Libraries Use DRM to Expire Audiobooks

Valleye writes "CNN is reporting that some US libraries are using Microsoft Media DRM to automatically 'return' audiobooks checked out of their catalog. A patron with a valid library card visits a library Web site to borrow a title for, say, three weeks. When the audiobook is due, the patron must renew it or find it automatically "returned" in a virtual sense: The file still sits on the patron's computer, but encryption makes it unplayable beyond the borrowing period."

Comments

what a straw man defense for an outdated business.

[plasmacutter]

This defense relies on the fallacy that publishing companies and the structure of this market have to exist as they are now.

I could base this same argument on the fallacy that if you are a buggy whip maker you are entitled to make a living after cars are adopted.

Therefore, I challenge you to think of a system for compensating the buggy whip makers that does not involve limiting the speed of vehicles to 10 mph and limiting their fuel efficiency to 7 mpg.