I just read this article! This sounds very good! ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Pattison" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Access-L" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "PC-Audio" <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, May 25, 2008 8:36 AM Subject: Fwd: Article: Publishers Phase Out Piracy Protection on AudioBooks
> From: K4NKZ Jim > To: Lost In The Stacks > > Publishers Phase Out Piracy Protection on Audio Books By BRAD STONE > > Reprinted from the New York Times > > Originally published: March 3, 2008 > > SAN FRANCISCO - Some of the largest book publishers in the world are > stripping away the anticopying software on digital downloads of audio > books. > > The trend will allow consumers who download audio books to freely > transfer these digital files between devices like their computers, > iPods and cellphones - and conceivably share them with others. > Dropping copying restrictions could also allow a variety of online > retailers to start to sell audio book downloads. > > The publishers hope this openness could spark renewed growth in the > audio book business, which generated $923 million in sales last year, > according to the Audio Publishers Association. > > Random House was the first to announce it was backing away from > D.R.M., or digital rights management software, the protective wrapping > placed around digital files to make them difficult to copy. In a > letter sent to its industry partners last month, Random House, the > world's largest publisher, announced it would offer all of its audio > books as unprotected MP3 files beginning this month, unless retail > partners or authors specified otherwise. > > Penguin Group, the second-largest publisher in the United States > behind Random House, now appears set to follow suit. Dick Heffernan, > publisher of Penguin Audio, said the company would make all of its > audio book titles available for download in the MP3 format on eMusic, > the Web's second-largest digital music service after iTunes. > > Penguin was initially going to join the eMusic service last fall, when > it introduced its audio books download store. But it backed off when > executives at Pearson, the London-based media company that owns > Penguin, became concerned that such a move could fuel piracy. > > Mr. Heffernan said the company changed its mind partly after watching > the major music labels, like Warner Brothers and Sony BMG, abandon > D.R.M. on the digital music they sell on Amazon.com. "I'm looking at > this as a test," he said. "But I do believe the audio book market > without D.R.M. is going to be the future." > > Other major book publishers seem to agree. Chris Lynch, executive vice > president and publisher of Simon & Schuster Audio, said the company > would make 150 titles available for download in an unprotected digital > format in "the next couple of months." > > An executive at HarperCollins said the publisher was watching these > developments closely but was not yet ready to end D.R.M. > > If the major book publishers follow music labels in abandoning > copyright protections, it could alter the balance of power in the > rapidly growing world of digital media downloads. Currently there is > only one significant provider of digital audio books: Audible, a > company in Seattle that was bought by Amazon for $300 million in > January. Audible provides Apple with the audio books on the iTunes > store. > > Apple's popular iPod plays only audio books that are in Audible's > format or unprotected formats like MP3. Book publishers do not want to > make the same error originally made by the music labels and limit > consumers to a single online store to buy digital files that will play > on the iPod. Doing so would give that single store owner - Apple - too > much influence. > > Turning to the unprotected MP3 format, says Madeline McIntosh, a > senior vice president at the Random House Audio Group, will enable a > number of online retailers to begin selling audio books that will work > on all digital devices. > > Some bookstores are already showing interest. The Borders Group, based > in Ann Arbor, Mich., introduced an online audio book store in November > using D.R.M. provided by Microsoft. Its books cannot be played on the > iPod, a distinction that turns off many customers. But Pam Promer, > audio book buyer for Borders, said the company welcomed moves by the > publishers and planned to begin selling MP3 downloads by early spring. > > A spokesman for Barnes & Noble said the retailer had "no plans to > enter the audio book market at this time." > > Publishers, like the music labels and movie studios, stuck to D.R.M. > out of fear that pirated copies would diminish revenue. Random House > tested the justification for this fear when it introduced the > D.R.M.-less concept with eMusic last fall. It encoded those audio > books with a digital watermark and monitored online file sharing > networks, only to find that pirated copies of its audio books had been > made from physical CDs or D.R.M.-encoded digital downloads whose > anticopying protections were overridden. > > "Our feeling is that D.R.M. is not actually doing anything to prevent > piracy," said Ms. McIntosh of Random House Audio. > > Amazon and Audible would not comment on whether they would preserve > D.R.M. > protections on their own audio books, citing Securities and Exchange > Commission restrictions surrounding the recent acquisition. > > Regards Steve > Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Windows Live Messenger: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Skype: steve1963 > > > > Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... > http://www.pc-audio.org > > To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... http://www.pc-audio.org To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
