Kindle

[ciphergoth]

The Future of Reading - the dystopian side of Amazon's new Kindle described in quotes

ETA unrelated very strange short movie - recommended

ETA unrelated How much of your favourite show is left before they run out of script?

Comments

[djm4]

The future of reading is ... interesting. I'm not sure I agree with the people who claim that books don't have any form of DRM. In many ways, they have a highly restrictive form of DRM, in that it is very hard to do anyhting but pass the book on, in one block, at which point you no longer have access to it. It's like a from of DRM in which you can securely transfer licenses.

I realise that this is nothing like the Kindle as proposed, but I feel that some of the comments over-romanticise the 'freely-sharable' nature of books.

[zwol.livejournal.com]

You're right, but passing the book on is one of the big things you can't do with any current electronic DRM, and I think it's also one of the big things people expect to be able to do with books.

Pilgrim's essay is good rhetoric, but I think the What Colour Are Your Bits? (http://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/lawpoli/colour/2004061001.php) essay makes a better practical case against DRM, from the basic you can't make this work and you don't really want to perspective.

[djm4]

You're right, but passing the book on is one of the big things you can't do with any current electronic DRM, and I think it's also one of the big things people expect to be able to do with books.

Yes, I agree.