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Publishing risks going down the same DRM hole as music publishers. That is the view of Martyn Daniels, who writes the Bookseller's Association's blog on digital issues, Brave New World. He writes: "DRM has the capacity to do so much good but like in the music industry also much harm if it is allowed to be preparatory and dominate."
The comment follows a Times piece, which reported that http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/articl... target="_blank" title="The Times">Microsoft would no longer allow songs bought from MSN Music, its online music shop, to be transferable to machines other than the ones the files were registered to. "It is all down to the digital rights management (DRM) software that Microsoft has embedded in all its music downloads to combat illegal file-sharing." Imagine if you had a bedroom full of CDs and decided to buy a new player one day, only to discover that none of your albums would play on the new system, is how the Times interprets it.
Daniels worries that "we are in close danger of following the same idiotic route". He writes: "Interoperability is a key word that is often missing as formats are tied to specific DRM services which are in turn tied to specific devices and library management tools."
"Some would say that the publishing industry appears to be walking blindfold down the same path and in some cases with even the same players," concludes Daniels.
Daniels' views were echoed by Ian Hudson, Publishers Association president, and deputy c.e.o. of Random House, in his speech at the Booksellers Association annual conference: "We need to have one standard file format and one standard DRM so that consumers can buy e-content in the confidence that the file will work on whatever e-reading device they possess. The battle to secure full inter-operability could be a long one but if we don't win it then the only way forward is DRM-free e-books which I would hope we could avoid."