So you want to know why even honest e-book buyers will cherish software to help them crack encryption schemes? Read a horror story that we just ran across from a victim, er, user, of the Microsoft Reader. He didn’t have to resort to cracking, thanks to e-books in a Palm format that worked on his PocketPC-type machine, but first he went through his own little hell because Microsoft had moved on to a different verson of its reader software. Adding to his frustrations? Win XP. Microsoft’s tacky treatment of early owners of the PocketPCs, when it come to reading protected books, is old news. But this particular account has a special bite to it.
The TeleRead take: A well-stocked national digital library system would give users, librarians and publishers more influence in the format battles. Microsoft and the rest can make all kinds of noises about the need for new formats, but the point is that text is text, and with proper planning, yes, books could keep appearing in older formats–and I don’t mean just plain old ASCII. Would you believe, there’s a, ugh, built-in conflict of interest here. A certain tech vendor wants you to throw out your old machine and operating system. Not the biggest incentive for the format stability that the e-book market really needs to take off. Comments welcome from Microsoft folks, who, judging from our traffic tracking system, are dropping by.
Additional thoughts: No anti-Microsoft jihad here. I myself vastly prefer the Microsoft Reader to, say, the Adobe equivalent, and I applaud the company’s guts in pushing the tablet concept in a massive way. But on compatibility and fair use issues, I remain grouchy.
