Survey saaaaays....

[elf]

A poll! Because we all need more polls! Or rather, because I looked at the membership list and said, mygods, who ARE all these people, and also, I bet they'd like more ... posts about ... something ebookish.. In order to figure out what kinds of posts those should be, I bring you ... TICKY BOXES! Confirm your ebookish identity, knowledge, and DRM skills!

Poll #5653 Who are you people?

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 86

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What kind of ebook person are you?

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I read ebooks
67 (77.9%)

I buy and read ebooks
58 (67.4%)

I write ebooks
6 (7.0%)

I write and sell ebooks
1 (1.2%)

I convert/reformat ebooks
49 (57.0%)

I don't write or read ebooks (yet?), but I'm interested in them
6 (7.0%)

Your ticky boxes cannot contain my ebookery
20 (23.3%)

Ticky box, ticky boox, e-tickery abounds
30 (34.9%)

If you read ebooks, what do you read them on?

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I don't read ebooks.
2 (2.4%)

Desktop computer
26 (30.6%)

Laptop or netbook.
40 (47.1%)

E-ink dedicated reader.
56 (65.9%)

LCD screen dedicated reader
1 (1.2%)

Phone or PDA
25 (29.4%)

Tablet computer
6 (7.1%)

Something else, which you have failed to describe
3 (3.5%)

TICKY OF DOOM!
21 (24.7%)

Do you have a device/ereader preference? (Or: what do you think you'd prefer, if you don't have one yet.)

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I don't read ebooks.
2 (2.3%)

I don't have a preference.
1 (1.2%)

I prefer to read on a computer
0 (0.0%)

I prefer to read on a dedicated ebook reader.
49 (57.0%)

I prefer a multifunction device (iPad, phone, etc.)
17 (19.8%)

I have different preferences in different circumstances.
16 (18.6%)

I prefer something else.
1 (1.2%)

What do you know about ebook formats?

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Ebook for mats? No, ebooks for bed, chairs, couches ...
5 (5.8%)

There's a lot of them. They're a confusing mess.
32 (37.2%)

One is better than the rest, and it's my preference.
14 (16.3%)

One is better than the rest, and I prefer something else anyway.
1 (1.2%)

They all have different pros & cons; I don't think any is best.
25 (29.1%)

I know which ones work on my ereader.
61 (70.9%)

I know which ones work on most ereaders.
36 (41.9%)

My knowledge of ebook formats exceeds your ticky-talents.
8 (9.3%)

What do you know about DRM?

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What does Dating Republican Men have to do with ebooks?
4 (4.7%)

It's evil.
42 (49.4%)

It's a way for authors to avoid getting ripped off.
12 (14.1%)

I know what kind works on my ereader.
25 (29.4%)

I know what kinds work on most ereaders.
14 (16.5%)

I know how to remove it from ebooks I buy.
14 (16.5%)

I could figure out how to remove it if I wanted/needed to.
43 (50.6%)

I have many thinky thoughts about DRM and can expound on them at length.
22 (25.9%)

It's a damned nuisance. I dunno about "evil," though.
42 (49.4%)

Tickety-tickety-tick tick tick.
29 (34.1%)

Comments

[draigwen]

I can't stand reading for long off a real screen so I stick with an e-Ink reader.

I don't mind DRM - I've read too many blog articles recently by independent/non-mainstream authors who lose tons of sales via illegal downloads, so if DRM helps them just a little bit, that's great. What I dislike is the fact that there's not just one DRM format, and that they don't produce e-reading software to read DRM books for non-standard OSes (i.e. Linux). I'd be almost pro-DRM if they'd decide on a standard across the board and make sure that readers for it were allowed on all software/hardware combos.

[elf]

I've read too many blog articles recently by independent/non-mainstream authors who lose tons of sales via illegal downloads, so if DRM helps them just a little bit, that's great.

