CBR: Graphic.ly's Digital Comics Open Standard Proposal

[CBR News]

With digital comics representing a rapidly growing part of the marketplace, Graphic.ly CEO Micah Baldwin calls for the ability for fans to share their purchases across platforms and a "Reader's Bill of Rights.


Full article here.

[Darksbane]

I think the effort is a good one. I've actually avoided buying comics on any of these digital mediums until each program has its readers for various platforms done because of this issue. I don't want to invest largely in Longbox only to hate their ipad/phone reader or invest in one of the ipad readers and not have the option of reading it on my desktop.

I do think this is funny though: "I know that in our conversations with some of our publishers is that it's a matter of policing. They don't want their books ending up as .cbr files or something that shows up on torrents," Baldwin noted. " Because that totally isn't already happening...

[Typo Lad]

See, now this is how it's supposed to go. Get an idea, go through channels. This guy is on the right track.

Now we need to see how resistant to this option everyone is.

[khuxford]

I'm amazed by the apparent failure to learn from the mistakes of others.

This dedication to making sure there is a strong DRM on the file? Kinda stupid. Kinda difficult to have multiple applications read the same DRM for approval.

The simple fact is that when you make DRM, pirates will benefit from hackers that break it. So your stuff will be available for free through torrents anyway. Only the people legitimately buying it will be inconvenienced.

Do the companies think the scanning is discouraging pirates now? Because that's all an electronic, DRM-free version of their books will do to help torrenting: cut out the scanning middleman. There's already same day availability for most titles and the rest are available within the week.

Publishers need to get their head out of the sand and realize that insistence on DRM generally just encourages more to download the illegal copies that can move between apps and devices with ease.

[John Lynch]

I agree with everything this guy says, but I don't see him succeeding in his efforts.

[Typo Lad]

Was thinking about this on the way in.

You know what would be better than one, DRM-Free format?

If each veiwer supported opening the other's format. Just like you could open Word documents in Word Perfect and vice versa? Have each pay the other a small fee for right of use. You could even pass the fee on as a one-time plugin fee.

[Grapeweasel]

I think the idea of paying for individual digital comics is a little crazy.

I think the cheap rental format of Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited -- while imperfect -- is the correct business model to follow.

[khuxford]

Was thinking about this on the way in.

You know what would be better than one, DRM-Free format?

If each veiwer supported opening the other's format. Just like you could open Word documents in Word Perfect and vice versa? Have each pay the other a small fee for right of use. You could even pass the fee on as a one-time plugin fee.

I agree with a lot of what you say in some related threads, but what world do you live in where each company having to pay a fee to all the other companies for a plug-in that reads their files seems better than an open source, DRM-free format?

Any fee gets passed to the customers. That it is a fee for something so unnecessary is just ridiculous. It adds a different layer of punishment to the customers via DRM that won't really stand in the way of pirates.

[micahb]

The issue which requires some sort of DRM is how do you protect the IP of the comic books in a way that makes everyone happy (and/or comfortable).

Having multiple shareholders in the output of the comic makes it important to ensure that their rights are protected. Is that through DRM? Can it be trust based (as music has gone with the acceptance of the MP3)?

I dont know. But, I do know that there should be an open standard that is accepted by all digital comic distributors, and is in a format that makes publishers and content owners comfortable and happy.

My guess is that its phased, much like music, over time, until we get it right.

[khuxford]

The issue which requires some sort of DRM is how do you protect the IP of the comic books in a way that makes everyone happy (and/or comfortable).

Having multiple shareholders in the output of the comic makes it important to ensure that their rights are protected. Is that through DRM? Can it be trust based (as music has gone with the acceptance of the MP3)?

I dont know. But, I do know that there should be an open standard that is accepted by all digital comic distributors, and is in a format that makes publishers and content owners comfortable and happy.

My guess is that its phased, much like music, over time, until we get it right.

The music industry has started phasing out DRM for the most part. Because they realized it can all be cracked and all it does is frustrate legit customers.

It is something you think the comic book industry might learn from watching others, instead of having to make their own mistakes.