Princeton to Launch DRM'd Textbook Program

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [IP] Princeton to launch DRM'd textbook program
Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 08:26:26 -0400
From: David Farber <[email protected]>
To: Ip Ip <[email protected]>


Begin forwarded message:

From: Richard Forno <[email protected]>
Date: August 6, 2005 10:50:53 PM EDT
To: Infowarrior List <[email protected]>
Cc: Dave Farber <[email protected]>
Subject: Princeton to launch DRM'd textbook program



This is utterly crazy.  One hopes that students will realize the
foolishness of this strategy and stick to "old fashioned"
textbooks that are far more user-friendly and enduring than this
half-brained DRM scheme.

-rick


http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=4658

We admire Princeton not only for its beautiful campus and its
myriad of creative minds, but also for its courage to embrace new
technologies. Starting in the fall semester, the school will
offer digital   textbooks to its students in partnership with
Missouri-based MBS Textbook Exchange   Inc and various textbook
publishers. The student only needs to pick up a barcoded textbook
card (see attached screenshot), activate it at the   cash
register for usually 33 percent less than the new-book price, and
go   online for a one-time download of the textbook in PDF
format.

Alas, the e-books are encoded in DRM which pretty much spoils
the   potential success of this pilot project:

     * Textbook is locked to the computer where you downloaded it
from;
     * Copying and burning to CD is prohibited;
     * Printing is limited to small passages;
     * Unless otherwise stated, textbook activation expires after
5 months (*gasp*);
     * Activated textbooks are not returnable;
     * Buyback is not possible.

...and the PDF Press Release from the Publishing Company:
http://www.digitaltextbooks.net/cgi-dts/pressrelease.pdf


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