image DRM zealots are ever persistent in coming up with new reasons for us to hate their technology. Our two latest finds:

TBC to Mac Users: No Seinfeld for you, from Silicon Valley Insider. “Turner says the reason they’re not Mac-friendly is they use Microsoft’s DRM software to protect their valuable assets.” From making more money off the Jerry Seinfeld videos?

DRM sucks redux: Microsoft to nuke MSN Music DRM keys, from Ars Technica. “Customers who have purchased music from Microsoft’s now-defunct MSN Music store are now facing a decision they never anticipated making: commit to which computers (and OS) they want to authorize forever, or give up access to the music they paid for.”

Just why should e-book DRM be any different?

The good news: My sense is that major publishers are indeed starting to have second thoughts about DRM. As well they should! People want to own e-books for real. DRM, as always, remains both a lit and sales toxin.

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2 COMMENTS

  1. Well, there’s one important difference between the MSN Music situation and the ebook situation. Microsoft haven’t taken any steps to restore the integrity of MS Reader DRM, so if they were to shut down the activation server for MS Reader, at least people would still be able to strip the DRM from their purchased ebooks using Convert LIT. Thankfully this doesn’t seem likely at the moment – even Microsoft’s ageing MSLit.com site still works and actually has up-to-date data about a few ebooks that I thought weren’t even available in MS Reader format.

    Is there any kind of exception in the DMCA for stripping DRM where the originating service shut down or went out of business?

  2. Dan, I can’t say for sure, but my guess is that there’s no exception for ordinary users. As for MS Reader, Microsoft has changed DRM before to thwart piracy, as we both know. Who knows what it’ll do in the future. I’d hope that Microsoft wouldn’t be so clueless, but anything’s possible. Thanks. David

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