Mobipocket reminds me why I hate DRM so much

My history with ebooks is easy to recount, I happily used eReader for years because I think they have the best DRM scheme around.  If you have to put up with DRM then at least make it trouble-free for the consumer, and eReader does that just fine.  Recently I got the BlackBerry 8830 and was sad to discover there is no eReader version for the BlackBerry.  Not one to go without ebooks on my phone I jumped all over MobiPocket and happily used it on my BlackBerry until their site went down for over a week and my troubles began.

I couldn't get to ebooks that I had paid for but not yet downloaded to my phone while the MobiPocket site was down.  After a week and a half they got their site back up but sent an email to customers warning them that their DRM server had been hacked and everyone had to change their password.  This sounded funny but I did my duty and changed my password.  I could then access my ebooks online but my BlackBerry started getting Java errors every time it would go online.  It got so bad I couldn't use the program at all.  I uninstalled it and then couldn't install it over-the-air as their web page returned a 404 error.

I tried to install it manually as per their instructions but I couldn't access my library.  Finally after a couple of additional days the over-the-air web page came back up and I was able to download and install the MobiPocket Reader once again.  It went flawlessly and when I ran the program the first time I could see ebooks in my local library and I was thrilled.  Until I tried to open a new ebook in the library and it informed me that this device was not in my list of authorized devices for MobiPocket.  Okay, now to go online.

Back on the desktop I went to the MobiPocket site to access my authorized device list.  The MobiPocket DRM only allows four devices to be authorized at any one time and my list was full, even though I have no idea what one of the devices in the list is.  No problem, there's a link to request that the device list be reset so I clicked that.  Unlike other DRM systems like iTunes, there's no way to remove or add single devices.  MobiPocket requires you to reset the entire device list and then add them back one by one.  Until your device is on the list you cannot download or even open your ebooks so you're locked out of your paid-for content.  This is an all-too-common side effect of DRM that is not very well implemented.

I requested that MobiPocket reset my device list and got this response:

ONE WEEK!  That was three days ago and they weren't kidding as I'm still waiting.  I hate poor DRM!  Meanwhile I am waiting and NOT BUYING  EBOOKS FROM MOBIPOCKET because my device can't use them and MobiPocket won't even let me download them to the "unauthorized" device.  Did you hear that, MobiPocket/ Amazon?  Because I am dead in the water I can't buy more content from you.  Great business plan to protect the content.

Comments

[Lo Szabo]

James,

I was very upset when Mobipocket went down this summer. (I wanted to continue reading a series of books -- "Rogue Warrior".) But I asked them to cancel my recent purchases and Mobipocket refunded them without any further comment!

I even repurchased those two books and everything works fine. Since then I have even added another new book and when finished there will be one more ("Point of Impact").

I was very frustrated too, but Mobipocket works flawlessly on my TREO 750 and BlackBerry 8100 without any problems. My library of 350+ articles is synced to both devices!

P.S.: I'm reading eBooks since my Newton MP 130 .

[David Keppler]

>>>>> Unlike other DRM systems like iTunes, there's no way to remove or add single devices. MobiPocket requires you to reset the entire device list and then add them back one by one.<<<<<

Are you sure? I often add and remove devices one at a time. Both in the Desktop Client and on the Mobipocket Web Site.

[James Kendrick]

Once your 4 devices are on the list the only option is to request the list be reset.

[Dave Zatz]

Is the issue DRM, or the way Mobipocket is managing their computer gear and customer support?

[James Kendrick]

DRM. If not for the DRM none of this would have happened. I suspect they outsource their DRM server which is very scary given all the customer information it must contain.

[Marcus]

I would never ever buy anything with DRM. At least not if I'm not sure I can crack it. I might buy a p-book, cut it open and auto-feed-scan-and-ocr it, but since that's such a hassle (not to mention the waste of destroying a book) I usually either buy non-DRM stuff or download it illegaly.

[Don't Panic!]

Which genre do you enjoy most on your devices James?

[Jefferson Berlin]

Hi James. Sorry to hear your having trouble with MobiPocket. I've always liked it. I, too, liked eReader, and when I moved from WinMobile to a Blackberry Curve, I was disappointed that eReader didn't have a client, but happy that MobiPocket did. I've been using it very happily on the Curve. As I've gone through a bunch of phones and laptops over the last few years, I'm frequently dropping and adding devices on the MobiPocket site. My experience is as follows: You can have up to four devices; when you reach four, you must delete one before you can add another, but you cannot drop more than one at a time, and there is some sort of waiting period before you can drop another. Not sure why this is, but I've found that if I wait a few days, I can go back to the site and make another change. I did once make a request for them to "reset" my list. It did not take a week, but this did not empty out my list of four, but simply allowed me to make another change. It's a little funky, it's true, as is all DRM, but on the whole I've found it pretty painless. I'm sorry that you've had such a lousy experience as I like the MobiPocket reader quite a bit.

[Al Kalar]

@Dave Zatz.

It's guys like you that discourage people from publishing ebooks. If every slimy thief crawls out of the polluted pond they live in to steal ebooks, what reason do they have to publish?

If it wasn't for people like you, there would be no reason for DRM and everyone would have an easier time of it.

If cheapskates won't even pay $5 for a large novel, but rather go to all the trouble to rip the publisher and the author off, ebooks will never become very popular. Instead you and the rest of us will be stuck paying $15 and up for a smaller selection of mass market paperbacks and who knows how much for text books.

[Ithaque17]

@ Al Kalar

It's guys like you that discourage honnest people buying ebooks with DRM... I have a lot of ebooks from mobipocket, but since I've bought my Iphone, what can I do with all my ebooks...it seems that mobipocket doesn't want to create a reader for the apple's phone.
Ok for author's rights, but what about reader's rights ?