New magazine reader “will be DRM-free”
December 2009, 1:48 pm
Filed under:
General Commentary,
Happenings | Tags:
1984,
Amazon,
copyright,
digital rights management,
drm,
e-reader,
engadget.com,
hearst,
Kindle,
magazine,
meredith,
News Corporation,
Orwell,
time incFour big names in publishing have joined forces to create a name-to-be-announced magazine reader that will compete with Amazon’s Kindle in the e-reader market, reports Engadget.com.
The solidarity between Time Inc., Conde Nast, Hearst, Meredith and News Corporation is what I’ve been talking about regarding the need to “unionize” in the effort for paid content. Yet another way that publishers can digitize their content without giving it away for free.
Significantly, Time Inc. executive John Squire announced that this new device will be “DRM-free.” DRM, or digital rights management, is a broad term for various access-control technologies that could potentially be used by electronics distributors to keep tabs on what their devices are being used for. Essentially, DRM technology (in hardware or software form) prevents consumers from using their new toy in a way the manufacturers don’t want. DRM helps to prevent piracy and protect copyrights, as well.
Controversy abounded when Amazon used their link to their customer’s Kindles to delete digital versions of Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm last July. From the New York Times, “Digital books bought for the Kindle are sent to it over a wireless network. Amazon can also use that network to synchronize electronic books between devices — and apparently to make them vanish…”
So if “Big Brother” Time Inc., News Corporation, et al. aren’t monitoring your patterns via their new reader, it’s a definite bonus over buying the Kindle!
Thoughts on E-Readers
Many of the important things of my life are intangible: That is, they’re digital.
Thousands of family pictures never made it to the printing kiosk at Wal-Mart, but they’re stored neatly on my hard drive.
The blog entries I’ve painstakingly written on topics like my menial job, to current events and bus rides are kept within WordPress’ servers.
Much of the contact I have with my friends and family is electronic, saved on my Facebook page.
The music I listen to is kept on a small, plastic device protected by a shealth of rubber, accessible through some wires and a plug.
Although I can interact with these things on a faily consistent basis (provided that Wi-Fi is as plentiful as air), they wouldn’t do me much good on a deserted island or even during a power outage. This increasing level of disconnect from meaningful things has spread to my most treasured possession: Knowledge.
I’ll never own an E-Reader. No Kindle, no Papyrus, no Sony Reader, no sir–not for me.
I like being able to feel the pages beneath my fingers and underline with a regular yellow pencil (none of this “stylus” with a rubber tip and pixelated drawing lines). I take comfort in knowing that my book can soak up a few drops of my morning coffee and shield my head in a brief dash through rain. I’m more financially (and environmentally) responsible for spending $3 on a used copy of Republic than for hundreds on a fragile, technologically advanced gadget.
And I like being able to impress guests by lining my shelves with difficult-looking books.
Filed under: General Commentary, Happenings | Tags: 1984, Amazon, copyright, digital rights management, drm, e-reader, engadget.com, hearst, Kindle, magazine, meredith, News Corporation, Orwell, time inc
Four big names in publishing have joined forces to create a name-to-be-announced magazine reader that will compete with Amazon’s Kindle in the e-reader market, reports Engadget.com.
The solidarity between Time Inc., Conde Nast, Hearst, Meredith and News Corporation is what I’ve been talking about regarding the need to “unionize” in the effort for paid content. Yet another way that publishers can digitize their content without giving it away for free.
Significantly, Time Inc. executive John Squire announced that this new device will be “DRM-free.” DRM, or digital rights management, is a broad term for various access-control technologies that could potentially be used by electronics distributors to keep tabs on what their devices are being used for. Essentially, DRM technology (in hardware or software form) prevents consumers from using their new toy in a way the manufacturers don’t want. DRM helps to prevent piracy and protect copyrights, as well.
Controversy abounded when Amazon used their link to their customer’s Kindles to delete digital versions of Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm last July. From the New York Times, “Digital books bought for the Kindle are sent to it over a wireless network. Amazon can also use that network to synchronize electronic books between devices — and apparently to make them vanish…”
So if “Big Brother” Time Inc., News Corporation, et al. aren’t monitoring your patterns via their new reader, it’s a definite bonus over buying the Kindle!