanagement
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: DRM := ?
Reach in your pocket and take the
Money
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: DRM := ?
Reach into your pocket to give me
Money?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: DRM := ?
Reacharound
Monkey
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Retard's
Magic solution to piracy
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Researcher DRM
I'm an academic researcher writting a case on technologies of control. I have seen a few of your comments and thought that a quick chat with you could be amazingly interesting for my research!
Would you e up for it?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Spin Dept.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Spin Dept.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Spin Dept.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Spin Dept.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Spin Dept.
But I'll first see if I can get a non-DRMed version. storybundle.com and humblebundle.com sometimes have nice offers. O'Reilly doesn't do DRM (although it's quite the niche market). Also we have a local bookseller who sells tons of books without DRM (although it seems books in English are still DRM'ed)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Spin Dept.
Now here's the funny part, legally speaking you're breaking the law either way. Copyright infringement is illegal, and removing DRM, even from someone you own, is likewise illegal, so as far as the law is concerned Ninja's act of finding a DRM-stripped version of the file, and your act of removing the DRM yourself is pretty much the same thing.
Isn't copyright law fun and totally sensible? /s
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Spin Dept.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Spin Dept.
I have never, and will never, buy an eBook that I can't strip the DRM from.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Nook pulls out...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Nook pulls out...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Nook pulls out...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Nook pulls out...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Remember when Microsoft had PlaysForSure ?
Introducing the Zune!
Even though you were screwed by PlaysForSure, you can relax that your investment in Zune DRM purchases will be secure.
And then the Zune DRM servers were shut down.
But you can trust Microsoft's Windows 10 app store.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Remember when Microsoft had PlaysForSure ?
Back in 2000 a new generation of Pocket PCs were being released by Compaq and others. A big selling point - lots of advertising included with each device - was Microsoft Reader and the partnership with Barnes & Noble.
The big day finally came when the online store opened. Lots of people purchased books.... And discovered that they didn't work on their Pocket PCs.
It turns out that there were multiple levels of DRM. The "optional" highest level didn't work with Pocket PCs. And who could've predicted it - the publishers all used the highest level.
"Don't worry," Microsoft said, "You can still read the book on your desktop. Not that anyone wanted to.
So they posted some public domain books from Project Gutenberg along with some Star Trek fanfic in the store and declared "all fixed!"
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Scaling value
Ebooks don't have nearly the same flexibility, what with the absence of re-sell value and(depending on the terms) no legal way to gift or loan, so how much I'm willing to pay takes a notable hit, with $4-5 generally being the upper range I'm willing to pay.
Infect an ebook with DRM though? $.01 is now more money than I'm willing to spend, and even if it's available for free I'll probably give it a pass.
Someone infecting their products with DRM is basically telling all their would-be customers, 'I don't trust you, and think that you're all criminals, with the only thing stopping you from robbing me blind being restrictions such that you can't', and I have no interest in knowingly supporting a person or company with that mindset towards their customers.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Scaling value
I'm willing to try free stuff, but it has to pass my archive test: moving the file to a hard disk or DVD that I control. If it doesn't run after that it fails. I will not attempt to fix or correct, I just won't patronize the source any more.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Scaling value
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Scaling value
A DRM'ed ebook lacks even that minuscule value.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Bain books must be really stupid...
Heck, they even give ebooks away for free! (Bean free library) It must be because they are a sci-fi shop - there couldn't be any other explanation, could there?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Bain books must be really stupid...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ease of access
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The REAL Problem With Making Piracy Necessary
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: The REAL Problem With Making Piracy Necessary
% find books -name "*.pdf" -print | wc -l
15384
(Similar results are returned for epub, mobi, djvu, etc.)
These volumes cover IT, history, science, math, engineering, and many other topics. Except for the handful that are covered by open-source licenses, I pirated every single one of them. (Although I happen to own hardcopies of perhaps 10 percent of them as well. Didn't mind paying once. Not paying twice, especially if the digital version has DRM.)
I wouldn't mind paying for most of these: but the price would have to be reasonable, the format open, and of course, no DRM. No publisher is willing to make me such a deal, so no publisher is getting my money.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: The REAL Problem With Making Piracy Necessary
For me to do that, the publisher has to do two things:
1. Don't price gouge. Any eBook over the average price of a paperback is gouging. (Harlequin meets that standard, as do others.)
2. Don't use DRM. (Harlequin et al. do NOT meet that standard.)
Violation of the above conditions puts said publishers on my POS list(It's like a KOS list, but without the paperwork.)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I break the DRM of all my ebooks
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
This is why Physical Books will never die
E-Books are too risky, you can always get screwed out of your purchases by things beyond your control with e-books.
With physical books however if I get screwed out of my purchase it'll likely be my own fault for not taking care of the book properly, or misplacing it and never finding it again.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Also Virgin Digital
Never again.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
obilgatory xkcd
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
DRM, Barnes and Nuisance
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: DRM, Barnes and Nuisance
Not quite sure why you feel a need to blame the victim.
All kinds of factors such as marketing, novelty, efficiency, and green values have been pushing eBooks and electronic readers down peoples throats for at least a decade. When the choice is DRM or nothing what exactly are people supposed to do?
I think it's unfair to call the lack of understanding around a complex and technical issue such as DRM as "stupid".
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Buying anything with DRM in it is akin to buying air. Hard to see any value in it when you can get air for free. You are staring right eye level with one of the reasons why piracy persists.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
UK Nook owners
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Avast me hearties!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Avast me hearties!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Those who sold them the DRM solution.
They were so worried about not getting every possible imaginary cent, they crippled their ability to compete.
DRM is harmful to business, much more than 'piracy'.
You paid full price for something, and they take away your purchase.
You paid full price for something, and they forget to pay a server bill no use for you.
You paid full price for something, and they can remove it from your devices.
Every single massive failure of DRM makes people look for other ways to get it.
How many claimed losses to piracy are simply people who paid for it and were just preparing for the day the company decides to cut you off?
How many people use a platform other than yours because that platform sucks a tiny bit less?
They are way more focused on imaginary dollars than end customer satisfaction, and that is what is wrong with so many things these days.
When your customer happiness is an afterthought you are failing.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
well..
Refund
Money
(it's a feature folks)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Old Tech
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Old Tech
But I avoid DRM like the plague. Everything I have is format shifted and managed by Calibre. If you've never come across this application, I strongly recommend it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
DRM means you don't own your e-books
[ link to this | view in chronology ]