imageMicrosoft Reader’s DRM is much beloved among serious e-bookers—because it’s so easy to break with an easy-to-use program. Will Mobipocket’s DRM also become a laughingstock?

Mobi’s DRM is the target of Mobidedrm, which isn’t so simple but is bound to get so. And oh how tempting it is to use, considering Mobi’s device limit of four! So much for decent treatment of legal e-book-buyers. Publishers really need to rethink business models built around traditional DRM. You can bet that novices will catch up in time with the serious users. And because Mobi is so popular a format, yes, the crackers will bother to  update their cracks if the DRM changes.

An aside: Because the TeleBlog operates out of one of the world’s most backwards countries on copyright matters—to be specific, the United States of America—I won’t provide a Mobidedrm link. I would appreciate people not posting one here.

Hypocrisy Department: Remember, Mobi’s owner is Amazon.com, which brags about its DRMless MP3 store.

Related: Social DRM vs. traditional Mobipocket-style DRM: Time for a switch?

3 COMMENTS

  1. I want to cover changing the DRM first because I don’t think Mobipocket can realistically do it. If they updated the software to changed the DRM, they would have to release a new Reader for: Iliad, Cybook, Pepperpad, WinCE, Palm, and PocketPC. Three of these devices are outside the control of Mobipocket. Any one outside developer could stall the DRM upgrade simply by dragging his feet.

    And yes, the 3 dedicated readers _must_ be upgraded. They cannot be ignored. If these devices were abandoned by Mobipocket, it would likely kill any chance of Mobi format on a dedicated reader. No one would trust Mobipocket not to pull this crap a second time.

    I’ll continue in a second post.

  2. I have avoided spending money on some wonderful e-books in mobireader format because of DRM, mostly because I want a format that I have some hope of transferring to future reader software.

    In Australia I believe this is perfectly legal and sensibly so.

    Previously I exclusively bought MS Lit format simply because the DRM could be easily removed. Given that there is cracking software now for mobireader, my purchasing habits will change and I will be far more willing to invest in mobireader literature.

    Hopefully I will not be the only one and mobipocket may realise the market benefit of not having any DRM.

    Anyhow, I will now track down this useful software, and am looking forward to buying some of the excellent literature available in this format.

    PS some years ago I invested in Adobe’s DRM literature, none of which I can currently read.

    I have no idea what changed and when, I do not know for instance if it was a change in Adobe’s software, or merely because I have changed computers – I have long forgotten where and how I originally registered my purchased ebooks and will never be making the same mistake again.

    If Mobipocket is reading this, let me state clearly that I do not pirate any copyrighted material, nor have the intention of ever doing so. All I want is the assurance that I have a reasonable hope of reading my literature in the future, no matter how things change in terms of software and hardware I will spend more on ebooks on that simple premise alone.

  3. I remain convinced that the cracking of the MS Reader DRM caused a significant upturn in the purchase of .lit format ebooks and consequently I would not be surprised if the same thing happened with Mobipocket. In my personal case I will probably be sticking with MS Reader, but some titles are Mobipocket exclusives or timed exclusives and this new utility will come in handy for dealing with those.

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