One-click site to tell Amazon that you don't want Audible DRM
Richard is taking Amazon at its word: he's set up "Call an Audible," a one-click site for sending your feedback to Amazon on its DRM policy. I'll be sending them an email: Audible is the exclusive supplier of audiobooks to iTunes (itself the largest distribution channel for audiobooks in the world) and Amazon won't sell audiobooks through its MP3 store, either.
My latest novel is a Random House audiobook and Amazon refused to carry it because it had no DRM on it -- I never thought I'd see the day when Amazon would refuse to sell my books because they didn't have enough restrictions. After all, this is the company whose official (and fantastic) position on used books is "When someone buys a book, they are also buying the right to resell that book, to loan it out, or to even give it away if they want. Everyone understands this." It goes without saying that one of the rights you lose when you buy an Audible book is the right to resell it, loan it or give it away.
I used to be a very dedicated Audible customer: I spent thousands amassing a giant collection of audiobooks. When I switched from the Mac to Linux, I had to rip all those books by playing them out through AudioHijack on three separate CPUs, which took an entire month. The more you spend at Audible, the harder it is to get out. Link (Thanks, Richard!)
the latest
latest episodes
Here's what I told Amazon:
"I was tempted to choose 'Damaged, Defective, or Wrong Item' from the 'Issue' drop-down. I'm writing because Amazon promised, when it acquired Audible earlier this year, to listen to its customers regarding DRM on Audible products. DRM products are the epitome of "Damaged, Defective, and Wrong Items." Using DRM does not increase Amazon's revenue. DRM does not reduce, much less eliminate, piracy. DRM offers not a single benefit to the consumer, the vendor, or the producer. I'm a great fan of audio books, but I'm sorry to say I have never bought an Audible product because I will not support or tolerate the wrong-headed thinking that brought DRM to the market. If Amazon keeps its promise by listening to its customers and eliminating DRM from its products, you can be sure that I'll be among your first DRM-free customers. You won't regret it."
Bravo! The more intelligent we keep this, the better chance we stand. Let's make it happen -
What a great note, Jordan!
I decided to keep my letter short and to the point, on the assumption that they will just skim anyway:
Dear Amazon,
Please remove DRM from Audible, or allow non-DRM audiobooks to be sold on Audible. When I buy a paper book I own what I buy. This should be no different for audio books.
Thank You,
Sam ___
Excellent idea - left my message and signed the petition, and then went on to post a blog post asking that others do the same and help tell Amazon to Ditch the DRM!
My note to Amazon:
I am writing to request that you remove DRM from your Audible media items. I have never been a fan of DRM and have actually avoided purchasing anything new on Audible due to the problems I've had in the past between compatibility with the purchased audiobooks and my mp3 player. Although it has supposedly been fixed, I want to know that I OWN what I have bought and can play it on ANY PLAYER, not just the one that I currently own that is audible-supported.
If you were to remove DRM from Audible, I would immediately sign up for a 1-2 book a month subscription. Until then, I feel no need to spend money on something I don't completely own outright. Please make myself and thousands of others want to buy Audible content again, and remove DRM from the content you are offering.
Audible's DRM is easy to get around. They give an option to burn the audiobook to CDs. When I get a new book from them, I burn it to CD images and then mount those images and rip them to mp3 files. It'd be a lot less hassle if they'd just let me download them as mp3s in the first place though.
I submitted my note to Amazon and got the following response, seems they're not taking responsibility for listening to us. also callanaudible.org's contact form is broken.
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Greetings from Amazon.com.
In January 2008, Amazon.com acquired Audible.com, the global leader in downloadable audiobooks and other spoken word audio such as newspapers, magazines and radio programming. Amazon.com had been an investor in Audible.com since 2000 and has had Audible.com links from our book detail pages since then.
Together we believe we can introduce more consumers to the benefits of digital audio, which enables increasingly mobile consumers to enjoy books and other spoken word content where and when they want such as while exercising or driving.
Audible.com content will continue to be available for more than 500 different devices, including Amazon Kindle. Our goal is to work with Audible.com to increase the number of customers who purchase and enjoy audiobooks, regardless of the device they prefer.
