John Dvorak has a rant out against DRM, and, as if to prove his point, a publishing house named Embiid is reportedly shutting down. It used DRM to “protect” its e-books against bootleggers. Now they may be “protected” against access by legal buyers.
Important caveat: The above assumes that a May 10 item on the SF Site is true. The home page of the actual Embiid site does not mention a shutdown.
Related: The RIAA’s Latest PR Strategy: Gibberish, in Techdirt–complete with the RIAA’s obligatory defense of DRM. Also see TD’s FCC Commissioner Wants To Push For DRM Just ‘Cause She Likes It. For more positive news, see Jim Baen’s Universe Goes Naked–eMagazine to Launch Without Copy Protection, a press release.
(Via MobileRead.)
Embiid’s forums on SFFnet confirm it.
Damn. And here I spent all that money on Liaden ebooks from them, too.
My sympathy, RM. – D
Did you know it was the authors’ choice, not Embiid’s, whether their books would be encrypted? Did you know Embiid sold as many books unencrypted as it could get permission to? Did you know all the books sold remain readable on the same devices they were purchased for? Did you know …
Oh, never mind. Have a nice day.