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DRM better not kill eBooks

I'm not at all opposed to DRM (Digital Rights Management) in principal, but I'm learning to strongly dislike the reality.

My dislike doesn't have anything to do with the perceived problems, but rather the real everyday hindrances that are going to seriously piss off Joe and Jane Consumer (a group of which I constitute one small fraction).

Many people are worried about losing control over what they purchase; they're worried about the "big brother" issues surrounding DRM. They don't want The Man telling them how to listen to music, or how to read an eBook.

Me? I'm worried about something very different.

Allow me to illustrate.

Buying a traditional book (pages fabricated from the pulp of old-growth rainforest, still with the blood of some undiscovered macaw on them)

1. Put on clothing (optional, but suggested).

2. Go to store (might as well go by fossil-fuel powered car - you're already on your way to purchase some silly novel bound in the former habitat of the now extinct Amazonian tree-dwelling leaf-humping thunder-frog).

3. Find your book and buy it.

4. Go home.

5. Read book.

Pretty simple, right?

Now, you'd think that buying an eBook on the good ol' internet should be even easier since it should, in theory, completely eliminate several of the steps required to purchase a "real" book.

Buying an eBook (theoretical version)

1. Walk into living room naked.

2. Find book on Amazon.

3. Buy it.

4. Read it.

That sounds really awesome.

Unfortunately, we aren't really there yet.

Buying an eBook (real version)

Before I begin, I'd like to say that I've now purchased eBooks from several online vendors, and the experience has been slightly different for each. The list I'm providing here is a combination of the two largest sites from which I've purchased books (Amazon and Powell's).

Also, my experiences are limited to purchasing books for the Microsoft Reader format.

1. Walk into living room naked.

2. Find eBook.

3. Buy it.

4. Try to download it, but be denied access to the eBook download because some jack-ass browser plug-in has determined that the version of Microsoft Reader on my desktop is out of date and wouldn't be able to load the book.

5. Look the computer square in the eyeballs and say, "But I want to read it on my PocketPC - not on my desktop, so why can't I just have it?"

6. Fire up Mozilla and try to download the eBook by bypassing the IE plug-in. Discover that this doesn't work at all because you can't even download your eBook unless you're running IE on Windows. Curse the universe for this bad, bad, bad design.

7. Give in and upgrade your desktop's version of Microsoft Reader. Swear a little, but breathe a sigh of relief because this ordeal will soon be over.

8. Go back and try to download the eBook again. Get mad because IE is handling the download automatically without asking you where you'd like to save it.

9. Accept that IE is just going to do this. Go in search of the eBook that was supposedly downloaded to your PC.

10. Discover that the eBook was never downloaded. Freak out.

11. Call tech support to ask why this is happening. Learn that it's because you're falling prey to the bug in IE which prevents some downloads from taking place due to the "Temporary Internet Files" folder being "full."

12. Clear the "Temporary Internet Files" folder and try the download again. Jump for joy when it works.

13. Copy the eBook to your PocketPC, which is where you wanted to read it to begin with.

14. Fire up Microsoft Reader. Try to read the book. Receive a notification that your copy of Microsoft Reader has to be "activated" before it will be able to read DRM protected eBooks.

15. Plug the PocketPC back in, sync with the desktop, and "activate" Microsoft Reader.

16. Go back to PocketPC and try to read the book. Receive an error that tells you nothing about anything. Swear again.

17. Call tech support for the second time in an hour, wondering why, as a computer nerd, you can't even get a freaking book up and running on your PocketPC. Learn that it's because the copy of Microsoft Reader on your PocketPC is outdated and needs to be replaced.

18. Grab the new version of Microsoft Reader for the PocketPC and install it.

19. Fire up your PocketPC, load Microsoft Reader, finally get the eBook to load properly, but go for a walk outside instead of reading because you're so pissed off about what just happened.

That's the truth

I wish that this weren't the case. Consumers have enough negative feelings about DRM already that this sort of thing is really pushing the bounds of what is acceptable.

