Image Comics becomes first US publisher offering DRM-free downloads

Anyone who enjoys comics and prefers to go the digital route knows the frustrating aspect of not actually owning the material. Though the price for online copies of various comics is often equal to the price of a paper copy, DRM has been a staple of major US publishers as a way to mitigate what is expected to be rampant piracy when the restrictions are removed. Image Comics has eschewed this convention, however, announcing that it will allow a digital comic purchase to be downloaded.

Image Comics DRM Free

The announcement was made at the Image Expo that took place yesterday, during which the publisher stated that all digital comic purchases made from its website will be provided to the buyer as a download that can be saved to the user’s computer, smartphone or tablet. In addition, the downloads will be provided in different file-type options: EPUB, PDF, CBR, and CBZ.

Thus, buyers will likely be able to download a version that works with their preferred comic reading application or ebook reader, and provides the freedom to save the file to different devices for different situations. One might, for example, wish to read it on a laptop during lunch break, then transfer it to a smartphone for enjoyment during a train ride or poolside. Hopefully this will inspire other publishers to follow.

Said Eric Stephenson of Image Comics: “My stance on piracy is that piracy is bad for bad entertainment. There’s a pretty strong correlation with things that suck not being greatly pirated, while things that are successful have a higher piracy rate. If you put out a good comic book, even if somebody does download it illegally, if they enjoy it then the likelihood of them purchasing the book is pretty high. Obviously we don’t want everybody giving a copy to a hundred friends, but this argument has been around since home taping was supposedly killing music back in the ’70s, and that didn’t happen. And I don’t think it’s happening now.”

The publisher’s director of business development went on to state some reasons beyond the “ownership factor” that are valid for why users should own the digital content they download, among them being the risk of having DRM’d downloads being revoked if a publisher goes out of business, for example. In addition, digital downloads have resulted in “tremendous growth” and the data shows no reasonable need to worry.

SOURCE: Wired


Image Comics becomes first US publisher offering DRM-free downloads is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Text-juggling ebook DRM uses unique watermarks to track pirates

A new DRM technology is being developed in Germany that gives every ebook a unique watermark of sorts, so that publishers can track them and see who is pirating copies. With the popularity of ereaders and ebooks on the rise, publishers are looking for new ways to combat the rise in piracy on ebooks, especially

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Steve Jobs an ebooks doubter Eddy Cue tells iBooks price fix court

Apple‘s Steve Jobs had to be convinced of the potential for ebooks on the iPad, Eddy Cue has revealed, describing how he needed to petition for iBooks support during testimony at the ebook price fixing trial this week. Cue first pitched a digital bookstore in 2009, Cue told the court, AllThingsD reports, but Jobs “wasn’t

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Apple’s Eddy Cue acknowledges e-book price increases at antitrust trial, reveals talk of Amazon deal that would split books/music control

Antitrust trial reveals Apple discussed Amazon deal to split control of music and books

The issue of e-book prices, and alleged price fixing, has come up again and again in recent years, with the focus most recently shifting to a Manhattan courtroom where Apple is at the center of an antitrust trial. After revealing new details of the company’s market share yesterday, Apple’s Eddy Cue has today offered another piece of surprising news: that he and Steve Jobs once discussed a potential deal that would see Apple stay out of the ebook market if Amazon agreed stayed out of music. There’s no indication that went beyond the early discussion phase, or actually involved any discussions with Amazon, but it would obviously raise considerable antitrust questions had it gone any further.

As CNET and The Verge report, the DOJ is hoping that revelation will bolster its case that Apple engaged in antitrust practices to inflate ebook prices across the market. On that front, Cue, who the DOJ describes as the “chief ringleader of the conspiracy,” reportedly acknowledged that the prices of some ebooks did go up from April of 2010 (when it opened its iBookstore) through to 2012, but he attributed that to publishers unhappy with Amazon’s $9.99 pricing. Cue’s facing further questioning from Apple’s attorneys this afternoon, with the trial expected to wrap up by the end of next week.

