Could DRM-free audio novels make way for unrestricted electronic books?
They made it look so easy. In a letter dated 21 February 2008, Madeline McIntosh, Random House's senior vice-president of audio, let her authors know that the company would be releasing audiobooks free of digital rights management (DRM). For six months, Random House had been testing DRM-free distribution. "Based on the successful results of that test," she announced, "we are now comfortable broadening this type of distribution."
What does Random House's announcement, together with similar ones from Penguin and Simon & Schuster in the following week, mean for book lovers? In short, it means that those who download audiobooks can listen to them anywhere - on their laptop or on any MP3 player they care to own. They can even back up their collection on to, say, a removable hard drive.
They could also upload it to an illicit file-sharing system and deprive Random House authors of revenue. But McIntosh's research suggests that they won't. During the six-month trial - with the DRM-free retailers eMusic - Random House tracked all the audiobook files it sold without DRM. Not a single one ended up on peer-to-peer file-sharing. Which shows that honest customers, at least of the book-buying variety, are just that: honest.
So... when you treat consumers with respect and provide a better option, everything is just fine. Well... duh. More from Newstatesman.
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