DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. It is usually in reference to a system that prevents customers from making unauthorized copies of digital information like music or eBooks.

Some people even go as far as to say that DRM systems actually stimulate piracy. (After all, if there was no copy-protected content, there would be no need for pirates to do what they do, right?)

In reality, this matter is far from simple and I'm not certain the subject can be answered and a clear, definitive way.

It really depends on what side of the fence you like to sit on and how open-minded you can allow yourself to be.

My take on it can be resumed in one sentence:

People always take the easiest route.

Its that simple.

If it is easier to obtain a free copy of something than to go and purchase it, most people will. Especially when there is no risk of being caught.

My Utopian goal to prevent illegal copies is by making the purchase easier than the copying.

This is done in many ways:

1) Price the eBook right.

If the price is too high, then your customers might go looking for that free copy.

I often saw very powerful setups that got me very near to buying digital books, but that just sent me away with a price tag that was too heavy.

It is not a hard stretch of imagination to picture someone accessing a P2P network to get a free copy of the same material.

Now if the price tag had been smaller than the trouble of finding a free copy, I'm certain the number of sales would have soared.

2) Make the eBook easy to purchase

The payment should be accessible, online, secure, simple and the payout should be immediate.

Too often have I seen samples who sent me to a Web page where I had to follow a tortuous path to a purchase form which required me to send a check by mail or wait for someone to call me, or pay and wait for an email that took ages to come.

If you're reading the sample and decide to buy, there should be nothing in your way. Click. Pay. Receive.

We live in a world where instant gratification is what's expected. And that has never been more true than on the Internet.

3) Protect your content

All of the above is nice, but if copying is as simple as right-clicking the book and selecting "copy", well, don't be surprised when your eBooks get everywhere.

Now, all protection systems were not created equal. Some are more restrictive than others. Some are easier to crack.

The actual goal here, is simply to make purchase easier than the copy. You don't want to make your product feel inaccessible by the people that have purchased it. You don't want to limit them beyond reasonable use.

Remember that DRMs create an artificial limit. And artificial limits actually do create frustrations.

Your DRM solution should be transparent enough that once purchased, your clients simply forget it was there in the first place.

In essence, adding DRM to your eBooks is similar in to adding a magnetic strip to your paper books in a book store.

If someone takes a copy and tries to go away without paying - the magnetic strip makes the detectors at the exit beep.

Only when the client has paid does the strip gets demagnetized and the customer gets access to the full material.

And once at home, if he decides to make a copy of it, well, it'll be harder than to purchase a second copy - provided the book's price tag was lesser than the effort (and cost) of making photocopies.

If you were operating a book store, would you skip putting the magnetic strips on the books and detectors at the doors? Would you also leave your store unattended?

Well, if you ask me, that's what you're doing with your eBooks when you're skipping protection.

--
Eric Maziade
www.secure-ebook.com