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Penguin to go DRM-free

04.03.08

Penguin is planning to offer audiobooks free of digital copyright protection technology, which will allow buyers to play them on any digital device, dismissing fears that they could become the latest target for online pirates, according to the Guardian.

Announcing a strong set of annual results from Pearson, chief executive Marjorie Scardino said that Penguin would follow Random House and experiment with selling "DRM-free" digital versions of its audiobooks on the internet.

Though she said it was vital to protect intellectual property, "I don't think we can be worried about every incursion from electronic selling and electronic use. We have got to think about what the future is going to be and look at how to experiment with it".

Scardino admitted that another potential electronic version of literature - digital books or e-books - has yet to take off because there is still no attractive digital book-reading device.

Last year Amazon tried to revitalise the market with the Kindle, but Scardino reckons it "is not quite there yet, and I think we are still waiting for that piece of kit. It's like downloadable music - iTunes came first but without the iPod I think that would not have really mattered."

Guardian

Penguin digital Marjorie Scardino

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