Adobe's New eBook Store

Joe Wilcox | December 17, 2003, 01:36 PM

Today, Adobe launched an eBook store, here, selling electronic books, magazines and newspapers in the company’s PDF format. While music stores are all the rage right now, publishers and distributors are looking to sell other types of digital rights management (DRM)-protected content.

Adobe’s Digital Media Store leverages DRM capabilities built into Acrobat 6 and Adobe Reader. Consumers can access the store through a Web browser or from within Acrobat or Adobe Reader by way of the eBooks button. Magazines and newspapers available through the Digital Media Store come from other distributors: Newsstand, QMags or Zinio.

The eBook concept is nothing new and, to date, proponents are still trying to develop workable business models. Some early adopters, such as Barnes and Noble, have stopped selling eBooks altogther.

Adobe’s approach is refreshing, in part because of the rights flexibility. Users create an identity, either using Microsoft Passport or Adobe’s ID system, for purchasing eBooks. The titles can be accessed on up to six devices--PC, tablet PC, PDA, etc.--per identity.

Apple’s iTunes store showed that, at least for music, consumers were more willing to purchase protected content when the publisher adopted reasonable rights. Adobe’s rights approach brings a similar concept to e-publishing.

Still, restrictions do apply, but these are largely consistent with print versions. Adobe’s store clearly marks the rights for each book. In most cases, the book content cannot be copied or printed, much the same as with copyright restrictions on paper books purchased in a store. Some books have more generous rights. For example, buyers of Stanley G. Weinbaum’s A Martian Odyssey, can copy, print or share the eBook largely without limitations. I would like to see consistent rights for all titles, but do commend Adobe for so clearly identifying what are the rights.

In part because of the ubiquity of Adobe Reader, the eBooks will have broad reach--PCs, tablet PCs, PDAs and other portables--but there are exceptions. Adobe doesn’t expect to have DRM support for Pocket PC until mid-Spring 2004. That means content would be restricted to Palm handhelds until then. Microsoft also offers eBooks in the competing Microsoft Reader format, which is available for Pocket PC today.

My biggest gripe about e-publications is cost. While I have no supporting data to share today, I believe publishers and distributors charge too much for many electronic books, magazines or newspapers. I’d like to see pricing below the print version, not the same or, in too many cases, even higher. Considering this is a nascent market requiring changes in reading habits and that publishers don’t bear the same distribution costs associated with print, lower pricing is a reasonable approach.