Digital Rights Management: Business and Technology (M&T Books) [Paperback]

William Rosenblatt (Author), William Trippe (Author), Stephen Mooney (Author)

Book Description

Series: M&T Books | Publication Date: November 15, 2001

Digital rights management (DRM) is a set of business models and technologies that allows media companies to protect their intellectual property -- and profit in the online world. Cowritten by DRM pioneer William Rosenblatt, this lucid primer outlines the state of DRM today for media executives and IT decision-makers, covering business models (such as subscriptions), core technologies (watermarking, encryption, authentication), standards (such as XrML), vendors, and more.

Editorial Reviews

Review

&an excellent job...they take a tough subject and make it entertaining&a must have' for anyone interested in securing their assets& -- Internet Strategist, November 2003

“…an excellent job...they take a tough subject and make it entertaining…a ‘must have’ for anyone interested in securing their assets…” (Internet Strategist, November 2003)

From the Back Cover

"This book paints a complete picture of the overall DRM landscape in terms that novices can understand, without sacrificing the under-the-hood details that techies demand." --Mark Walter, Senior Analyst, The Seybold Report

Protect Your Intellectual Property -- and Profit from Digital Media
Digital rights management, or DRM, is a set of business models and technologies that enables you to protect -- and profit from -- your text, image, music, or video content in today's digital world. In this unique guide, three digital media experts show you step-by-step how to find the right DRM solution for your organization, whether you're an IT decision-maker or an executive on the content side. After explaining DRM antecedents, paradigms, and legal foundations, the authors walk you through today's DRM technologies and standards -- and offer sound, practical advice on how to match your needs with the right DRM products, services, and vendors.

Your Road Map for Today's DRM Technologies
* Get the scoop on subscription, pay-per-view, superdistribution, metering, and other DRM business models
* Understand what the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and other legal guidelines mean for DRM
* Delve into watermarking, encryption, authentication, clearinghouses, and other DRM building blocks
* Get up to speed on XrML, DOI, ICE, and other emerging standards
* Zero in on key proprietary technologies, from InterTrust RightsSystem to Verance watermarking to products from Adobe, Microsoft, and many others
* Match your needs with the right DRM solutions -- from custom-built systems to the best vendors and industry-specific products.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (November 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764548891
• ISBN-13: 978-0764548895
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #614,774 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #54 in Books > Law > Intellectual Property > Communications

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good attempt at explaining a difficult topic, April 12, 2003

By 

frumiousb "frumiousb" (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Digital Rights Management: Business and Technology (M&T Books) (Paperback)

As noted below, DRM consists of legal, technical and business issues and anyone trying to provide an overview of all three has their work cut out for them. Particularly in the early chapters of the book, these authors give it a good try.

Unfortunately, the biggest problem with the book is that they try to treat the technology standards and products available on the market, and the market is just changing too quickly for that to be for more than just a superficial look. Too much of what they discuss is already outdated, out-of-business, merged with other offerings or otherwise defunct. Not the fault of the authors, just the nature of the DRM market.

This book is:

Not a good read if you already understand the basic issues and hope to get more insight into the technology-- go to the web for that.

Absolutely a good read if you want to become familiar in a basic way in the underlying issues. Part 1 of the book is really useful reading even to help people who are pretty familiar with the topic structure their thinking.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Still waiting for DRM to be explained., November 11, 2002

By 

Simon A. Robins "Simon-Pieman" (NYC / Asia / elsewhere) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Digital Rights Management: Business and Technology (M&T Books) (Paperback)

The problem with the several texts available on digital copyright or Digital Rights Management is that the topic demands a treatment from at least three different perspectives: namely legal, technical and business. There are several books that try to tackle the topic of digital copyright from a legal viewpoint, and this one is clearly coming from a technical perspective. Legal issues are covered, but rather superficially. More surprisingly the crucial business issues and models that are driving interest in DRM are barely mentioned and there is no dicussion of the business models that are working and those that are not. Disappointingly many of the technical issues are also fudged in a way that will leave non-technical audiences confused, and those who are following technical developments frustrated. The fact is that, technically at least, DRM is an area where approaches, technologies and standards are all in rapid development and the industry has failed to converge on any single direction. This book's effort to offer a comprehensive review of available products means that it risked redundancy before it was published, as many of the companies and technologies have ceased to be relevant. What the world still needs is a book on DRM that reviews the law, discusses the business models (and consumer needs) that are driving developments, and describes fundamental approaches in a way that will remain relevant whatever product Microsoft may impose on us all next year. Unfortunately this book intrigues enough to encourage one to want to know more about DRM, but never really provides the answers.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great reference, April 8, 2002

By 

Jake DiMare - See all my reviews

This review is from: Digital Rights Management: Business and Technology (M&T Books) (Paperback)

In an ever changing business landscape, I find nothing more comforting than relevant information. As an web application developer I used to always have questions about legality and DRM that nobody could answer. This book has a permananent spot on my shelf!