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Monday, February 15, 2010, 02:45 pm
Apple to offer publishers FairPlay DRM for iPad books - report
Apple's FairPlay digital rights management will be an option for publishers who sell e-books the iBooks application on the forthcoming multi-touch iPad, according to a new report.The Los Angeles Times reported Monday that Apple will use the DRM to prevent piracy of titles sold on the multimedia device. Apple abandoned restrictive DRM for music titles last year when it removed FairPlay from the iTunes Music Store.
FairPlay restricted the number of devices that could have access to purchased content. Its use was the subject of great debate and criticism until Apple removed it in 2009.
However, while the entire music store is now DRM-free, the Apple-created FairPlay technology remains in effect for movies and TV shows purchased through iTunes. Now, similar restrictions could reportedly be extended to some e-books sold for the iPad, though the article suggested publishers will have a choice.
"No doubt some publishers, including O'Reilly Media -- which has vociferously argued that digital locks are harmful to sales -- will opt not to deploy FairPlay. (O'Reilly, which puts out technical books, was not on the list of five publishers during Apple's announcement of the iPad, but is discussing a deal with Apple)," the Times noted.
"But the majority of publishers are expected to embrace FairPlay, along with other copy protection software such as Adobe's Content Server 4, as a means to squelch incipient book piracy as the e-book market begins to take off."
When it introduced the iPad last month, Apple highlighted five major publishers that will offer content for the device. The iBooks application includes the iBookstore, where bestsellers are expected to be priced between $12.99 and $14.99.
The price range has been the subject of debate for publishers, who were previously unhappy with the standard $9.99 price for new hardcover bestsellers sold on the Amazon Kindle e-reader. Amazon has reluctantly agreed to publisher demands, and higher e-book prices are expected to coincide with the release of the iPad in March.
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Previous Comments View All
I keep wondering how libraries are going to employ eBook technology? If they purchase one "copy" can any number of patrons download and read it at the same time?
OK, I get it. Publishers want to protect their works. But proprietary DRM solutions like FairPlay only benefit Apple. They lock you into their platform. That means you can only read iBooks-purchased ebooks on Apple devices. Amazon is at least a little better - but not much. You can read Amazon-purchased ebooks on Kindle or on any other device to which Amazon has ported the Kindle reader application. I cannot read an Amazon purchased ebook with Apple's own ebook reader. Or vice-versa. This madness has to stop. We need an open DRM standard. We need publishers to insist that only that DRM solution is used.
Simple as that.
When iTunes still had DRM I only bought those songs I really could not buy elsewhere. Since songs are DRM free I have bought some 500+.
And, yes, 12.99 or 14.99 is a bad joke.
Let's see: The margin on a dead tree book is 50% for the dealer, if you buy 10, you get an eleventh for free, if you cannot sell them, you send them back to the publisher. Print them, keep them on stock, decide if to reprint etc ....
There is NO way 14.99 can be perceived as a price that is justified.
(Disclaimer: I own some 3500 books, paper, bought, most of them read)
We need an open DRM standard. We need publishers to insist that only that DRM solution is used.
At least the DRM is optional. So you can't really blame Apple, it's the book publishers that will be locking their own titles to the iPad. And an open DRM solution is like a public key to a lock... it's useless. There might as well be no lock there at all to prevent you from reading it on any device.
I keep wondering how libraries are going to employ eBook technology? If they purchase one "copy" can any number of patrons download and read it at the same time?
Libraries will reaming physical.
Jobs: "Apple will embrace [DRM-free music] wholeheartedly."
What a shame this doesn't appear to apply to books or video.
Hopefully there will be a race to the bottom and we will see lots of $.99 books. Considering how eBooks eliminates printing, packing, shipping and warehousing costs...they should be a lot cheaper.
I doubt it will happen right away but over time as the addressable market expands prices should come down.
You guys are way off. I write texts (educational) for the music industry. The actual cost for materials and printing for a book is well below $3. and educational books don't sell that well- so they are more expensive to produce. What you are paying for already is mostly content- to the author and publisher. Don't expect prices to come down that much.
DRM = no buy. Simple as that.
Without DRM you'd still be tied to the iPad, right?
Anyway, besides, if you expected no DRM on books your living in a world very different from this one. The main issues with iBooks won't be the DRM, but the cost of the books. $9.99 should be the maximum, not more-like the minimum. This will change hopefully, but expect it to take a few years at least. The right price and the reading bug would make these guys way more money.
Libraries will reaming physical.
That doesn't appear to be the case:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/15/bo...libraries.html
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Hopefully there will be a race to the bottom and we will see lots of $.99 books. Considering how eBooks eliminates printing, packing, shipping and warehousing costs...they should be a lot cheaper.
I doubt it will happen right away but over time as the addressable market expands prices should come down.