I'm a computer nerd, and I found the process totally intolerable. Keep in mind that I've installed Websphere before, so I know pain - this was no walk in the park.

What bothers me most, though, is that I love reading on my PocketPC/tablet. The last thing I want to see is a backlash from consumers because they can't even read the books they've legitimately purchased. Amazon and Powell’s have very good selections of eBooks (not just in Microsoft Reader format), and the shopping experience has the potential to be quick and painless. For some reason, though, it isn't.

I wish that Amazon, Powell’s, and Microsoft had thought about this more. When you're asking consumers to give up a certain amount of freedom, you should give back to those consumers. In this case, the consumers should have been given convenience and lower prices (slashing and burning rain forests is expensive), but were instead just slapped in the face with further insult.

I have a high tolerance for technical mishaps. When I'm using a complex piece of software, I expect things to go wrong every once in a while. The world isn't perfect, and neither is software. However, most people don't have this tolerance, and they won't put up with it. I have since gone back and purchased several more books, but I'm still holding a grudge about the rough start.

If eBooks fail because someone thought it would be OK to horrifically foul up the consumer experience of buying them, then I and a few other people are going to want some answers. There's no excuse for this mess.

Published Sunday, January 25, 2004 9:28 PM by Rory

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Comments

 

Staffan Malmgren said:

Be thankful that the OS on your PocketPC at least can run the required version of Microsoft Reader. I was sitting, credit card in hand, ready to buy Ellen Ullman's "The Bug", but discovered my ipaq runs the original PocketPC version, on which the new required Microsoft Reader won't even run.

I can't upgrade the PocketPC version (which may or may not cost additional money) since I use it for backwards compatibility testing (some of the other guys in the company has PPC2002 devices, but that doesn't help me. And even if I could, why should I have to? Would it be so freaking difficult to make sure the new versions run on the not-entirely-ancient original PocketPC?

As an interesting aside, I pre-ordered the fifth Harry Potter book in dead-tree form from Amazon. You might remember that it was simultaneously released worldwide. Before that book even worked it's way over from UK to Sweden, I had found a pirated non-crippled PDF version (made by some very enterprising people who scanned and OCR'ed the whole thing in like 12 hours) and read it from start to finish. Reading it on the computer wasn't all that different from reading a paper version, except that my lap got a lot warmer. Which sort of proves the futility of all these DRM excercises.
January 25, 2004 10:41 PM
 

Mike Dimmick said:

IE 6 basically can't cope with Temporary Internet Files filling up. I blogged about this back in December at http://mikedimmick.blogspot.com/2003_12_01_mikedimmick_archive.html#107031426594105831.

Someone from the IE team please fix this!
January 25, 2004 10:41 PM
 

TJ said:

I dont think ebooks will ever replace paper books....not until some new technology is invented such that is no more complicated that reading a paper book.

I mean when I come across a large PDF I want to read, I dread having to sit infront of a computer and read it. I do most of my good reading in bed before I goto sleep.

I guess Tablet PC's and pcoket PC's are getting us there but Ill hold off until prices come down and the technology makes it lighter and more compact.

TJ
January 25, 2004 10:57 PM
 

Rory said:

TJ -

"I dont think ebooks will ever replace paper books....not until some new technology is invented such that is no more complicated that reading a paper book."

There's something to be said for that, although eBooks currently offer advantages over traditional books in some areas.

For example, during my last move, the bulk of the difficulty was due to several large containers of books, each of which must have weighed about 9,000 pounds.

It obviously would have been much more convenient to have carried all those books around in one secure digital card :)

Also, it's really cool to be able to fit a library of books in something as small as a PocketPC.

Add to that the cool features - Highlighting, electronic bookmarks, notes, and drawings, and you have some pretty sweet stuff going on.

It's not currently easier to use an eBook instead of a traditional book at the moment, but the other bonuses are pretty sweet :)

"I mean when I come across a large PDF I want to read, I dread having to sit infront of a computer and read it."

