The pointless use of DRM in the Amazon Kindle

Digital Rights Management ("DRM" or "Digital Restrictions Management") is used in a number of products you likely use everyday: music, ebooks, DVDs, and computer software are just a few of the places you will find DRM. The Kindle Blog has a nice review of the Kindle and why you may or may not want to buy one, giving a nice breakdown for some definite yes and definite no for certain types of people. The fact that the Kindle utilizes DRM makes it into a definite no for those people staunchly opposed to such a system. This is true, however, I think the blog glosses over what DRM is and what it does for Amazon, even citing Radiohead giving away its album on a donation basis.


Firstly, while Radiohead might be an outside example, it is a perfect reason why DRM is not a necessary evil. Even with many people not spending a penny for the album, Radiohead made a TON of money with their 'experiment'. Also, many authors make a lot of money even though they release their work without a copyright. Jonathan Zittrain and Cory Doctorow come to mind, but there are many others.

Furthermore, DRM is little more than a nuisance. Like television and movies, most books can be found for free on the Internet by someone looking just a bit harder than a single Google search. It is not difficult, and many times a book is available online before it is in the store.

While the existence of DRM on the device might not preclude me from buying one, the cited reasons for its existence do not persuade me. In fact, the only thing DRM on your purchased books does is force you to stick with the Amazon Kindle line when something better eventually comes along. Which it will, because that is the nature of technology, and then you have to make the decision to stick with an inferior device or to maintain two different eBook readers.
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