That's why I was very happy to see an announcement in my inbox this morning, stating that Packt ebooks now allow copy and paste. They also let me re-download the ebooks I've purchased from them before, with copy & paste enabled.

From their email:

Following feedback and advice from our customers, Packt has decided to enable the copy and paste feature on all of its eBooks. This means that all text and code embedded in the PDF can be copied and pasted directly into your working examples. If you already own a Packt eBook, simply download it again from your account at www.PacktPub.com and this new copy will have this feature enabled. We would like to thank all customers who took the time to provide us with this feedback.

I'm very happy that Packt is paying attention to its customers. This was the most annoying mis-feature in my opinion, and I'm glad to see it go.

Last Friday, I bought two new programming books: Expert Python Programming from Packt Publishing, and IronPython in Action from Manning.

Although I bought the PDF version of IronPython in Action, I bought the dead-tree version of Expert Python Programming. The reason is because Packt's DRM measures make the PDF version a lot less convenient. Here's why:

1. You have to enter your password every time you open the file
2. Copying text to the clipboard is disabled

You have to enter your password every time you open the file

Yes, this is a small nuisance, but a nuisance nonetheless. Since it's just my email address it's not hard to remember, but I still have to be careful not to make any typos, because the password text box is masked. I don't have to enter a password every time I open a paper book, which makes the paper version that much more attractive.

I note that Manning doesn't make me enter any passwords to view my file, and I really like that level of trust.

Copying text to the clipboard is disabled

This is a huge nuisance to me. One of the reasons I like having programming books as ebooks is that I can quickly copy text out of the book to Google for more information. For languages like Python, I can also just paste code into an editor and run it (albeit with some formatting fixes). Yes, programming books today almost always have downloadable source code, but that's another step I'd have to take, and still doesn't solve the problem of googling terms from the main text.

Again, Manning ebooks allow me to copy and paste text from their books.

Why should Packt care?

This is a good question. It seems pretty obvious that Packt doesn't care, or they wouldn't be using such draconian DRM. But they should care: the PDF version has got to be a lot more profitable than the paper version, even given the lower prices; so selling more ebooks would save them money, thereby allowing them to publish more books (and saving a few trees and some fossil fuel in the process). It also allows the classic up-sell technique of offering the paper and ebook together for a few extra zlotys.

Having a viable PDF version also makes the product more attractive. If I prefer an ebook, and have to choose either a Manning book or a Packt book, the Manning book is going to look more attractive to me.

But the real problem here is the elephant in the room: these DRM tools annoy paying customers, but don't deter pirates. Of all the consumer groups in the world, I'd have to think that programmers would be among the most capable of finding or creating pirated content, were they so inclined. Instead of focusing on me, the person who wants to pay them money, Packt is busy focusing on a battle that they can't win. I feel like giving Packt an electronic smack on the head, and saying, "Hey, Packt! Forget the pirates for a minute, and pay attention over here to the guy waving his credit card at you!"

Given the finite resources of any organization, every extra DRM measure that a publisher implements means fewer resources to serve me. Every time I see an error in a Packt book, or deal with poor usability — like the stupid musical links game you have to play in order to download the blasted thing — I can't help wondering if they would have been able to fix that error if they weren't focused on pirates instead of paying customers.

A good illustration of this last point, although it doesn't relate to Packt Publishing, is a code-coverage metrics tool named Coverage Validator. This is a great tool, but they have a rather byzantine process to download an evaluation version, complete with a sign-up form. The first time I tried filling out the form, I got a database error:

Although the helpful folks at Software Verification fixed the error within a few hours of me notifying them, it's very improbable that this error would have even occurred if they just let people download the evaluation version freely, rather than using some (to me) misguided attempt at piracy prevention, or even more nefariously, possibly harvesting contact information for marketing purposes. It just creates a bad first impression all around, which is a shame, because Coverage Evaluator really is a neat tool.

And the same goes for Pack Publishing: they have a great lineup of books, but these DRM features make their offerings look less attractive, while making the offerings of publishers like Manning look better in comparison. Which leads me to my final point:

Manning ebooks rock

Manning really seems to have embraced the ebook concept better than the other technical publishers out there. Not only does it provide its ebooks in a very open and easy-to-use format, it takes advantage of the unique possibilities of the electronic format with its Manning Early Access Program (MEAP), where pre-publication versions of books are made available (this is how I got my early peek at IronPython in Action). I think that the next couple of generations of portable ebook readers are going to make the electronic book format much more important, and in order to stay relevant, I think other publishers should learn from Manning's example.