Pearson Closes DRM-Free eBookstore, Will Delete All eBooks From Customers' Account
Pearson has just informed its customers that it is shunting down its ebookstore at MyPearsonStore.com, and that it will be deleting purchased ebooks by 30 April 2018.
While the ebooks don’t have encryption DRM and thus could be regarded as DRM-free, Pearson does use digital watermarks to invisibly identify the buyer of the ebook.
I am still seeking confirmation from Pearson, but my source, Axel Rauschmayer, writes that he:
Bought DRM-free ebook “Effective JS” a while ago. Now Pearson tells me:
- They’ll remove it from my account
- To rub it in, they let me know they still offer it on another platform
Very disappointed. Not surprised that Amazon and DRM are winning for ebooks.
To be honest, I have trouble summoning sympathy. Yes, Axel is going to lose access to the cloud copy, but the ebook he bought will continue to work after April 2017, and he didn’t have to break any laws to make that happen.
In comparison to the closure of Fictionwise, when many thousands of customers lost their purchases, or when Google bricked the Revolv smart hubs, or Amazon when it shut down its pre-Kindle bookstore, this story is less a tragedy than a reminder of why one should always have a local backup.
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