Intertrust has 250 patents related to digital copy protection software security and has licensed them to plenty of Apple’s peers. Now it is using the iPhone maker for infringement. Read more »
Self-publishing site Lulu will stop offering DRM as an option on ebooks created through its site. But ebooks created on Lulu and sold through other retailers, like Amazon and Apple, will still be subject to DRM. Read more at paidContent »
Startup BookShout lets users import their Kindle and Nook books into its iOS, Android and web-based social reading platform. But the function doesn’t work very well yet, and it seems as if it’s only a matter of time before Barnes & Noble or Amazon shuts it down. Read more at paidContent »
Remember when Friendster was the hot social network, publishers doubted that ebooks would ever sell, and Netflix thought DVDs in red envelopes was the future? We do — that was that state of digital media when paidContent launched in 2002. Read more »
Cloud-based storage and cross-device syncing of media content are two of the most competitive areas in consumer IT. Apple, Google and Amazon see cloud-based media services both as a way to increase attachment to their platforms and a means to extend and amplify their broader strategic goals. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Microsoft this year joined a growing number of companies that forbid users from filing class action lawsuits. The new policy, however, has failed to stop at least one disgruntled Xbox user. Read more at paidContent »
An issue that caused the App Store to send out buggy app updates to iOS users has been identified and fixed. Late Thursday Apple issued a statement saying it found there was a snafu with DRM code from one of its servers. Read more »
This week, the book industry gathered at the ugly, cavernous Javits Center in Manhattan for the largest book trade event in the United States. (“I feel like I’m in Costco,” actress-author Molly Ringwald told the AP.) Here are five digital lessons from the week. Read more at paidContent »
IPG, the Chicago-based distributor that recently made news due to its battle over terms with Amazon, has announced that it will offer its roughly 400 client publishers the option to publish their books DRM-free. Three months ago, Amazon yanked over 5,000 IPG titles from the Kindle […] Read more at paidContent »
Macmillan’s science-fiction/fantasy imprint, Tor/Forge, will launch a DRM-free digital bookstore this summer, Macmillan announced at Publishers Launch BEA today. Sci-fi authors Cory Doctorow, John Scalzi and Charlie Stross also spoke out on DRM. Read more at paidContent »
Pan Macmillan Australia’s digital-only imprint Momentum will remove DRM from all its titles by August, the company announced today. Last month, Macmillan sci-fi/fantasy imprint Tor/Forge announced it will drop DRM by early July. Read more at paidContent »
Amazon is a “predator,” Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo said at paidContent 2012 this afternoon, and he believes that young undiscovered writers are at particular risk. Read more at paidContent »
With Pottermore.com now using watermarking instead of heavyweight DRM on all the Harry Potter e-books, anti-DRM arguments are growing louder. Now the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) hopes to create an industry standard for “lightweight content protection,” occupying “a middle ground between strong DRM and DRM-free.” Read more at paidContent »
Macmillan science fiction/fantasy imprint Tor/Forge will sell its e-books DRM-free as of “early July 2012,” the company announced today. Read more at paidContent »
Calls for big-six publishers to drop DRM have increased in recent weeks, coinciding with the DOJ price-fixing lawsuit. In the meantime, one publishing industry executive tried breaking the DRM on purchased e-books — and isn’t going back. Read more at paidContent »
The e-book price-fixing lawsuit against major publishers and Apple renewed discussion among the digerati last week about the evils of DRM. Companies should use DRM to unlock new revenue streams, rather than lock in outmoded business ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Some e-book buyers embrace a little friction, says Joe Esposito at The Scholarly Kitchen. Read more at paidContent »
Book publishers argue that Amazon is a vicious monopoly that has too much power over them and their content. But they need to realize they gave Amazon much of that power themselves when they agreed to shackle all of their books in DRM chains. Read more »
Last week, the Department of Justice sued Apple and five book publishers for allegedly colluding to set e-book prices. What does the suit mean for readers today and in coming weeks? Read more at paidContent »
By requiring retailers to encrypt e-books with DRM, big publishers are essentially banning online indie bookstores and increasing their own dependence on the whims of Apple and Amazon. Emily Gould and Ruth Curry of Emily Books look at the problem DRM poses indie booksellers. Read more at paidContent »
DRM is just “a speedbump,” Hachette’s Maja Thomas said at a copyright conference this afternoon. However, opinion within Hachette is clearly… Read more at paidContent »
Author J.K. Rowling has chosen to do a number of interesting things with the launch of the e-book versions of her Harry Potter series. While not everyone wields as much power as Rowling, there are lessons other book publishers should learn from what she is doing. Read more »
