B&N’s e-bookstore gets clueful pan from the Washington Post—including criticism of DRM
"In its insistence on DRM—not to mention its spotty selection, questionable pricing and glitchy software—Barnes & Noble’s e-book venture resembles nothing so much as the early, awkward attempts of record labels and the current, awkward attempts of movie studios to set up digital storefronts." – Rob Pegoraro, tech columnist, Washington Post.
The TeleRead take: Right on the mark, Rob. B&N should differentiate itself from Amazon by playing down DRM. Why, oh why, is B&N so deaf? Granted, B&N’s DRM is much less obnoxious than Amazon’s kind, but DRM is DRM. People at none other than Fictionwise/eReader, B&N’s new acquisition, will tell you that good DRMless books from small publishers can be a major challenge to the corseted offerings of the large houses.
If big publishers won’t go along, then B&N needs to start playing up content from more flexible companies and start an ad campaign focused on the right to own books for real (image is from current B&N promo). Why not a B&N ePub store without DRM included? Don’t lots of people define insanity as doing the same thing again and again without results? Under that definition, B&N is ready for the loony bin—not because it’s returning to e-books, but because it stubbornly refuses to experiment with a DRMless alternative on its main site.
Responding to another of Rob’s complaints, which I expressed earlier, B&N would also come out ahead if it genuinely integrated the shopping and reading software, so that it was Kindle-smooth. You shouldn’t need to fire up a browser to buy a book!
July 26th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Attacking “big publishers”, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon for DRM (digital restrictions management) is perfectly fine. However, the attack is a sideshow and it risks becoming an unproductive distraction. Retailers and publishers deserve only an infinitesimal fraction of the blame for DRM on ebooks. The real culprits are authors. This impolitic and uncomfortable truth should not be hidden or rationalized.
If your favorite author uses DRM then immediately contact him or her directly and say “This DRM is a grotesque, repellent and violative! Please remove it immediately. If your misguided publishing company insists on using DRM then tell it to ‘Situate the DRM forcefully into an orifice that is conventionally used for expulsion.’ Next fire your publisher and find one that follows your enlightened wish to avoid DRM.”
When an author creates a work, he or she is given monopoly control for countless decades via copyright law. The author uses that monopoly to select and contract with a publisher. The author and publisher choose and contract with a retailer. If an author is using DRM then he or she has voluntarily sold his electronic soul. Why would an author do this? Woeful ignorance, deliberate malice, gross incompetence, Luddite proclivities, and a stunted intellect are all possibilities.
Authors unite and reject DRM! Love your readers!
July 26th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Hi, Septimus. Alas, corporations set the tone if nothing else. I’m thinking of starting a petition drive to get Amazon to remove the DRMed version of The Solomon Scandals, my own book. It is up there despite my wishes and my publisher’s. I want it removed so only the DRMless version remains and I can use a “drmfree” tag without confusing anyone. Thanks. David
July 26th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
I did contact an author about DRM once. I was told that he had no control over this and that it was the publisher who forced its use. While probably true, I would think that authors who cared about the issue could negotiate this. Afterall, aren’t contracts supposed to be a negotiation between parties and not an edict from on high? Or maybe that’s not how the publishing world works?
July 26th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
It hasn’t been an issue for me yet, but I’m told that most authors have very little choice about ebook rights. They’re sold with the print rights or there’s no deal at all.
July 27th, 2009 at 4:49 am
I agree. I bought a $17 cookbook in electronic format, and downloaded it once, from B&N last year. The sale included four downloads.
After a massive computer crash this year, I was unable to download it again and cannot read the old file salvaged from my prior computer because of DRM.
I’m out of pocket and B&N refuse to give me any of my remaining three downloads as the transaction is too old.
Furious doesn’t begin to describe it.
July 27th, 2009 at 5:31 am
Joseph, I think that how much power an author has to negotiate is probably linked directly to the number of books that they sell. Stephen King can dictate terms of which a mid-list author could only dream. I think one of the most attractive aspects of widespread e-publishing would be to remove the influence, and perhaps the existence of publishers altogether. Many authors could self-publish directly through B&N and Amazon by uploading their books directly. Without having to be kept in physical inventory and the capital expenditure to produce a p-book they could “stock” endless numbers of books. Heck, they could even make them available for sale on their own websites, much like Radiohead or NIN have done with their albums.