Brewster [Kahle] is also pushing the envelope on the legal front of copyright doctrine. As I see it, even though DRM is now common in the audio world, and iTunes is a $500M+ business for Apple, this licensed content model couldn't gain a mass market until "open" MP3 audio had become widely utilized. Most law-abiding users iPods have many more MP3s ripped from their CDs (fair use), than FairPlay AAC files bought on iTunes. IMO we need to (metaphorically speaking) establish the MP3 for e-Books. Open access to a body of uncopyrighted texts is a key piece of that puzzle.
Bill McCoy over at Adobe is out with a smart post [PS: quoted above] telling how consumer-level standards can be good for paid digital content. OpenReader territory, in effect! Good for you, Bill. On top of that, you’ve recognized how free content from organizations like the Internet Archive can also help. What better way to popularize e-books than for a robust public domain to entice consumers to go digital?...To think of all the hundreds of millions in revenue that the e-book industry lost over the long run when Microsoft yielded to the proprietary format faction! Yes, Dick [Brass] and Steve [Stone] wanted [Microsoft to adopt] a standard format at the consumer level, not just LIT everywhere. As noted, the soon-to-be-unveiled v. 2 of the OpenReader site will tell how open standards culd help Adobe and Microsoft and other existing players. We’re eager to help everyone make the transition to an open e-book format, which, far from being anti-corporate, would grow revenue. Being good for us ordinary folks does not necessarily mean that something will be bad for the giants.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 9/11/2005 02:22:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
