[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4Cast #205: Incompatible E-reader DRMs

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OPLIN 4Cast

OPLIN 4Cast #205: Incompatible E-reader DRMs
November 23th, 2010

<http://www.oplin.org/4cast/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/drm3.gif>With 
the holiday shopping season upon us, many people will be 
buying e-book readers for themselves or as gifts. Some 
industry forecasts 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/15/business/media/15ereader.html> 
predict as many as 10.3 million e-readers will be in use by 
the end of the year, and about 10% of adults report that 
they plan to give an e-reader as a gift this season. 
Unfortunately, many people who may want to download e-books 
from the library onto their brand-new device are in for a 
big disappointment. The digital rights management (DRM) 
systems used by libraries and e-readers to prevent 
unauthorized copying of e-books are often incompatible---a 
situation that could make the Grinch 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_the_Grinch_Stole_Christmas%21> 
very happy this year.

    * Adobe DRM library eBooks on your Apple iPad
      <http://thesplinteredmind.blogspot.com/2010/10/read-adobe-drm-library-ebooks-on-your.html>
      (Splintered Mind/Douglas Cootey) "The problem is that
      the most popular library ebook lending system is
      Overdrive. They deliver a double-fisted DRM smack down
      by wrapping Adobe DRM in a server side authorization
      mechanism. Basically, Overdrive files point to the
      DRMed book on Overdrive servers which an Overdrive
      authorized reader must be given permission to access.
      Since there are no authorized Overdrive readers for
      the iPad, and Overdrive has stated their first mobile
      ebook support will be for Android devices, this means
      that almost 7.5 million iPad owners will have to wait. "
    * Kindle cannot support library books
      <http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/lifestyle/50260537-80/kindle-books-library-libraries.html.csp>
      (Salt Lake Tribune/Vince Horiuchi) "But if I read the
      fine print on the library's website, I would have
      realized that the PDF books rented out by the library
      use DRM, or digital rights management, to protect the
      files from being copied. Unfortunately, the Kindle
      does not support that kind of DRM."
    * The shattered ebook DRM landscape
      <http://www.geardiary.com/2010/02/16/the-shattered-ebook-drm-landscape/>
      (Gear Diary/Carly Z) "When Steve Jobs announced the
      iPad, he also mentioned that iBooks would be using
      ePUB. There was a brief ray of hope among the eBook
      world...maybe, just maybe, the majority of
      ebooksellers would rally around a single format.
      Unfortunately, it looks like that was a false hope.
      ...Apple will be using their Fairplay DRM for iBooks.
      This will be the 3rd variant of ePUB DRM: Adobe,
      Fairplay, and Barnes and Noble. And of course, Amazon
      has their own DRM and ebook format."
    * Second Adobe DRM ebook reader arrives on iPad
      <http://www.ebookmagazine.co.uk/second-adobe-drm-ebook-reader-arrives-on-ipad/20101005>
      (ebookmagazine/Martin Hoscik) "Books sold via Apple's
      iBooks and Amazon's Kindle apps are limited by the
      seller's use of closed DRM and although rival Kobo
      offers Adobe protected ePub books, their app does not
      currently allow the 'side loading' of titles bought
      elsewhere."

*/Shopping list Fact:/*

So what should you tell patrons who think ahead and ask the 
library what e-reader to buy? Well, if your library uses 
Overdrive for e-books, there's an online list 
<http://www.overdrive.com/resources/drc/compatibleebookdevices.aspx> 
of compatible devices. Adobe also publishes a more extensive 
listing 
<http://blogs.adobe.com/digitalpublishing/supported-devices> 
of e-readers that support Adobe Digital Editions DRM.
------------------------------------------------------------
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