The question is: are they losing more sales to those downloads, or to not being able to sell to someone like me, who won't touch DRM? Having their books copied onto 300 computers through a torrent batch doesn't mean those are 300 sales that would otherwise have happened.

I won't say that none of those copies are lost sales, but there's absolutely no evidence that filesharing causes substantial lost sales, and there is evidence that it works the other direction: The books that are most popular, bestsellers, are the most widely torrented and exchanged.

I buy ebooks. I'll even buy PDF ebooks if they're not DRM'd, because I can tweak those to where I'd like them to be. But I not only won't buy DRM, I won't download free DRM'd ebooks; it's not worth it to me to install the software. (I read on 3 computers and 2 different devices with different format support ranges; it's really not worth the hassle for me.)

I support the right of authors & publishers to make their own decisions about how to market their books. And until they decide to market them without DRM, I'll be reading someone else's works.

I wouldn't be pro-DRM no matter how smooth they got it (and I firmly believe it's impossible to get it to work across all platforms & devices, because a lot of older devices just won't support new software), because I'm very much against the idea of "1 purchase = 1 reader." Nobody learned to love books by buying them all new.

[draigwen]

The last article I read didn't imply the author used any form of DRM at all, and there were good statistics showing that they were, indeed, lost sales. It seemed that the people who downloaded were more people who downloaded because of 'convenience' or some sense of 'entitlement' to free works, rather than any dislike to DRM.

DRM doesn't have to mean 1 purchase = 1 reader. There's no reason there couldn't be some way to implement a method to sell books on. Amazon already allow you to give a book to six different readers (admittedly on the same account), so it's not quite as limiting as, say, a DRM'd mp3. I think there are a lot of faults with DRM, but there's no reason someone willing couldn't design DRM that took into account fair use. Unfortunately the companies that want DRM aren't the sort to do this sort of thing, but that's a problem with big corporations rather than the concept of DRM itself.

[elf]

Amazon & B&N both have ways to legitimately loan DRM'd ebooks--one time per book, for two weeks only, and only on those books that the publisher allows. (And I haven't heard yet if Amazon's method works on their non-DRM'd ebooks; B&N doesn't have any non-DRM'd ebooks.)

The loaning issue could be dealt with; the filetype issue could be addressed similarly, but I can't think of any way that will deactivate a book on several readers so it could be read on a different kind of reader. (Well. If they only work when logged into the network, you could do it. Since a lot of people want their ebook readers to work on camping trips, that's not going to be an effective method.)

I'm not against the idea of "software that prevents endless copying;" I can't figure out how you could make that and still allow fair use.

[rebecca2525]

What really irks me about DRM (besides all the hassle and OS thing) is that I can't be sure I'll be able to read my books in, say, 10 years. The Adobe-whats-its-name software allows to register up to 6 devices. In ten years, I'll probably have bought a new computer, a new eReader and re-installed my OS a several times--gone are those 6 devices. They might decide to grant me new devices, or they might not. Furthermore, ebook formats may change, and I might not be able to convert my DRM-protected ebooks. In both cases I'm at a company's mercy, although I 'own' the ebook and have payed (nearly) as much for it as for a printed book, which will last me a lifetime.

[elf]

They will slowly increase the number over time if you ask them. You can file a support note that says "have deactivated devices 1 & 2; need to add devices 6 & 7." This is necessary because deactivating a device doesn't actually free up one of your six slots--they have to do that on their end.

Oh, and every few years, they may change the whole DRM system so you *can't* reactivate old books; they did that a while ago with their older DRM that worked with Acrobat 5 & 6 before ADE was released.

Kindle used to sell PDF ebooks, from 2005 to 2007; they stopped, meaning those buyers can't open their ebooks anymore, just before they started with Kindles and their mobi ebooks.

The good news: every main commercial DRM in use today, with the exception of iThings, has been cracked. And what's protecting the iThings is the lack of access to ebooks-and-digital-keys on computers that run real programs; as soon as they allow iBooks outside of the walled garden, that'll be cracked.