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Source: CNET, The Verge

Philip Pullman argues that authors are being shortchanged on e-book loans

DNP Philip Pullman argues that publishers are shortchanging authors on ebook loans

Few people understand the magic of libraries better than Philip Pullman, author of His Dark Materials, but all is not well when it comes to digital lending. As the soon-to-be president of the Society of Authors, Pullman is leading the charge against publishing houses that may be shortchanging writers on e-book loans. In a letter to major publishers like Random House and Bloomsbury, Pullman argues that selling e-books to libraries as single sales rather than licenses costs authors up to two-thirds the income they receive from print loans. The Society’s brief calls for the industry to reconsider existing models for compensation so that writers can continue producing books with which to line library shelves. After all, without authors, there would be no books, and as Pullman himself wrote, “Without stories, we wouldn’t be human beings at all.”

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Via: The Guardian, The Telegraph

Source: The Society of Authors (PDF)

Apple: We’re publishing’s saviors not ebook price-fixers

Apple has vehemently denied conspiring with publishing industry heavyweights to artificially inflate ebook pricing, countering Department of Justice claims that Steve Jobs attempted price fixing with the argument that Apple and the rights holders were in fact strongly opposed throughout negotiations. Apple, representatives from which appeared in a New York court on Monday this week

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Apple ebook trial set to begin Monday

Starting tomorrow, Apple will be part of a trial in which federal and state authorities have suggested the latter company was part of ebook price-fixing. This trial will work with allegations that Apple has conspired with publishers to artificially raise the price of ebooks for sale in the iTunes Store for devices like the iPad and the iPhone. This trial was originally set to include five of the six largest book publishers in the US and was originally filed in April of 2012.

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Since this case was filed, the five publishers in question exited the situation by agreeing to eliminate prohibitions on wholesale discounts – and to pay $164 million USD as a penalty, this cash going to benefit consumers. Instead of seeking damages against Apple, this case would have Apple blocked from “engaging in similar conduct”, according to Rueters, though future damages could be charged against Apple if they’re found liable. These charges would be filed by either state attorneys general or class action suits pushed by consumer groups.

“I believe that the government will be able to show at trial direct evidence that Apple knowingly participated in and facilitated a conspiracy to raise prices of e-books, and that the circumstantial evidence in this case, including the terms of the agreements, will confirm that.” – U.S. District Judge Denise Cote

It would appear that Apple is not going in to this battle with as much confidence from the judge hearing the trial as they’d like – Judge Denise Cote will be hearing the case without a Jury starting June 3rd. This comment was made by the judge on May 23rd at a pretrial hearing.

Each of the five publishers that’ve settled, Hachette Book Group Inc, Pearson Plc’s Penguin Group, CBS Corp’s Simon & Schuster Inc, News Corp’s HarperCollins Publishers Inc, and MacMillan, have appeared to be relatively silent on the matter since they exited the proceedings before they began.

Again according to Rueters, Apple has said that they acted independently when they entered the e-book marketplace with iBooks, and that they were unaware of any efforts by publishers to conspire beforehand. The Justice Department, on the other hand, says that Apple “provided assurances” to each publisher that their rivals would join iBooks with the deal they offered.


Apple ebook trial set to begin Monday is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Apple likely to lose ebook price-fix case hints judge before trial even starts

Apple is unlikely to be able to counter evidence that it conspired with publishers to inflate ebook prices, the federal judge overseeing the case has said in a surprise pre-trial comment, though the Cupertino firm vehemently disagrees. The case, set to be heard from June 3, sees the US Justice Department allege Apple along with five big name publishers aimed to raise the price of ebooks for the launch of iBooks. Apple is the final hold-out, after the publishers settled with the DoJ, but according to US District Judge Denise Cote, Reuters reports, the evidence prepared seems sufficiently damning.

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The comments were made on Thursday this week, at a pre-trial hearing to decide on aspects like expert witnesses along with how long the case was expected to last. However, Justice Cote made waves by announcing that she had already been working on the draft of the final written decision – which would be published after the trial had been completed – and agreeing to give participants an insight into which way she is already leaning.

“I believe that the government will be able to show at trial direct evidence that Apple knowingly participated in and facilitated a conspiracy to raise prices of e-books,” the judge said, “and that the circumstantial evidence in this case, including the terms of the agreements, will confirm that.”

