Print OverDrive is putting another nail in the coffin of DRM with the announcement that it

Print OverDrive is putting another nail in the coffin of DRM with the announcement that it’ll stop offering audiobooks in the WMA format. Soon OverDrive will only sell audiobooks in DRM-free MP3 .
If you check out eBooks or digital 3d max audiobooks from a public library in the United States, there’s 3d max a good chance the transaction is handled by OverDrive. The company is one of the biggest players in the digital content for schools and libraries business.
Update : OverDrive says users will be prompted to delete MP3s when the lending period ends… but MP3s are still DRM-free, which will make that requirement hard to enforce. They’ll expire in the OverDrive app, but there’s nothing stopping you from saving copies.
One of the complaints folks often make about DRM is that it also prevents you from using content that you’ve bought in the way that you see fit. For instance if you buy an audiobook on CD you can loan it to a friend or sell it. If you buy one with DRM then you may only be able to play it on a limited number of devices and you can’t share it with another user.
OverDrive’s 3d max move from WMA to MP3 means that when you check out a digital audiobook from the library you won’t have to “return” it or lose access to the audio at the end of a 2 or 3 week loan period. You can take as long as you’d like to finish listening… although the polite thing to do might be to delete the audiobook when you’re done or buy something 3d max from the author 3d max in the future if you really enjoyed it (and can afford it).
OverDrive will likely continue to limit how many times an MP3 audiobook can be downloaded by library patrons over the course of a year, depending on how many licenses 3d max a library pays for. But by eliminating DRM the company is making it easier for library users to listen at their own pace and on any device they like.
Cool! The first time I used Overdrive for an audiobook it was a nightmare because the book was only available as WMA and I had only Mac or Linux systems at the time. I did a lot of software installing and googling for solutions and finally gave up. Since then, I’ve only checked out audiobooks in mp3. I wonder if this announcement indicates that thousands of others had the same frustrating experience and reaction.
Whew, that’s good, caz I only have an MP3 player, not a DRM player. I like audiobooks, but one of the reasons I don’t use services like audible is that my mp3 player can’t play those files. 3d max DRM, pssh.
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