Oh, now this is interesting. No DRM at all. Just a watermark to track back illegal uploads.
Well, what DRM could they use? It has to work with Kindles, and Amazon isn’t licensing their DRM, so it’s either DRM-free or nothing.
What? Library e-books have crazy amounts of DRM on them. Kindles only recently started being able to use them.
Okay, so I guess they licensed to OverDrive. But I’m very skeptical that they would license their DRM to J.K. Rowling’s self-publishing company – they want books to be sold via Amazon; that’s the whole point of the Kindle.
There are many e-book DRM licensing suppliers. Almost all of them are platform/vendor agnostic. I’m pretty sure any of them would’ve jumped at the contract to supply DRM for Rowling. That she didn’t go with any of them and went with a much friendlier stance considering her past comments on piracy is what’s surprising.
No, there is no DRM that works with the Kindle except Amazon’s.
(At least, as far as I know; but I’m sure if I’m wrong, somebody will put a link in here within seconds.)
This approach actually makes sense to me. She doesn’t want other people skimming off her cash cow’s milk but she’s not hostile to fans’ labors of love.
I think you raise a pertinent concern. What will she do when fans inevitably start reposting the “secrets” from this Pottermore thing without going directly through it?
I’m not sure if the secrets are the draw here. Based on the screen shots, this looks like a social networking/casual game site for fans. It’s LOTRO meets Farmville for Harry Potter fans. Play along with the story, level your character, play Webkins like mini-games, etc. 'Not my cup of tea but I suspect it will be wildly addictive for the demographic they’re after.
And, of course, it’s the only place to buy legal digital copies so it will be a cash-cow on that basis alone.
Not to burst everyone’s bubble, and yes it’s pretty unintrusive, but that’s a kind of DRM.
What’s interesting is Sony’s involvement with Pottermore. They were one of the pioneers in eInk eReaders, but they’ve been lapped many times by Kindle, Nook and iPad at this point. If they have Harry Potter exclusive to their book store that could be a big boost to them.
The other thing to wonder about is possible App versions of Pottermore. I’d think versions for Sony’s Android tablets and maybe the PlayStation Vita would be natural (maybe exclusive to PlayStation Suite?). But Rowling could obviously mandate iOS versions if she wanted.
Pottermore has changed into a Buzzfeed sort of thing.
Where did the old one go?
Ah, website heaven? We’ve held the ultimate House Cup, postponed Potions class, and shut down the original Pottermore.com. The honest-to-Merlin reason for doing that? We have so much more to give you; writing, movies, plays, books, characters, places, backstories, and it’s rumoured that discovering your very own Patronus is also in the works…
Old site for comparison:
