Random House and other leading book publishers have announced that they are dropping DRM for their audiobook sales. Random House experimented with DRM-free audiobooks in the fall on eMusic and could not find a single instance where a DRM-free book later appeared on a P2P system.
Publishers Dropping DRM for Audiobooks
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That’s good news. It’s understandable that the publishers had been whipped into a panic by the music industry, but to see them looking into the facts for themselves and drawing a conclusion that supports their customers better is really heartening.
I’ll admit to being moderately surprised by the specific finding that they couldn’t find any watermarked mp3s, the broader finding (that removing DRM doesn’t change piracy levels) fits right in with what I’d expect. How hard is it to remove a watermark, anyways? Is it any more challenging/time-consuming than removing their drm?