Cote described her stance as a “tentative” view of the case, pointing out that it had been based for the most part on evidence the DoJ had submitted. However, it did not take into account affidavits submitted both by the DoJ and Apple.

Unsurprisingly, Apple isn’t impressed by Cote’s comments. “We strongly disagree with the court’s preliminary statements about the case today,” lawyer Orin Snyder said, going on to suggest that Apple’s own evidence would sufficiently counter that of the Justice Department. “We look forward to presenting our evidence in open court and proving that Apple did not conspire to fix prices,” he concluded.

The Cupertino firm is the final hold-out in the case, after the five publishers agreed at various points over the past year to cough up penalties. Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, and Hachette Book Group all rolled over immediately, followed by Pearson in December 2012, and MacMillan in February.

Justice Cote’s early stance is being interpreted by some as an attempt to pressure Apple into settling, likely without necessarily accepting blame; MacMillan, for instance, said that it had capitulated “because the potential penalties became too high to risk even the possibility of an unfavorable outcome.”

Apple’s deeper war chest may make it a tougher nut to crack that way, however. Apple CEO Tim Cook is expected to appear to give evidence, among others, after the DoJ convinced the court that his conversations with Steve Jobs give him unique insight into the case.


Apple likely to lose ebook price-fix case hints judge before trial even starts is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Kindle Worlds tries to make fan-fiction pay

Amazon has launched Kindle Worlds, its latest publishing push, and aiming to commercialize fan-fiction – just as long as the original creators approve. The new division of Amazon Publishing has inked a deal with Warner Bros. to give fanfic authors using characters from Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, or Vampire Diaries permission to sell their titles to Kindle readers, with everyone getting a cut of the purchase price.

kindle_worlds

Anything over 10,000 words will see the author of the fan fiction getting 35-percent of the net revenue, as per Amazon’s existing publishing deal. However, there’s also a new tier for shorter stories – anything between 5,000 and 10,000 words – which will pay the author 20-percent.

The three existing Worlds come from Warner Bros.’s Alloy Entertainment division, but Amazon says that’s only the start of it. The company is in negotiations with rights holders across multiple types of media – TV, movies, books, games, and even music – to try to encourage them to allow authors to borrow their characters.

For those content rights holders, Amazon argues that it’s a no-lose situation, with a fresh way to monetize their characters in addition to reaching out to new audiences. There’ll also be “content guidelines” – drawn up with Amazon – “that balance flexibility and openness for writers with what’s reasonable for the franchise.”

That probably means that some of the more outlandish fan fiction styles out there – particularly those which create unexpected romantic trysts – may not be approved for Kindle Worlds. Amazon has already said that explicit content is not allowed, nor anything excessively graphic, violent, or that includes hate speech of any sort. Interestingly, there’s also a ban on crossover between worlds, so you couldn’t have characters from Gossip Girl interacting with those from Pretty Little Liars.

Fan fiction has proved divisive among authors, with some appreciating the devotion and imagination the generally amateur writers bring, while others have proved less keen. Orson Scott Card, for instance, author of Ender’s Game, has been aggressively anti-fanfic for some time, telling readers back in 2004 that “the time to write fan fiction is ‘never.’”

Nonetheless, the opportunity to squeeze some extra cash from a franchise may prove appealing to rights owners, and for the authors themselves it’s a chance to potentially make some money from a hobby.


Kindle Worlds tries to make fan-fiction pay is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Slickdeals’ best in tech for May 8th: Samsung NX1000 mirrorless camera and Amazon Kindle Fire

Looking to save some coin on your tech purchases? Of course you are! In this roundup, we’ll run down a list of the freshest frugal buys, hand-picked with the help of the folks at Slickdeals. You’ll want to act fast, though, as many of these offerings won’t stick around long.

Slickdeals' best in tech for May 8th: Samsung NX1000 mirrorless camera and Amazon Kindle Fire

Sure, tablets and cameras discounted on the regular in our twice weekly roundup, but today an A/V system sees the big price drop. A Denon AVR-1613 receiver and Harmon Kardon HKTS 16 speaker bundle is reduced by over 50% with the aid of a simple discount code. All of the particulars, and the rest of the list, await on the other side of the break.

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Source: Slickdeals