You can find out more by visiting http://www.audible.com/
Further, while Audible.com is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amazon.com, it operates as an independent site. All inquiries regarding Audible.com orders and services should be directed to Audible.com at:
1-888-283-5051 (USA & Canada)
973-820-0400 (International)
Monday-Friday 9AM-10PM EST
Saturday 10AM-7PM EST
Thanks for your interest in Amazon.com and Audible.com.
Please let us know if this e-mail resolved your question:
If yes, click here:
http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-y?c=bxwdrbed3331594151
If not, click here:
http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-n?c=bxwdrbed3331594151
Please note: this e-mail was sent from an address that cannot accept incoming e-mail.
To contact us about an unrelated issue, please visit the Help section of our web site.
Best regards,
Arif
Amazon.com Customer Service
==============================
Jardine - that's the easy way to get around Apple DRM as well. It's not the best (you lose some quality) but it works.
Cory, you quote Amazon on used books:
Digital distribution is not the same thing at all. If I sell or give a physical book to someone else, I no longer have it. If I take a book from someone without their permission, I've committed theft, plain and simple. Also, I can't make a perfect copy unless I have the original printing plates.
Digital distribution is different because one can make an unlimited number of perfect copies. I can give them away (or sell them) and still keep the original. There is no such thing as a "used" copy of digital media.
Doesn't digital media effectively eliminate the traditional market for books (or music, or movies) used or new? Theoretically, it could get to where only one copy would be ever be sold, and maybe not even that when you take leaks into account. The rest could just be infinite copies of copies. Which means if everyone can get a free copy, no one "owns" it in the traditional sense, unless you have a system of laws governing the rights to distribute.
Would you rather your digital media be DRM free but watermarked with your personal information?
I don't like DRM either, and I don't want it on purchased media, but I'll tolerate it for subscription-based stuff like Netflix. I can understand that.
@WEIGHTENCOMPANIONCUBE:
For me the answer is yes, as long as (a) the watermark didn't degrade the sound quality, (b) there is no personal information stored in the file other than a unique ID (not my username or other info), and (c) someone finding an audio file with my watermark on a P2P site won't cause automatic prosecution of me, since there are many ways the file could be "borrowed" from me without my permission.
zan - a unique ID and unauthorized distribution is all that's needed to investigate further. Maybe you weren't the one who willfully distributed it, but you can bet someone is going to have to get your info at some point to either charge you or clear you.
The point is that watermarking media is just as sticky as DRM, but one or the other is necessary to make digital sales fit into the traditional marketplace of discrete sales.
#10 Said: "but one or the other is necessary to make digital sales fit into the traditional marketplace of discrete sales."
Nonsense - digital copies of anything are trivially available to everyone already. No copy protection method has ever remained unbroken.
Making ONLY paying customers suffer with DRM ONLY hurts sales.
The response I received from Amazon was oddly similar, and yet not exactly the same, as the one Jake received:
=================================
Thanks for writing to Amazon.com, and thank you for your comments.
Please let me apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced as a result of this.
Please note that, Amazon.com has entered into a partnership with audible.com to make spoken word audio available for download, thus giving our customers another format in which to enjoy the books that interest them.
Please note, while Audible.com is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amazon.com, it operates as an independent site as well as a separate customer service department and all inquiries regarding Audible.com services should be directed to Audible.com.
However, we appreciate the time you've taken to share your feedback with us. It's always important for us to hear how customers feel about all aspects of shopping at Amazon.com. Strong customer feedback like yours helps us continue to improve our store and the service we provide.
For your reference, I have included their contact information here with my response:
1-888-283-5051 (USA & Canada)
973-820-0400 (International)
Monday-Friday 9AM-10PM EST
Saturday 10AM-7PM EST
Again, we are very sorry for the inconvenience this error has caused.
We hope to see you again soon at Amazon.com.
Please let us know if this e-mail resolved your question:
If yes, click here:
http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-y?c=hcrduhed3334477806
If not, click here:
http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-n?c=hcrduhed3334477806
Please note: this e-mail was sent from an address that cannot accept incoming e-mail.
To contact us about an unrelated issue, please visit the Help section of our web site.
Best regards,
Ajay M.
Amazon.com Customer Service
=================================
It seems Amazon would rather pass the buck on the DRM issue.