Totally. Reading at length on a traditional PC/laptop is torture. You have to be able to lie down/sit down/move around with the book, and desktop systems don't allow for this.

"I guess Tablet PC's and pcoket PC's are getting us there but Ill hold off until prices come down and the technology makes it lighter and more compact."

You're right on about the price/weight/size. PocketPCs are great for eBooks, but I like the experience on my tablet better. If my tablet were a bit lighter (and if it had been a helluva lot cheaper), then I'd be happier.

We still have a ways to go, but I'm enjoying the experience now, and I want to make sure that there will still be eBooks down the line when better/cheaper/lighter/smaller hardware is available...
January 25, 2004 11:16 PM
 

TJ said:

"For example, during my last move, the bulk of the difficulty was due to several large containers of books, each of which must have weighed about 9,000 pounds."

I agree on that aspect, and better yet what about these kids you see going to school with backbacks on wheels?

I mean I think one area where technology should be embraced more is education. Kids should have a choice of having hard cover books or ebooks, but i guess then they need access to technology(laptop,tablet pc, ect).
There is no reason why kids should have to worry about messing up their backs carrying 50lbs of books, when everything could be on a cd or memmory stick.

And schools wouldnt have to worry about textbooks getting trashed, eversions dont get ripped pages or, "Mrs. <insert 4th grade teacher name here> sucks" written on the pages.


TJ
January 25, 2004 11:31 PM
 

Brian Noyes said:

I too am an e-book lover, and was even before my tablet enhanced the experience. One less thing to pack before going on the road, a virtual library in a few tens of megs. Beauty.

Thus I was depressed about the future of this fine medium when Barnes and Noble announced that they were dropping e-Books at the end of last year.

I went several rounds with MS Reader tech support because I went through a flurry of devices last year with the failure of a couple of pocket pcs and an abysmal pocket pc/phone combo i tried and sits collecting dust to this day as a case study in usability (note to self: NEVER buy v1.0 of a new device!!!). As such I burned up my device limit on my passport, could not activate a new instance of reader with the same old passport, and had to get a new one.

Then what to do with the ten or so books I had pre-bought, being a good consumer who's eyes are bigger than his brain? Couldn't read them, they were locked to my old passport which was still completely valid but could not be used to activate reader. Had to go through the tech support of B&N (who no longer exist at this point if it happens again) to get them to take all those titles out of "already downloaded and locked to a passport" mode and put them back into "first download mode".

Just friggin painful. The only people these measures are hurting are the valid consumers who really want to buy and use their product if they would just make it possible/palatable for us.

Someone needs to take those guys out in an alley and beat the s--t out of them with their DRM.
January 26, 2004 12:41 AM
 

Rory said:

Brian -

The limited Passport activation is something that has me worried, too. With a traditional book, I can leave it on the shelf for years before picking it up again and reading it when the urge hits me.

With eBooks, there's that lame risk that you might not be able to hang on to your library as you go through devices.

Even worse is that, for various technical reasons, I've had to *re-activate* on some of my devices, which means that my Passport is getting dinged, and I'm getting screwed.

As for B&N - I wouldn't worry too much about their decision not to sell. If places like Amazon and Powell's can clean up their acts, B&N will be back.

eBooks aren't going to go away, but they might get dragged through the mud several times before they become even remotely mainstream.

The advantage to retailers is so clear that I don't see *everybody* dropping out. Being able to sell a product without carrying any inventory is a sweet, sweet thing, and immediately cuts out some of the risk involved with retail.

Yup. eBooks will be around, but I want to see the technology and consumer experience progress more quickly, and in a fashion that doesn't ignore the most important part of the equation, which is, of course, customers.
January 26, 2004 3:07 AM
 

Scott said:

My only experience with eBooks is using either the Palm or Franklin eBookman platform.

