Why is Readium LCP the other DRM most used by authors and publishers? If you are a self-published author, publishing professor, university press, or publishing company, digital rights management (DRM) is a necessary tool to protect your work and your profits. But for some, Adobe DRM is too restrictive, as it requires the reader to create an Adobe account to access their purchases. Readium LCP allows you to restrict content in a variety of ways but still allows users to read content anywhere they would normally read EPUB files (Google books, digital readers, tablets – all without having to jump through the hoops Adobe DRM requires.
What Is Readium LCP?
Readium LCP is an open-source DRM solution developed specifically to be vendor-neutral. In other words, it doesn’t play favorites with ebook distribution or device; it is designed for the author and publisher by publishers. Because Readium LCP is designed by publishers, it has some intuitive features that make it an attractive choice for ebook DRM.
Why Choose Readium LCP?
One of the biggest advantages of Readium LCP is the price point. It offers nearly the same level of security as Adobe DRM for a fraction of the cost. But the primary reason publishers and self-published authors opt for Readium LCP, the other DRM, instead of Adobe, is because it is compatible with EPUB files, including embedded audio and video content. Readium LCP allows publishers and authors greater flexibility without sacrificing DRM protection.
Readium LCP Puts You in Control of Your Content
While not quite as robust as Adobe DRM, Readium LCP does allow you to control your content to a great degree. Not only can you password-protect content, but you can expire it. This is an essential tool for libraries, who need to be able to expire content to offer ebooks to check out. Like Adobe DRM, you can restrict copying and printing completely, or you can limit the amount of text characters that are allowed to be copied. This helps protect your ebooks from illegal duplication.
Improved Reader Experience
Readium LCP allows authors and publishers to maintain the integrity of their content while still providing a great reading experience. There are no special apps to download; the content is simply accessed using a pass phrase that is unique to the reader. The author or publisher can customize how accessible the content is in terms of expiration, copying, and printing.
EditionGuard Supports the Readium Foundation
EditionGuard has offered access to Adobe DRM since 2012 and will continue to do so. Adobe DRM is the most sophisticated digital rights management solution available, and it is the most appropriate choice for certain authors and publishers. But Adobe DRM is not for everyone, and Readium LCP is the other DRM that offers similar levels of security while also balancing that with open source, publisher-created tools, EditionGuard is part of the non-profit Readium foundation, so we're able to support this cause born out of real needs of publishers.
Adobe DRM or Readium LCP?
Choosing which digital rights management solution is right for you depends on your security needs as well as your target audience. If you’re a professor publishing something to be used in the classroom that students will only need for a semester, your students may not have an issue needing to download the Adobe reader app to access required content for class. If you’re a fiction author trying to avoid copyright infringement on your fiction works without inconveniencing your readers, Readium LCP may be a better option. This article, Adobe DRM vs Readium LCP, goes into more detail about the differences between the two.
Do I Really Need DRM?
This is a fair question to ask! DRM gets a bad rap because it feels like, to consumers, that they’re being restricted from accessing something they’ve purchased. But the truth is, without DRM, authors and publishers are losing a significant amount of money every year. Digital theft is a big problem. Theft costs authors and publishers more than $300 million a year in lost sales. Having the power to add DRM to your ebooks is essential. Best of all, DRM is included with every EditionGuard plan, giving you the power to choose exactly how strong the controls are on your content.
EditionGuard makes it easy for authors and publishers of all types to choose an ebook fulfillment service and ebook DRM solution that works for them. The four best ebook DRM solutions are included in every EditionGuard plan. You can see a side-by-side comparison of these ebook DRM solutions here.