What do To Kill A Mockingbird, A Wrinkle in Time and Little House on the Prairie series have in common, besides being beloved? None of them… Read more at paidContent »
KeepRecipes is launching an “iTunes for recipes” on Friday, in hopes of building an online marketplace for buying and selling culinary ideas. It’s starting small, but KeepRecipes hopes to show cookbook publishers they can make money online and consumers that some recipes are worth paying for. Read more »
New entrants are pushing alternative business models in the music industry. Though this evolution will take time, the overall industry should return to growth within the five-year forecast horizon, as digital music spending, driven by subscriptions, will average double-digit yearly growth to total $4.1 billion in 2015. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
When he released his latest special straight to consumers and without DRM protection, Louis C.K. asked fans not to torrent the file. That didn’t exactly work as planned, and the special is already on The Pirate Bay. But does that mean his distribution experiment failed? Read more »
Connectivity changes everything. That’s the credo driving just about every corner of our day-to-day lives. As human beings, we are now connected to one another through not just our social networks but also our cars, the books we read, the albums we download and even our own health and wellness habits (to name just a few areas). With that in mind, GigaOM Pro has singled out certain areas in the technology industry where we see this shift to constant connectivity taking place most drastically. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Hollywood’s UltraViolet cloud locker service is finding some new friends in unlikely places: A German blogger reported that he was able to access the site with a coupon code he bought on eBay. The big problem: Codes trade for far less than studios would like. Read more »
What do consumers think about UltraViolet, Hollywood’s new attempt to preserve its physical disc business, curtail piracy and sell content without Apple’s help through a digital file locker? Judging from numerous reviews on Amazon.com, it looks like quite a few of them are pretty upset. Read more »
Online TV viewing is about to get a whole lot more complicated soon, as Fox.com and others are introducing pay-TV walls that force consumers to authenticate themselves as paying customers. It’s like DRM for online video — and, once again, consumers are getting screwed. Read more »
iTunes Match, and its ability to deliver high-quality DRM-free versions of music in your library to all your iOS, Mac and PC devices via iCloud seems like a reward for music piracy. But it might also be a way of getting back what once was lost. Read more »
Apple officially abandoned DRM for its iTunes music store more than two years ago. However, users who re-download any of their past copy-protected purchases as part of Apple’s new iCloud offering once again get files with DRM. Is the company punishing its most loyal customers? Read more »
Google has blocked its Movies feature for rooted Android devices, and now Blockbuster’s application is following suit. While this content protection makes business sense to content creators, it’s sure to put Google on a collision course with Android device owners who want to customize their devices. Read more »
There’s both good and bad news for Netflix subscribers on Android phones. The good news? A Netflix Android app has been leaked onto the Internet. The bad news? While you can browse, search and look at titles in your instant queue, you can’t actually stream anything. Read more »
A few thousand consumers are pledging to never ever download any unlicensed movie via BitTorrent again, as long as Hollywood offers them a legal alternative that comes without DRM, local restrictions, release windows and premium pricing. Illusionary demands, or a necessary attempt to aim high? Read more »
Intel’s newest processors, which it is showing off at CES this week, will feature improved graphics capabilities and content protection built in. But will Intel’s latest attempt to make its processors sexier with the help of Hollywood blockbusters pay off better than its past efforts? Read more »
Two computer scientists have released source code for a tool that is capable of decrypting HDCP-protected video in real time, delivering another blow to a content protection system that is in use in most modern home entertainment devices. With it, HDCP could become an open secret. Read more »
This week, we learned that the HDCP copy protection scheme is now essentially broken. HDCP’s failure is just one of many examples of copy protection technology not living up to its promises of security. Read on for five of the most glorious examples of DRM FAIL. Read more »
Our future is wireless at high speeds anywhere we’d like. This may be a decade away and if carriers make wireless data truly unlimited this will be a reality, but it scares me for a few reasons that simply can’t be fixed by technology. Read more »
Steve Jobs promised iPad users “freedom from porn,” and Apple isn’t approving any adult-themed apps for the device. Porn studios like Private Media nonetheless target iPad owners, and Private CEO Ilan Bunimovitz told us that his company has an equally promising offer to make: Freedom from DRM. Read more »
