Comments on: Steve Potash and the DRM-entertainment complex http://www.teleread.org/blog/2007/04/19/steve-potash-and-the-drm-entertainment-complex/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:44:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Quinn Anya Carey http://www.teleread.org/blog/2007/04/19/steve-potash-and-the-drm-entertainment-complex/#comment-329134 Quinn Anya Carey Thu, 19 Apr 2007 18:19:19 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=6456#comment-329134 A few weeks ago I trekked downtown to get a Chicago Public Library card in order to <a href="http://overdrive.chipublib.org/E5D31B08-8D3F-42A8-8BEB-4CB5F5C902AA/10/212/en/Default.htm" rel="nofollow">download audio books through Overdrive</a>. I was hoping for something like time-delete <a href="http://www.audible.com" rel="nofollow">Audible</a> content. As it turns out, Overdrive isn't compatible with my iPod. (Why libraries would pay for a system that isn't compatible with the far-and-beyond #1 player is beyond me.) At the same time, though, you <em>are</em> allowed to burn audio books to CDs... which I could rip to put on my iPod. Or I could put it on a P2P network. Or sell the CDs in Russia. Oh, and the CDs don't go away when the files do-- so I have a free copy of the audio book to keep. They can't hinder people from burning CDs without seeming too restrictive (or else they would, I figure.) But if you can burn CDs, any other DRM hassles are just an annoyance, and don't actually prevent anyone from doing anything. It's total madness. A few weeks ago I trekked downtown to get a Chicago Public Library card in order to download audio books through Overdrive. I was hoping for something like time-delete Audible content.

As it turns out, Overdrive isn’t compatible with my iPod. (Why libraries would pay for a system that isn’t compatible with the far-and-beyond #1 player is beyond me.) At the same time, though, you are allowed to burn audio books to CDs… which I could rip to put on my iPod. Or I could put it on a P2P network. Or sell the CDs in Russia. Oh, and the CDs don’t go away when the files do– so I have a free copy of the audio book to keep.

They can’t hinder people from burning CDs without seeming too restrictive (or else they would, I figure.) But if you can burn CDs, any other DRM hassles are just an annoyance, and don’t actually prevent anyone from doing anything. It’s total madness.

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