Sony via Make (rss) is taking questions on their Reader (PRS-500) ebook reading device. Wow that’s pretty! Looks like it is right off the bridge of the Enterprise. Here’s hoping that DRM does not kill this device.
I know that if buy a paperback book that I can pass that book onto my children’s children. I also know that tomorrow when I wake up that the book will still be on my bookshelf instead of a note that the book has expired and must be repurchased. I hope that they choose to model the real world in their e-reader. Of course, in the real world my book can get destroyed or worn out. I do have books that have been purchased multiple times. An argument for a repurchaseable ebook can be made but I think their efforts would be better spent selling me quantity of content rather than repeating the same purchase.
You think SONY is going to make something that is not COMPLETELY HAMSTRUNG with DRM? You have got to be kidding me. They may be the worst (if it isn’t Apple) at this type of junk. Just look at the incredibly stupid rootkit they put on regular CDs last year that wound up in a lawsuit. It seems they would rather just lose millions of dollars in sales rather than risk a couple of hundred dollars (in scale not literally) to “digital theft.”
Just wishful thinking 🙂
The irony is Microsoft once did a study showing that fighting piracy cost more money than it saved. Either they’ve long since forgotten that or perhaps the times have changed but I doubt it. Seems I have read other studies that have shown filesharing to be a good thing. I know Napster in the old days introduced me to music that I later purchased but there was also music I didn’t. Ugh. I’m too tired to make sense.