Got an actual source for that?

mutters its irritating enough as it is.
however it does explain the recent rash of ereader sales!

A while ago I came across a book called "Code: The hidden language of computer hardware and software"; when i first heard of it I downloaded a PDF from the internet, I read some of it, I liked it, so I ordered the printed book. I like the printed version, it's pleasant to read (at least as pleasant as a book can be), i doesn't need to be re-charged, it works great in daylight and it's quick to browse.

E-readers make things very complicated simply by being electronic, we don't need to add DRM on top of this. The main advantage of e-readers is hat you can carry an entire bookshelf in your backpack, but that's pointless if getting the books to work is more trouble than just stuffing your backpack full of actual books.

Title got me, I just started MGS4 again today. First time since 2008.

Just what I want to hear. We are throwing out everyone's property to tighten the chain. Adobe is the 1# reason I don't buy e-books even though I would like to. I find it almost strange that the entertainment industry had to abandon drm completely for music, but was able to so impressively lock down e-books which basically target the same range of devices and have the same need to be passed between them.

I'm not sure why, but just like I did with music, I have very little flexibility when it comes to drm-ing books. If you aren't going to sell a product that takes full advantage of the technology you are supposed to be targeting, then forget it. I was very excited about the future of e-books when e-readers started becoming a reality, but years latter DRM has made sure it's way more of a pain in the ass than just picking up a blasted book, and all without making it financially attractive to put up with.

If this ends up being half the ordeal the article wants to make it out as, then people should seriously be getting to the point where it's fair to start suing over this stuff. DRM has cut people off from paid product both temporarily and permanently, inconvenienced paying customers, and even caused damage to hardware at some points in its history. Has anyone gotten to lawyer up for damages? Are there any other industries that have managed to get away with so blatantly controlling and harming their customer base without any fear of retaliation? I feel like I'm covered in tin-foil about now, but the book thing just extra pisses me off for some reason.

thanks for posting this. and i laughed out loud at the thread title!

As someone else already asked, please provide a source for this, maybe even showing the EULA itself. Just so that this is not another recycling of the old myth of Gabe Newell or somesuch promising that he will personally remove DRM from all Steam games, if the unthinkable ever happened.

Is it included also in the end-user EULA, ie. that the end-users know that Valve is obliged to remove DRM from all games if they were ever going to shut down the service? Or does Valve still leave it to their own discretion whether or not they will actually remove the DRM in such a case?

Great if that was true, but I doubt it. Does it cover also third-party DRM on Steam games, e.g. is Capcom required to remove GFWL from all their Steam games?

A somewhat old but good example of the problem with ebook DRM. The most apt example there ever could be, really, given the book in question.

With DRM what you buy you never really own.

Granted, I just skimmed through the EULA, but all that jumped out at me is this:

"NO GUARANTEES

NEITHER VALVE NOR ITS AFFILIATES GUARANTEE CONTINUOUS, ERROR-FREE, VIRUS-FREE OR SECURE OPERATION AND ACCESS TO STEAM, THE SOFTWARE, YOUR ACCOUNT AND/OR YOUR SUBSCRIPTIONS(S) OR ANY INFORMATION AVAILABLE IN CONNECTION THEREWITH."

From that, it doesn't sound to me like they have any guarantee to fix your Steam games if Steam goes down the tubes.

Starkrun was claiming this was a provision in the EULA developers/publishers have to agree to in order to publish on Steam, not the EULA for regular Steam users. But such a claim needs a source.

Yes, I realize that. I posted in response to the question of whether this alleged provision also appears in the end-user EULA. ;)

I personally have serious doubts as to the existence of this provision.

it was because of this very situation that when I did get me an e-reader I made sure that it didn't have wifi capability

with the one I have, I have the choice of using a USB cable or micro SD card to transfer files

Don't you find illustrations, tables and code (if you read that type of textbook) a pain to look at on a regular sized ereader though?

I already found pictures problematic on a 9.7 inches ereader, can't imagine what it's like on a 6-7 incher.

I must admit that except for the eye constraint, there isn't much reason to go for an ereader instead of a tablet at that size.

Still, I'd guess there is a small, but steaby minority of avid textbook readers that would want a 9.7 inch ereader, but maybe I'm overestimating my own demographic.

It's hard to say, because as they are currently feeling neglected by the ereader market, they tend to go for tablets anyways.

Imho, any company whose ereaders doesn't support the epub format is clearly more interested in promoting it's ebook store than it's ereaders.

That might have been the spark, but they were assholes in their implementation.

I mean, Amazon and B&N (for example) could have agreed to support each other's format on their ereaders.

Clearly, their whole stragegy centered around getting a captive market and go for top dog position.

I think in some case, they go DRM-free either because of principles or (more likely) because the customer base really wants it.

I mean, O'reilly had the resources to implement their own DRM scheme, but given that their core audience is the IT crowd, I think they figured their clientele would really appreciate being able to freely access their books on any device.

For sure, implementing in-house security mechanisms has always been a big player's game.

Smaller joints usually resort to third-party solutions given the experize and testing man-hours required to get it right.

Everyone always have these problems with the Kindle. With the Kindle you can also transfer files via a USB cable, and you can turn off the wifi and never use it. I have never needed an SD card (even when I had my Sony ereader), but everyone has their different requirements. Amazon's encryption is easy to remove, and I can backup every ebook I have in mobi, epub or any other format.

Answered your first question in the post you quoted. I use my ereader for books that are reflowable text, not for ones that need a fixed layout.

Making a technical device is complex, and an audience of a few million really isn't enough to support a device with the kind of breakage problems that a large ereader would have. Since there's already multifunction tablets at that size I think we have to wait for improvements in LCD technology to decrease eyestrain.

Epub isn't nearly as generic as its supporters would like you think. There's several different flavors of epub engines, and the idea that epub books render the same everywhere is laughable. epub3 also poses its own intense security risks that no one on the design committee is willing to talk about, so I completely understand app developers being wary of adding epub3 features to their app. Adobe hasn't even released their epub3 renderer yet.

A book in basically any DRM-free format can be converted into another format. Epub isn't unique in that.

If you're selling something, why should you support your competitor's store for that item? There's some speculation that B&N's compatibility with other epub stores is part of the problem with Nook, since Nook can't subsidize the ereader prices like Amazon can if customers can buy from other stores. B&N, Kobo and Amazon are all selling a combined package and their pricing structure reflects that. There are hardware-only ereader vendors, but those are more expensive and less successful precisely because they lack the ability to subsidize a low ereader price with their book sales. It's a completely different business model.

Businesses exist to make money. There are certainly moral aspects to DRM-free, but businesses wouldn't stay in business if it didn't make business sense. Adobe keeps making their DRM scheme make less and less business sense.