[FDP] Big News!

[Cergorach]

Oh, and another thing... does anyone know if it's possible to print the books to postscript files? Because if you can, it should be a breeze to turn them into non-DRMed PDFs (just use Ghostview/Ghostscript, it's a postscript viewer that lets you convert the ps file to PDF - not with fancy bookmarks and hyperlinks and stuff, but servicable for printing).

Printing to postscript is possible, it does take a bit of work, but it works. Ghostview will open the postscriptfile, but might generate a few errors along the way. The problem is that the postscript file is somehow marked as being made from an encrypted pdf file and ghostscript/ghostview will absolutely refuse to convert the file to pdf as will all the print to pdf drivers i could find...

I'm still trying to find out if i can manually edit the ps file so that it doesn't show up in ghostview as being from an encrypted pdf.

Another option is taking the GPL Ghostview/Ghostscript program, change the freely available sourcecode and recompile it so it ignores the "made from an encrypted pdf"...

Still looking for alternatives though, i'll post my findings as soon as i know more.

Dana said he had a way to circumvent the security in five clicks, i'm curious how he did that...

 

[Fiery James]

James chimes in...

Hello!

You know, in hindsight, it probably would have been better to let one of the other companies get this post up first, with their company name in the title! (Red Baron's just quicker than most!) Awww -- I can't really complain, I like seeing our name getting some hits.

First off, today is officially "DAY ONE" of drivethrurpg's life. The weekend was a test, opening slowly. I believe word first went out through White Wolf's site. So, expect some fine-tuning over the next while. (I certainly hope so, since the site has been so slow that I haven't even checked it out. High-speed has corrupted me and I have no tolerance for slow websites and downloads. I hope fixing this is their chief priority).

Secondly, to answer an earlier statement -- FDP cares about all customers, and especially potential customers. Please know that this website isn't a conspiracy from a bunch of publishers to screw over customers....

As for why FDP would leave our partnership with Ronin Arts and RPGNow... Well, if our partnership with Ronin Arts was more than just listing our titles alongside theirs, we may have kept things as they were. Initially, we had some pretty cool plans with Phil to revamp our PDF releases and eventually bring out some new cool stuff… but Phil was just WAY too busy at the time, so our partnership wasn’t anything beyond a listing at RPGNow.

As to why we’d leave RPGNow: FDP isn’t a huge PDF presence. We didn’t make a ton of money through PDFs, that that wasn’t really our focus or forte. We’d put out-of-print products up to keep them available, but hadn’t really done much more than that. Hooking up with Ronin Arts was the beginning of an attempt to change that, but as noted above, it didn’t really pan out (no slight to Phil intended; we were simply going to be a small side project whenever he had time – and he just didn’t have the time. We’re very glad that he’s been busy, ‘cause that means he’s working!) In the past few months, we’ve been kicking around the idea of using PDF as a means of delivery for new adventures, since we won’t sell adequate numbers in print to justify the costs we’d put in (we like to include extra bits, like counters and handouts, and that costs more!)

SO – if you were thinking of selling PDFs seriously in the future, and were presented with the opportunity to join a new sandbox where the biggest kids played, it doesn’t make sense to stay where you are. Look at the other names involved in Drivethrurpg and you’ll see why we moved. No slight intended to RPGNow, either. What little business we did with them was always conducted in a professional and efficient manner. If some of the names involved in Drivethru weren’t involved, we’d have happily stayed at RPGNow.

Our PDF pricing on Drivethru is half of the suggested retail price. Each vendor sets their own pricing, and we’ve found that 50% is a reasonable deal. In terms of our print products, our counter packs are certainly worth the extra 50% just in cardstock, I think!

Finally, as to the DRM issue. Let’s say that everything is still in the testing phase. There are some publishers who want DRM to become the standard, and some who find it an incredible inconvenience. Let the people at DrivethruRPG know your preference and issues to help determine the course of action in the future. If it remains a problem for our consumers, we may look at a way to have the DRM dropped from FDP products if possible. But, right now we’ve got a wait-and-see agreement, so we’re going to wait-and-see.

Whenever we think about PDF and their potential, there’s one voice that we hold in the highest esteem: Monte Cook. To read what he thinks, visit his site: http://www.montecook.com/lineos.html


That's me chiming in, for now.

- James

 

[BryonD]

Mostly, though, I think people just don't like change. And I can understand that. However, if you talk to (or read a message board post by) someone who's actually used DriveThru, you'll usually find that they are happy customers and quite satisfied with the experience.

Is that a joke?

There have been multiple serious concerns stated regarding DRM. I have yet to see most of them addressed in any satisfactory manner. To try to cover them up with a "you just don't like change" line is boggling.

And I have already seen complaint after complaint about DriveThru service quality.

And Monte, I make copies of pdfs all the time. Archiving is an important part of the value to me.

I'll never question anyone's freedom to sell their product in any form they desire. But I take offense at trying to get me to believe it is something less than it really is.


EDITED to reduce snarkiness.

 

[Emiricol]

Overall, this seems like clearly something I won't be doing. I have yet to hear a single compelling reason to buy using this new service, and a lot of reasons both *real* and simply personal feeling, against using it.

At RPGNow I bought a few Malhavoc products, but that will have to be a thing of the past with this new format. There's nothing I *need* badly enough to put up with all of the above and the issues mentioned in prior posts here.

If they make up in new customers what they lose in ticked off old customers like me, then more power to them - a good business decision. I just don't see it though.

 

[Arnwyn]

Is that a joke?

There have been multiple serious concerns stated regarding DRM. I have yet to see most of them addressed in any satisfactory manner. To try to cover them up with a "you just don't like change" line is boggling.

Heh. That's exactly what I thought, too, when reading Monte's LoS.

