The Penguin is coming back
March 6, 2008
5 months ago - you probably remember our post “Will the Penguin come back?“- it has been reported that the publisher Penguin Audio has ended its agreement with eMusic, the digital music and audiobook service, by pulling its 150 titles from the program.
The main reason are their concerns over digital piracy.
“At this moment we’re not going to have our titles on eMusic or with anyone else who sells non-DRM until the landscape shakes out and we feel very comfortable and confident that our titles will not be pirated,” said Dick Heffernan, publisher of Penguin Audio, according to the Times. “We wanted to take a chance and see how it would work out, and our very senior management at this moment decided that we didn’t want to do that. We hope to possibly come to some kind of agreement down the road.”
An now, Penguin is going DRM-free
Penguin is planning to offer audiobooks free of digital copyright protection technology, which will allow buyers to play them on any digital device, dismissing fears that they could become the latest target for online pirates, according to the Guardian.Announcing a strong set of annual results from Pearson, chief executive Marjorie Scardino said that Penguin would follow Random House and experiment with selling “DRM-free” digital versions of its audiobooks on the internet.
Book publishers are now realizing that consumers will be more likely to purchase their product, not less, when it comes in a format they want.
As said, it is a matter of time.
