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"Some publishers don't want to hear this, but the truth is that DRM can be hacked and does not eliminate piracy. It not only fails as a piracy deterrent, but it also introduces restrictions that make e-books less attractive than print books. We've all read a print book and passed it along to a friend. Good luck doing that with a DRM'd e-book! What publishers don't understand is that DRM implies a lack of trust. All customers are considered thieves and must be treated accordingly."

Ebook standards may lack the glamour that the technology attracts, but the arrival of ePub3 has the potential to transform how the academy creates and delivers its content to students and researchers. Just weeks into the New Year and already there is a new ebooks revelation that colleges and universities need to digest. January saw the launch of Apple's new iBooks2 software which grabbed headlines (see the BBC article here) and sparked heated debate across the academic community. Quietly underpinning the technology of the iBooks software is ePub.  ePub is the 'defacto' ebook standard, with the latest version of ePub3 supporting complex layouts and rich media and interactivity for eTextbooks and professional and scientific publications.

"For many, "open textbooks" seem to be primarily about cost savings, about saving money for both funders and learners, but not particularly about challenging the "form" of what we have known as a textbook. And I agree, affordability is a strong motivator to get into this space, and an obvious selling point for all the stakeholders (well, almost all - commercial publishers don't seem exactly thrilled about it.)"