Will book publishers follow in the footsteps of the RIAA?
In its effort to defend the record labels, musicians and the recording industry at large, the RIAA became perhaps one of the most disliked organizations in the world.
Yes, most people will agree that piracy is wrong and that laws protecting content creators and rights holders are sensible, but the RIAA's tactics in fighting piracy, which infamously included widely-publicized lawsuits against grandmothers (dead or alive), didn't win it many fans.
Will open standards win out in the e-book wars?
Proprietary formats and lock-in. When it comes to discussions of digital content, these are terms you really can't escape.
A lot of that has to do with the evolution of digital content, which arguably hasn't gone much smoother than human evolution. On one side, we've seen many content owners fight the 'digitization' of their content, contributing to rampant piracy and consumer dissatisfaction. On one side, we've seen hardware and software vendors take advantage of the chaos to push proprietary formats that lock consumers into their hardware and software offerings.
Amazon's Ministry of DRM goes after Orwell's Kindle readers
For those of us who questioned the desirability of reading a book on a screen, the Kindle's success has been a surprise.
But some Kindle owners who love George Orwell got a surprise of their own last week: their digital copies of 1984 and Animal Farm mysteriously vanished. Was this the handiwork of the Ministry of Truth?
Report: Apple inks deals for DRM-free music, variable pricing on iTunes
Apple has reached a deal with the three largest music labels - Sony BMG, Universal and Warner Music - to offer their music DRM-free on iTunes, according to reports.
As part of the deal, Apple will give the labels something that they have wanted for some time - flexibility on pricing.
