Format confusion – DRM dilemma – convenience of the Kindle
By Paul Biba
This morning I noticed a comment on my comment about the publisher Everyman’s, posted in Recession and the Penguin way. The comment mentioned Naguib Mahfouz’s Cairo Trilogy. That reminded me that I had always wanted to read some of his stuff.
So I immediately went to Fictionwise, always my first choice, and, unfortunately, it was only available in secure Mobipocket format. After what Overdrive did to all those Mobipocket customers I am very confused about buying in secure Mobipocket. I would have thought Fictionwise would have removed all of these books. Well, they haven’t, but I’m not going to take the chance and I certainly won’t ever buy secure Mobipocket again because I’ll never know if Overdrive is lurking in the background. Also, I want to read on my large-screen Kindle, not on a small screen unit, like my Palm TX or iPhone – the Kindle won’t read secure Mobipocket.
So fire up the Kindle, go to Amazon and download the books in a minute or two, with no computer involved. Of course now I have to worry about Amazon cutting out my access, but that’s just the e-book world we are involved in right now. It will be great when Sony gets its connected reader out so we can have some competition. But the best thing would be for the publishers to wise up and let us buy the books without any of this DRM crud at all.
January 31st, 2009 at 3:17 pm
You’re aware that Overdrive was not the only provider of Mobipocket-encrypted books to Fictionwise, right? And any non-Overdrive books would not have been affected?
I’m given to understand that Fictionwise is working on adding eReader versions of all its Mobipocket-only titles, but it will take some time for them to work through the entire backlog.
Meanwhile, those Kindle versions you bought are themselves encrypted Mobipocket versions of the titles, by another name.
January 31st, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Given their past history, it seems highly unlikely that Sony would do anything to create more open competition – they like to create their own proprietary formats for everything to make sure no one else can play in their sandbox.
Or did you just mean that another big player connected e-reader market would be good for consumers in general?
January 31st, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Sorry, “big player in the connected . . .”
January 31st, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Chris: yes of course I am aware of this. But since I don’t know who the DRM provider is in any particular case I consider that Overdrive has poisoned the well. Of course the Kindle stuff is Mobipocket, but it’s not the same type of DRM that Overdrive handles. I just hope Amazon will be more trustworthy than Overdrive.
Jon: Yes, I just meant that competition in general is good. I think that’s just what forced Sony to use EPUB along with its Sony proprietary format.
January 31st, 2009 at 11:34 pm
Do you have moral qualms with removing the DRM from your mobipocket files? I think it’s definitely worth it to avoid losing on your investment. And the DRM is removed the same on Kindle files just as they are other mobipocket files so I don’t really know what is different about their DRM other than it doesn’t let you read on your computer. Lame.
February 1st, 2009 at 12:07 am
Paul,
Books on Board used to mark its mobi offerings with a PX or an OD; titles marked with PX are still available for download with no problems. A lot of the secure mobi titles appear to be still available from FictionWise as well.
I’d guess that if it’s being offered in secure mobi at FictionWise, you don’t have to worry about Overdrive. Maybe Scott would confirm that for you.
Bests,
–tr