Yup. And in fact, I think it largely screws creators.
I actually used Peter Watts tip-jar last year (no wait, that was 2014! Jeezuz ... And I owe him a god damned email! *guilt, guilt, guilt*) to recompense him directly for my pirated ecopy of Echopraxia, since I wasn't able to get it without DRM (which is weird, because I thought Tor was one of the publishers that had decided not to use it. But I digress).
In fact this whole comment is a digression. What the hell was my point?
Oh yeah. I think DRM is used primarily to try to keep paper economically viable. My impression is that the publishers who really like it are the ones who price ebooks more or less the same as (and sometimes more than) paper copies.
Re: Smashwords or smash the corporations?
I actually used Peter Watts tip-jar last year (no wait, that was 2014! Jeezuz ... And I owe him a god damned email! *guilt, guilt, guilt*) to recompense him directly for my pirated ecopy of Echopraxia, since I wasn't able to get it without DRM (which is weird, because I thought Tor was one of the publishers that had decided not to use it. But I digress).
In fact this whole comment is a digression. What the hell was my point?
Oh yeah. I think DRM is used primarily to try to keep paper economically viable. My impression is that the publishers who really like it are the ones who price ebooks more or less the same as (and sometimes more than) paper copies.