iTunes’ DRM-free collection: Sony BMG, Universal and Warner to join in
The good news is in a CNET story. Significantly, the three studios used the lack of DRM to gain a bit more price leverage. A lesson for book publishers dealing with Amazon? DRM isn’t just toxic for sales: it’s bad for pricing since shoppers are renting rather than buying.
Reminder: Apple plans to let ScrollMotion use Apple DRM on e-books in SM’s format. Speak up! Also put in a word for ePub. Do we really want Steve Jobs rather than the IDPF setting e-book standards?
Also of interest: Out with the old, in with the…cranky, where BookSquare’s Kassia Kozer warns against another problem, overpriced e-books, and some commenters lament the industry’s DRM fixation.
Related: Techmeme roundup on iTunes’ new DRM-free arrangements.
January 6th, 2009 at 5:32 am
Hi David, Happy New Year!
I’m not 100% sure about this, but I think *all* iPhone apps are controlled by FairPlay DRM; I don’t think it’s optional or defined by the software house.
See this story in Gizmodo:
“Apple’s Fairplay DRM, which protects all the applications you download from iTunes, has been hacked. ”
http://tinyurl.com/6fyvz3
P
January 6th, 2009 at 6:00 am
HNY to you, too, Peter, and many thanks for taking the trouble to forward the URL. Not sure of all the nuances, but keep in mind that actual content for Stanza and other iTunes-distributed apps isn’t necessarily DRMed even if FairPlay DRM might control the distribution and use of the programs themselves. I’ll welcome further thoughts from you and others. Thanks again for writing in. David
January 6th, 2009 at 8:35 am
I am with Peter on this - Fairplay is used to control the distribution of the app itself. Stanza/eReader apps are both “protected” by Fairplay, but both can read unprotected books.
In the case of books sold as applications the distinction disappears because the application can’t do anything else, just display the 1 title.
January 6th, 2009 at 9:14 am
I would have to side with Peter and Christo here. The DRM in question here is used just like it is used for any other iPhone/iPod application - as a way of controlling access to the application, not the media displayed/used by the application.
One of the issues with Fairplay has been that Apple refuses to license it to anyone, unlike other vendors with DRM software. No matter how much flack they’ve gotten over the years because of that they refuse to budge on the issue.
So, buy some kind of DRM’d media from Apple and you’re stuck using it with an Apple sourced program or device unless you remove the DRM. And Apple won’t use any other vendor’s DRM so…
I can’t see Apple getting into the e-book business in the same way they do video and audio. They aren’t a company with infinite resources - what’s the value for Apple in opening an iTunes e-book store?