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Why O'Reilly Media doesn't use DRM

forbes.com

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Re: Why O'Reilly Media doesn't use DRM

#12

Post by zosi »

cpr wrote: post #3

Of course, they put your name & other info on every page of the PDF generated for you. That probably works as a general "shaming" mechanism, such that most folks won't share indiscriminately.

O'Reilly doesn't seem to do that, unless it's embedded in the PDF in a way which doesn't show up in simple viewers.

Pragmatic Bookshelf, Manning and Packt (out of the e-books I have handy for quick checking) do put your name/address on the bottom of every page to discourage piracy.

Edit: Specifics for each publisher, for anyone who's curious:

  Manning - Name and email address on each page
  Pragmatic Bookshelf - Name on each page
  Packt - Name, physical address and purchase date on each page

Re: Why O'Reilly Media doesn't use DRM

#16

Post by andreah »

I bought 98% of my ebooks from B&N because they allow to download them in ePub. I've also removed the DRM from all of them, not to share them, I haven't shared one single ebook yet, but to have them open and readable from every other reader. Tim O'Reilly perfectly got the point.

This is my first message here (sent from my CR-48 with Verizon :)), Hacker News is a great community, I also read you guys on my iPhone, keep working hard!

Re: Why O'Reilly Media doesn't use DRM

#17

Post by xbryanx »

No DRM? What are they talking about. As a "Safari Books Online by O'Reilly" subscriber I'm constantly confounded by annoying "features" that seem to have almost no purpose but to prevent you from copying anything from the online versions (like code sections). While it's not technically blocked or prohibited, these features sure don't seem to be there to enhance online reading.

Re: Why O'Reilly Media doesn't use DRM

#18

Post by jgrahamc »

RyanMcGreal wrote: post #9

I'm really gratified that the guy who once wrote, "Obscurity is a far greater threat to authors and creative artists than piracy" has built his business successfully on this same principle.

I agree. I wrote a book for O'Reilly and it has sold well, but I know that there are people out there with pirate copies of the eBook (perhaps there are lots), and although I'm happy to receive money from people two factors play together: I make hardly anything from the book (author royalties are small and compared to the effort, 6 months full time work, insignificant) and I'm much happier when someone reads it and likes the book then when I receive money for the book.

Initially, I was freaked out by all these copies on file sharing sites. Now, I just ignore it.

Re: Why O'Reilly Media doesn't use DRM

#19

Post by michael_dorfman »

generalk wrote: post #5
cpr wrote: post #3

Of course, they put your name & other info on every page of the PDF generated for you. That probably works as a general "shaming" mechanism, such that most folks won't share indiscriminately.

Which is the right way to discourage large-scale piracy. If I put my copy of an O'Reilly ebook online for anyone to grab, it's obvious the copy floating around is mine and I'm a jerk. But I can still give a copy of the PDF to a few friends and encourage them to buy a copy if they like it. And, there's absolutely no way this is going to somehow bone me in the future. The authentication server isn't going to go down, i…

Sure there's a way this could somehow bone you in the future-- if one of those "friends" you loan the copy to decides to put it online for everyone to grab, everyone thinks you seeded it, and suddenly, you're a jerk.
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