This morning I made the "mistake" of plugging the Reader into one of my other computers. Sony's Reader software launched and immediately told me that it was not authorized to view the book. In addition, I discovered that both library books were erased from my Reader! (The titles purchased from e-bookstore sites appear to have been untouched.)I was able to recover the library books (but not my bookmark notes) without much fuss by plugging back into the computer to which I originally downloaded and transferring the files again. But what if I was travelling and made this "mistake"? Sheesh.
Coincidentally, the Free Software Foundation has designated next Wednesday, May 4, as Day Against DRM. It's a campaign encouraging resistance to Big Media's abuse of fair use. One of the most blatant examples came recently when HarperCollins told libraries that they were capping the number of e-book checkouts at 26, after which they would be required to buy the book again.
The music industry is surviving just fine with iTunes and Amazon selling music files unshackled from DRM. Book publishers ought to lighten up on their customers too. Owning more than one computer does not make me a pirate.
3 comments:
We own like, 5 computers! I can't keep track of what is licensed to what- will be interested in seeing how this pans out.
I went through this also. I never had anything erased from my reader though, it just told me I was unauthorized. I understand trying to protect against piracy, but I'm NOT a fan of DRM.
I think I may have figured out what happened. I think Overdrive's DRM may have went into Panic Mode because my usernames on the two PCs weren't perfectly identical:
http://currentlyvince.blogspot.com/2011/04/case-sensitive.html
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