Granted, most of the eBooks I've read have been from the Baen Free library but I've also purchased a couple of books. I haven't run into any of those problems. The big difference being I'm using the MobiPocket Reader (http://www.mobipocket.com/en/DownloadSoft/ProductDetailsReaderPro.asp)
instead of the Microsoft Reader. This doesn't help much if the book you want is only in MS Reader format. But I've been able to read MS Word Docs, PDF's, and eBooks using it with no problems.

January 26, 2004 4:34 AM
 

Carson McComas said:

I've had the EXACT same experience you had including the 2 calls to MS. What a royal pain.

It was also the first, and last MS reader format book I've purchased. I've since purchase a few PDF eBooks and have been pleased with my ability to read/print/transport them as I please.

This overzealousness to protect IP is going to kill itself unless a much smoother process is invented quickly.

eBooks have a hard enough time surviving as it is[1]... complicating the issue helps no one.

[1] http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3076124/

Furthermore - what anxious authors don't understand is that (like it has with music) allowing their work to spread - even illegally at times - usually helps them in the end because their ideas spread and awareness of them increases driving up the value of what they say (plus it helps them achieve the world domination they seek).
January 26, 2004 5:59 AM
 

Rory said:

Carson -

"Furthermore - what anxious authors don't understand is that (like it has with music) allowing their work to spread - even illegally at times - usually helps them in the end because their ideas spread and awareness of them increases driving up the value of what they say"

I agree that distribution of an author's work can do some good for that author in terms of mindshare, but the fact that doing so (depending on the circumstances) may be illegal, I think using it as an argument might weaken the stance of consumers trying to push for freer, legitimate uses of DRM protected media.

For *our* argument to be valid and worthy of attention, we have to play by *their* rules :)

"I've since purchase a few PDF eBooks and have been pleased with my ability to read/print/transport them as I please."

That's really cool. I didn't know PDF eBooks were printable. DRM protected Microsoft Reader eBooks are *much* more limited. Although I'd never use the Microsoft Reader text-to-speech synthesizer to listen to a book, I find it irritating that, upon loading a DRM protected title, I'm notified that text-to-speech capabilities are not available for DRM protected eBooks.

*That is annoying*.

The paranoia is so rampant that legitimate users are locked out of using a feature they want because using it would (I'm assuming) compromise the protection offerred by the DRM flavor used for Reader eBooks.

ARGH!

MICROSOFT: I clearly love you, but you have *got* to be realistic here - use DRM as a means by which to stop the casual shoplifter, but *don't* punish your customers so that you can also catch the "real" thieves. The people who *really* want to get at the book *will*, and trying to stop them is a waste of your time *and* mine.

I'm going to continue purchasing Microsoft Reader eBooks because I like the format so much (when it works), but I hope that some changes for the better are made, because this is ridiculous...
January 26, 2004 6:37 AM
 

Ivan Towlson said:

On a more serious note, it looks like steps 2-18 made you so mad that you forgot to put your clothes on before taking that walk. If this is a typical consumer reaction, it should at least make it easy to monitor the uptake of ebook technology.
January 26, 2004 11:39 AM
 

Rory said:

"On a more serious note, it looks like steps 2-18 made you so mad that you forgot to put your clothes on before taking that walk."

I'm actually very well known for anger-streaking.

Forgot to mention that, though.
January 26, 2004 3:20 PM
 

Dave said:

IMHO, if MS Reader is your model for downloading and reading e-books, then your level of frustration is justified.

As for me, I use Palm Reader (both on the desktop and the Palm), and I either buy books from Palm Digital Media, or I download free ones from Memoware. Thus far, I have read about 75 e-books, and I have another 500 in queue. This includes best sellers from Coulter, Frum, Dan Brown, Sebold, etc.

So will e-books replace traditional ones? No. I don't think they are intended to. They will continue to supplement, and augment the market, especially for people like me that value portability, and convenience (not to mention the cheaper cost of the e-book).