I wonder if the Americans with Disabilities act would come into play here?
Low vision customers do not enjoy the same right to use media with DRM that that sighted customers enjoy for the same work in hard copy form. They can't resell works they've purchased or loan them to a friend.
I got the same reply from Amazon as the above folks. They're passing the buck. So much for listening to their customers.
jake - Not nonsense. We're both correct. Selling copies of copyrighted content in the traditional sense involves the First Sale Doctrine.
FSD rules can't be applied reliably to digital media. Notice I say reliably. If you can't duplicate something before reselling it, first sale applies. A first sale remains a single, tangible item. With or without DRM, though, that doesn't happen. If infinite additional copies can be made at no cost, both by the publisher and the purchaser, this eventually makes the per-unit value of digital goods zero.
Even some physical merchandise (such as CDs, DVDs, etc.) loses as lot of the value when the intellectual propery on it is duplicated. ESPECIALLY when you have more usefulness if you obtain "pirated" versions of said media instead of buying protected media.
The solution is not to price per-unit. Subscription services recognize that even if there's no per-unit price, consumers WILL pay for a convenient, reliable source. If the service is usable, and the subscription price is reasonable, cracking DRM isn't worth it. At that point, you don't even need DRM, because even tho subscribers could "pirate" content, those who would consume it are probably already subscribing to the service.
I posted the following to Amazon at the linked-to feedback site. If they send me the same note they appear to have sent to other commenters, upthread, I'll forward a copy to Audible as well.
# # #
It's a pity that, having acquired Audible.com, you've so far decided to stick to their policy of inflicting DRM on every single audiobook published through them. I'm a book editor with a major trade publisher that sells millions of books a year through Amazon, and I'm an anthologist and author whose own work has been available on Amazon for years at a time, so I have plenty of personal investment in the idea that creators, publishers, and retailers should be fairly compensated. But as a consumer I'm extremely reluctant to buy music or spoken-word audio that's encumbered with DRM, for reasons which are perfectly demonstrated in the Microsoft "PlaysForSure" music debacle--paying for DRMed products amounts to placing a bet that your vendor will continue to support that particular DRM scheme for the rest of your life.
You guys have a sensible policy on used books: that ownership is ownership, and that once an individual has purchased a book, they're entitled to resell it. You need to have as enlightened a policy about audio products: that those of us who pay for them are entitled to a product that we can move onto the device of our choosing, that we can back up for safekeeping, that we can count on being able to use even if Amazon and Audible change ownership, change policies, change priorities, or disappear. Until then, although I'm an Amazon Prime member who does the bulk of his book-buying here, I won't be buying any audiobooks from Amazon.
I sent them a note pointing out that although I actually want to buy quite a few audible.com books, I quite literally can't as I neither have nor want a "Microsoft Windows" computer nor an "iTunes" account.
I got back what appears to be an identical copy-and-paste response to what Pseudothink got. Thanks, Amazon.com. That's a big help.
#15 - I repeat, Nonsense! Transactions are always ultimately based on trust. The fact that something is somewhat easier to copy doesn't change the nature of the transaction.
What is threatened are business models based on controlling the distribution of IP, not on the value of the IP.
DRM is a tactic to keep control in the hands of the IP distributor (e.g. the music industry) rather then the IP creator (e.g. the artist).
Here's a response I got back from Amazon when I expressed my desire to see them release audiobooks in MP3 format:
Audible is DRM agnostic -- our primary goal is to offer a great customer experience. Audiobooks purchased on Audible.com can be played on over 600 AudibleReady devices, including Kindles, iPods and most other MP3 players, Tom Toms and other GPS devices, Sonos and other in-home systems, and all PCs and Macs. Unlike DRM-free MP3 music files
designed for songs, audiobook files must deliver a unique multi-hour listening experience. Customers have recognized and appreciated Audible's unique listening experience since the company's inception in 1997. Audible is committed to maintaining and improving the features that drive this experience.
Audible recently announced that it is working to provide the option of DRM-free spoken word audio titles on Audible.com for content owners who prefer this method and are committed to working with Audible to maintain a great customer experience.
Thanks for your interest in Amazon.com and Audible.