our favorite topic, again -=DRM=-

English Soapbox
1

I just browsed a little on telepolis and found an interesting article
about a project to rent medias like books, movies and music.
Its about the future of libraries like you know it.
This is, as far as i know, only a project for Germany, Swiss and
Austria.

It seems that DRM is a highly controversial issue since this system is
solely based on Microsofts DRM technology. (wasn’t there a lawsuit
agains MS vs. EU?).

Apparently to be able to use it you need to obtain the MS software Windows.
Even though documents (aka books) are in pdf format, others like movies
are in wmv or music in wma.
Of course it has a algorithm that makes sure that the copy will expire
at a certain time.

Sadly, if you have a apple or linux you can participate to rent. Not
unlike you would go into the library.

Out of the FAQ from onleihe.net it states …

Was benötige ich, um die Medien auf meinem Computer zu öffnen und
abzuspielen?
Die Mindestanforderungen sind:
Betriebssystem: Windows 2000 / XP Windows Media Player 9 oder höher
Adobe Reader 7.0 oder höher
Internet Explorer 6.0 oder höher
Firefox 1.5.0 oder höher.
Für Audio- und Video-Download wird eine Internet-Breitbandverbindung
empfohlen (DSL, Kabel).
nach oben

Kann ich die Onleihe auch mit den Betriebssystemen Windows 98, Mac OS X
oder Linux nutzen?
Ab Windows 98 SE (oder höheres Betriebssystem wie z.B. Windows 2000 / XP
/ Vista) können Sie die Onleihe vollumfänglich nutzen. Damit haben mehr
als 95% der bei Endkunden verbreiteten Computer die Möglichkeit, alle
Optionen der Onleihe zu nutzen. Bereits heute können auch Apple-Nutzer
E-Books und E-Paper ausleihen. In Zusammenarbeit mit der Münchner
Stadtbibliothek und der Firma Adobe arbeiten wir intensiv daran, dass
E-Books und E-Paper in Zukunft auch von Linux-Nutzern uneingeschränkt
genutzt werden können. Auch für das Ausleihen audiovisueller Medien sind
wir aktiv auf der Suche nach Lösungen für Apple und Linux.

Shortform: We work on a solution for Apple and Linux. In the meantime
please use Windows.

Its really sad to read this. Not sure how other countries pursue the
idea of a virtual library. I hope maybe better for the benefit of everyone.

divibib.com [german only]
Onleihe – Wikipedia [german only]
Onleihe nur für Microsoft-User | Telepolis [german only]

p.s. you may use translate google

Windows, supports nearly all software, hardware, and viruses.
Linux Counter: 548299 https://linuxcounter.net/

2

The original purpose of DRM was to protect copyrights. All it’s actually done is erode consumer rights. And they don’t understand why file sharing won’t go away. :\

3

On 29.01.2012 10:06, chief sealth wrote:
>
> The original purpose of DRM was to protect copyrights. All it’s actually
> done is erode consumer rights. And they don’t understand why file
> sharing won’t go away. :
>
>

Here is another issue that is not really highlighted in any discussion
we had so far.
A lot of people like for example Kindle. Now i read on a German website
that you can not simply subscribe with a US Kindle to a different
country Amazon subscription. In order to, for example, subscribe to a
magazine like Spiegel in Germany you need to migrate that device to the
German Amazon site but in doing so you cancel automatically all
subscription you have in the US.
So now imagine that you really really like to read a lot and in
different languages, it seems you out of luck.
Now i can not confirm this so its just an article i have read, but if
its true then a Kindle would be never an option for me to read ebooks.

There may be other devices that can overcome this hurdle, not sure about
that.

That is what i always hated on DVD’s. With region locks the consumer
gets told what he actually can consume. And if you are legally obtaining
a DVD from somewhere else you still can not play it unless you alter the
DVD players region code which violates again a policy.

But from where i see it, consumers are happy to buy into all that. Its
just will getting worst over time.

–

Windows, supports nearly all software, hardware, and viruses.
Linux Counter: 548299 https://linuxcounter.net/