Adobe backs off on lack of DRM backwards compatibility
Adobe has announced that it will continue to support the older DRM encryption formats for PDF and EPUB eBooks. This flip-flopping on this specific matter was due to the firestorm that erupted due to our recent post on Adobe killing the e-reader industry. We had so much feedback, that Adobe themselves commented on our original story and announced that they will continue to support the old formats indefinitely.
However…
Although Adobe will not cut old e-readers off, they still won’t be able to read the new eBook formats, once more companies start adopting them. One silver lining, was that Sony was the largest company that used the stock Adobe DRM, but they have since abandoned their bookstore in the USA and Canada. Kobo has picked up their customers and all the old books, and Kobo uses their own offshoot of Adobe DRM.
Michael Sauers is currently the Director of Technology for Do Space in Omaha, NE. Michael has been training librarians in technology for the past twenty years and has also been a public library trustee, a bookstore manager for a library friends group, a reference librarian, serials cataloger, technology consultant, and bookseller since earning his MLS in 1995 from the University at Albany’s School of Information Science and Policy. Michael has also written dozens of articles for various journals and magazines and his fourteenth book, Emerging Technologies: A Primer for Librarians (w/ Jennifer Koerber) was published in May 2015 and more books are on the way. In his spare time he blogs at travelinlibrarian.info, runs The Collector’s Guide to Dean Koontz Web site, takes many, many photos, and typically reads more than 100 books a year.
View all posts by Michael Sauers
Adobe has announced that it will continue to support the older DRM encryption formats for PDF and EPUB eBooks. This flip-flopping on this specific matter was due to the firestorm that erupted due to our recent post on Adobe killing the e-reader industry. We had so much feedback, that Adobe themselves commented on our original story and announced that they will continue to support the old formats indefinitely.
