Next? DRM-free e-bookstore for Sony via Google infrastructure? A friendly suggestion for both companies.
Might the inherent hassles of DRM—not just the legal complexities associated with copyright books—be one reason why only public domain volumes are offered through the Google-Sony partnership announced today? And isn’t DRM fraught with risks anyway, as shown by the encryption-related patent suit that Discovery Communications has filed against Amazon? The solution is simple. No DRM—at least not for publishers that, like my own, don’t want it.
Sony acted brilliantly in lining up the new 500,000-book public domain initiative with Google, which can provide the infrastructure and scanning power to grow the collection. While things aren’t as open as I’d like—I want those ePub books to be directly accessible from Google, for example—this is still laudable progress. As the next step, the two companies should collaborate on a DRMless book store, using the ePub standard, HTML and other open formats. Such a store could probably be in operation sooner, and cost less to maintain, than one using so-called "protection." Clueful publishers, such as Pan Macmillan, a bastion of skepticism toward DRM, would surely rush to be included in a Google-based bookstore from Sony. I’d love to see The Solomon Scandals sold that way, and I know that Twilight Times Books, my publisher, would feel otherwise. Other stores involving other Google partners, not just Sony, could also start up and ideally avoid DRM.
But Sony could be a leader here. Imagine the synergies. Sony for easy-to-own DRMless books and for hardware with a major retail presence. Google for rapidly deployed infrastructure and ubiquitous linking. In Sony’s case and others, the bookstores could unabashedly push company-related hardware and integrate the books with the related software without forestalling sales to owners of other devices. A win for all! Worry less about troublesome proprietary hooks like DRM and more about sheer efficiency and volume! Jeff Bezos created an MP3 music store without DRM. Isn’t it time for Sony and Google to fight Amazon’s DRM-hobbled Kindle bookstore by aligning their interests with consumers? And if Jeff wants to pre-empt them with his own DRMless bookstore allowing true ownership of books, that’s fine by me.
Reminder: I’m a very small Google shareholder for retirement purposes. I’ve knocked Google for such things as watermarking its brand name on public domain books and have warned against Google replacing public libraries. There have been other issues, too, such as the accessibility of Google-OCRed books for indexing by the company’s rivals. That said, I call ‘em as I see ‘em. In the case of the just-announced partnership between Google and Sony, I see many good things possible.
Also of interest: 500,000 free Google Books available for Sony Reader—in ePub, from Bill McCoy at Adobe, which supplied Sony with the software to render ePub on the Reader. Adobe also intends for different versions of its software to display ePub on other devices. By the way, Bill has mentioned social DRM as a possibility to avoid the technical complexities of the usual "protection"—you know, embed users’ names inside e-book files, as a way to discourage them from pirating the books. Time for Adobe, Sony and Google to act on the concept even though this idea is hardly flawless? I think so!
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