Now, excuse me as I go back to reading Stephen Ambrose... on e-book, of course.
January 26, 2004 3:46 PM
 

Josh said:

I totally understand your frustration at having so much trouble with something that should be simple.

However, I think that is more of an element of working with computers in general, not just DRM.

Except for the IE bug, all of the other issues were based on the fact that you had the incorrect version of software. Sure, it would be frustrating if you were running Word 6 and couldn't open someone's Word 2003 file, but you can't really blame the software. That said, the e-book retailers should have made it very clear what the system requirements were before you sent them any money.
January 26, 2004 3:51 PM
 

Rory said:

Josh -

"Except for the IE bug, all of the other issues were based on the fact that you had the incorrect version of software."

Not exactly - When reading and downloading non-DRM protected eBooks (such as those on Project Gutenberg (or however you spell it)), I just grab the file, decompress, and copy to the device on which I want to read it.

With this, one of the hurdles was that I couldn't even download the books I had purchased.

Then, once I *had* downloaded them, I couldn't read them.

I've never had this problem with non DRM protected eBooks.

It's true that there were version problems, but the reason the old versions wouldn't work was the DRM.
January 26, 2004 5:29 PM
 

Patrick Cauldwell said:

I've had way better luck with audio books from Audible.com. They are also DRM'ed, but much less of a hassle, at least in my experience on PocketPC, iPod, Windows Media Player and an old Rio 500.
January 26, 2004 5:37 PM
 

Mike said:

I've often thot that eBooks would be a great replacement for University texts and the whole used-book/next edition thingy. More than 10 years out of university and I'm still ranting about the annual textbook purchases.

It seems that textbook publishers give away the newest edition of their textbooks to professors so that they will specify that edition for their course, requiring students to buy the new edition and not buy the used copy from last year's students. So you have to buy the new book and won't be able to resell your copy next year. A visious, money-grubbing cycle on poor students.

eBooks would be wonderful that way - you could "lease" an eBook for a term or whatever, then decide if you wanted to buy it as part of your reference library, or let it go.

The poor publishers wouldn't be able to make bags of money though. So maybe they wouldn't keep the texts up to date either. That's a vicious circle too.

Mike
January 26, 2004 5:55 PM
 

Rory said:

"I've often thot that eBooks would be a great replacement for University texts and the whole used-book/next edition thingy."

Mike, you fool!

American higher education is not about affordability or accessibility!

It's about beating students psychologically senseless with unreasonable financial demands and mafia-like control over admissions/resources.

Seriously, man - For a minute there, I thought you were even going to go so far as to suggest that American universities were about learning.

People say the weirdest things in blog comments...

[Note: Yes, I *am* a very bitter, ex-battered wife of higher American education.]

I agree with you 100%.
January 26, 2004 8:41 PM
 

Edward said:

The only eBook I've read properly was the lord of the rings on my Franklin ebookman. It took me about 6 weeks and 15 sets of batteries.

I wish that you could download an ebook version of every book you bought. Just fill out a form on the publishers site and tell them what the 14th word of the 3rd paragraph of the 120th page is and they'd let you download it.

I've so many computing books that are too heavy to carry around that I've never got around to reading. It'd be great to carry them around on a Pocket PC or Tablet. Having paid for the dead tree version its seems pretty silly to have to pay again, almost the same ammount, for a license to the same IP.

I found the Adobe Reader 6 DRM system even worse. IIRC it only let me activate it once against my Passport account, so I ended up activating it on my Work desktop rather than my Tablet PC.

The concern with DRM system will always be that the content will remain locked out even after the copyright has expired. Or the publisher will have gone out of business. It leaves the content you paid to access completely useless with no chance of rectifying the situation, and laws like the DMCA that make any attempt illegal.
January 27, 2004 1:31 AM
 

Paul Dougherty said:

DRM will fail unless it has an ironclad escrow service. The escrow service would hold license keys for the purchaser, forever. The service would outlast the providers, and act to protect the rights of the purchaser ("PRM", get it?).

