Simply Audiobooks has announced a plan
to make many Random House audio titles available for sale by download in a DRM-free format. 5,000 titles will be available without the Digital Rights Management features that consumers hate so much.
The audiobook downloads can be played on a wide variety of MP3 players, thanks to the lack of Digital Rights Managment security software designed to limit usage. Simply Audiobooks will make about 1,000 titles available immediately and plans to add more than 4,000 titles by the end of the summer. Among the Random House DRM-free titles available are Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope, James Rollins's Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull and Stephenie Meyer's Twilight.
Consumers have long complained that DRM embeded in CDs, discs and downloads restrict the use of and devices that can play their content. Last fall Simply Audiobooks joined the digital entertainment retailer eMusic in announcing that it would make its audiobook downloads DRM-free, and has since been in negotiations with publishers fearful that their content will be unprotected and freely distributed after purchase.
It's a step in the right direction. DRM drives everyone we know crazy. Consumers want to buy a title, then play it on their MP3, their computer or wherever else they want to without having to buy a new copy. This is especially true when one gets a new computer and MP3 player and can't easily dupe the content over without paying a new fee.
