Amazon requires publishers to use Kindle DRM

Just a reminder: Calibre + DeDRM = Happy Ebook Times

Rooted Nook.

Your move companies. :smile:

I think that adding DRM to music failed because people were used to CDs without DRM so they would have no desire to switch to a format that was less usable. Music companies could require digital downloads to come with DRM, but what is the point if they are selling CDs without DRM? It probably did not help that the company selling most of the digital downloads was apparently not supportive of DRM ( http://www.apple.com/ca/hotnews/thoughtsonmusic/ ).

For DVDs and ebooks, however, have they ever been sold without some sort of DRM?

Don’t forget Sony: Sony BMG copy protection rootkit scandal - Wikipedia

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Or maybe in bed.

This is why Ownshelf.com exists. To back up and store your ebooks in the cloud, and read them on any device. Ownshelf has been featured as DRM Free by Defective by Design.

I suspect that that is exactly what is behind this policy. Amazon and especially the major publishers do not like the prospect of a two-tier market with DRM-free “full” eBooks and protected lesser ones.

The music industry had the problem that there was a much more established tradition and expectation of DRM-free music, both in the form of legal CDs and often illegal MP3s that were mature and ubiquitous long before online stores became relevant.

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I would quite like to read a book on the history of DRM/copy protection, including interviews with the creators and crackers. I have lots of fond memories of copy protection (as strange as that seems), from black on red printed manuals, Lenslocks, grinding disk drives and Rob Northen copylock through to CSS on DVDs first being cracked.

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