If a provider backs out of a license (fails to upgrade a reader, for example) the escrow service would release the data on another platform, or as clear text if necessary.

January 27, 2004 6:09 AM
 

Derek Dysart said:

Wow, lot's of comments.

Mine is you forgot to mention you currently pay a premium for that eBook.

I recently bought Al Franken's latest book from Amazon:

Namesake rain forest destroying version: $14.95.

Ebook in my choice of either LIT or PDF:
$24.95.

Yes you can argue the shipping dinged me, but I ordered along with a enough other stuff, that was free. So not only do I get to mow down trees with my virtual pulp-based chainsaw (thanks Peguin Publishing Group!), I get to increase greenhouse gases (thanks UPS!) all at a lower price (thank you Amazon!).
January 27, 2004 8:47 PM
 

Julian said:

Hallelujah! Someone who's had the same lind of problems as me with MS Reader's DRM.

I went through a phase last summer of downloading the free ebooks MS were giving away as part of their promotion of Microsoft Reader. Kind of fun, read one, kept about a dozen. Then I stsrted getting problems regarding "activation" all the time. I'd activate, and I could read the ebooks, but it seemed that the next time I tried, Reader failed again with the same activation problem.

http://www.boyet.com/Articles/OnMicrosoftReader.html

Turns out Reader was taking into account the USB disk drives I had attached to my laptop: sometimes they'd be there (I was at home), sometimes they wouldn't (I'd be in Starbucks). And of course that means I had a different machine, right?
January 27, 2004 10:40 PM
 

eternity said:

I'd suggest

1. buy book
2. strip the DRM using ConvertLIT
3. load onto your pda or convert into another format.

I use a Palm IIIxe for ebooks because of the bigger screen and it's safer to carry it around on a bus than it is to whip out your $500 pda just asking to get mugged. I don't like to use anything that requires activation though.
January 28, 2004 12:08 AM
 

Rory said:

eternity -

While your system would certainly help *me* avoid some of the frustration involved with DRM and ebooks, I'm subjecting myself to all the stupidity because I have this idiotic notion that enough comments on a blog, or enough emails written to someone, will help change the way something is being done.

I'd like to see ebooks become useful to non-techie users as well, and I don't think your average mouse-pusher is going to understand removing the DRM since they probably won't have any idea in the first place about the DRM even being there.

That said, I didn't know about "ConvertLIT," and I'm glad you mentioned it. I'd at least like to get my own library into a format that will allow me to keep reading even after my various activations have gotten fouled up.

Of course, if Microsoft improved the activation situation <hint, hint>, I wouldn't *need* an app like ConvertLIT. For now, though, it sounds like the way to go...
January 28, 2004 12:26 AM
 

eternity said:

good to hear Rory

I think most of the inconsistancies between versions will disappear with time since the new ms reader versions will just get pre-installed on new hardware. That and the additional of wireless internet will mean that updates don't have to be synced in, so it'll be more transparent.

They day will come when you can download a book direct to your pda from an access point in Starbucks or something. It's not that far off either.
January 28, 2004 10:53 AM
 

Huge said:

You've reached adulthood without realising that everything Microsoft (a convicted monopolist) does sucks?
May 4, 2004 9:25 AM
 

Rory said:

Huge -

"You've reached adulthood without realising that everything Microsoft (a convicted monopolist) does sucks?"

I've actually reached adulthood while maintaining an open mind and the ability to judge a product on its own merits rather than whatever political bullshit people like you rally around.

Whatever Microsoft's lawyers might be doing has nothing to do with the product teams, and the product teams do good work. I'm not going to dimiss it just because some people freak out about the size and influence of the company.
May 4, 2004 1:30 PM
 

TrackBack said:

Reading...
January 25, 2004 10:13 PM
 

TrackBack said:

HP iPaq 6315 - The honest review
December 9, 2004 4:16 AM
 

TrackBack said:

Why no Microsoft Reader for Smartphone?
February 28, 2005 9:58 PM
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