Trying to suggest that negative comments related to DRM are because "people don't like change" is laughably short-sighted (and could even be construed as a little bit ignorant - which I don't really believe, since I'd imagine that Monte Cook would know a great deal about pdfs... strange he would say something that silly, then).

 

[microtactix]

As an early and vocal proponent of electronic format distribution in our industry, I'm always pleased to see new entrants into the field, especially as distinguished a list as is represented at DriveThruRPG.com. To all, I offer a hearty welcome, and I wish the new venture well.

Having said that, I do not expect MicroTactix to be leaving RPGNow. I can't say enough good things about the way RPGNow does business. As both a consumer and a publisher, I find their site to be everything I need. James and his RPGNow crew are to be praised for their dedication to the concept of e-publishing and for continuing to respond quickly to the needs and edesires of consumers and publishers alike.

I understand why some of the publishers on DriveThruRPG are concerned about piracy enough to experiment with Digital Rights Management. Even so I do believe, in the long run, DRM schemes like the one used here will prove to be of only marginal help in preventing casual piracy. In the meantime, I think they provide a major psychological barricade to broad acceptance of e-publication.

When Sandy Antunes (co-founder of RPGNet) and myself first began discussing the need for an e-publishing site for the adventure game industry, we researched the various DRM schemes out there. The Adobe process in use at DriveThruRPG is far superipr to what was available at that time in regards to fairness to the consumer and technical smoothness -- but in the long run I believe we were right then to avoid such a scheme for our early efforts.

The systems Sandy created for ZAPdeliver (which we later sold to become the core for RPGNet Mall's systems) were based on the principle that SALES security was important to protect consumer and publisher alike, but that DRM probably created more problems for legitimate paying users than it was worth as an anti-piracy tool. Despite vast improvements in DRM technology since our pioneering efforts, I've seen nothing to change my mind.

If hardcopy products were sold under the same set of assumptions as DRM-protected e-publishing works, you would be paying for hardcover books printed in almost-unreadable non-repro blue to avoid photocopying, with the book itself chained to your desk so you could not loan it to a friend. Yes, that would slow up a few pirates -- but it wouldn't stop any significant percentage of them nor would it create any significant number of sales one would otherwise lose to those pirates. Meanwhile, it would unnecessarily inconvenience legitimate customers -- and that's something we can't afford to do this early in the e-publishing revolution.

I have no idea what terms and conditions DriveThruRPG extends to publishers, but I suspect that the additional cost of DRM protection and the additional support costs incurred because of DRM problems reported by users contributes the the somewhat inflated cost of the e-published versions of the products being offered. (If not, I think some of the publishers will learn that lesson pretty quickly and start reducing those prices.)

On the other hand, I think the voices loudly denegrating the site just because they hate the very CONCEPT of DRM are speaking too loudly, too soon -- and are missing the point. I cringe when I hear someone say he would consider pirating products appearing on the site, apparently just to teach the publishers a lesson for using a DRM scheme. That kind of rhetoric isn't representative of the typical consumer at all (thank God), but it does a great deal to encourage the sort of fears that create a perceived need for DRM in the first place. Talk like that hurts the whole e-publishing industry a lot more than a DRM-enabled site does.

If DRM is necessary to provide some publishers with enough of a comfort zone to get them to try e-publishing, I'll (reluctantly) put up with it as a consumer (for a time). I don't think a reasonable DRM scheme would keep me from buying something I really want (though it could affect a marginal purchase, or one where the use I want to put the product to is significantly handicapped by the DRM).

But I believe DRM WILL slow down sales overall and, in the final analysis, do virtually nothing to stop piracy. Keep the prices of products reasonable and play fair with consumers and I think you'll find piracy (and, inevitably, there WILL be people who steal) won't hurt your bottom line in any significant manner. And, eventually, I believe DRM will fall by the wayside because consumers really just don't want it. And the consumer will, inevitably, have the final word.

 

[Davelozzi]

Please know that this website isn't a conspiracy

Not a conspiracy, eh? Don't think that we didn't notice that PDF is just FDP spelled backwards. Nice try, James.

 

[Psion]

As much as I admire Monte, I think he doesn't appreciate the gravity of the situation.

I don't think this is some little tempest in a teacup like the whole d20 STL "no breasts" update thing. DRM may comfort the author, bit it seriously inhibits the customer's ability to manipulate their own product, has several significant drawbacks, and nothing of benefit for the customer.

I don't think this is a conspiracy by WW, FDP, Monte, or anyone else. I do think it is a bad, customer-unfriendly decision by the aforementioned, however.

Never attribute to malice what you can attribute to being a victim of Adobe's marketing department.

 

[Fiery James]

Not a conspiracy, eh? Don't think that we didn't notice that PDF is just FDP spelled backwards. Nice try, James.

Quick! Hit the kill switch. They're on to us!!!

 

[2d6]

As much as I admire Monte, I think he doesn't appreciate the gravity of the situation.

I don't think this is some little tempest in a teacup like the whole d20 STL "no breasts" update thing. DRM may comfort the author, bit it seriously inhibits the customer's ability to manipulate their own product, has several significant drawbacks, and nothing of benefit for the customer.

I don't think this is a conspiracy by WW, FDP, Monte, or anyone else. I do think it is a bad, customer-unfriendly decision by the aforementioned, however.

Never attribute to malice what you can attribute to being a victim of Adobe's marketing department.

Is it really that grave? Beyond the problems accessing the site, I downloaded the freebie Exalted core book and the experience was nice. It only took a moment to activate my copy of acrobat, it works, it prints, blah blah.

Sure, I'd rather have an unencrypted copy of the document, but this hasn't been anything like the fiasco with the DRM enabled CDs that are floating around.

What about this makes it customer unfriendly?