PW: E-Publishing

Locking in with LockStream
New digital rights management company will
offer secure wireless Internet distribution
Lockstream Corporation, a new application service provider (ASP), has announced its end-to-end digital media delivery and rights management system, which will provide multiple levels of copyright protection, brand-name-savvy player software and delivery of any media--books, audio or video--to any platform, including desktop and laptopPCs and wireless handheld devices.

ASPs provide whatever software or service is necessary to carry out a particular task. In this case, LockStream can receive plain text from publishers, hold the titles in a server, encode them using copyright protection software for distribution, deliver the encrypted files and report the transaction to the publishers.

David Goodman, LockStream's CEO, told PW, "The consumer's experience of the product is the most important thing to us. We all come from entertainment companies, and we know that if the copy protection is too difficult to manage, too cumbersome to use, no one will buy the product. We have kept the intrusion on the consumer experience to an absolute minimum, while providing very secure delivery and reliable commerce tracking."

He added, "With as many as seven people in the delivery chain in some systems, things are bound to break down. We keep it simple by storing the products on our servers, and delivering the product ourselves in whatever form the customer has requested. That way, there is no 'encoder' software for publishers to license."

The company's two main products are the LockStream Morphing Player and its patent-pending Digital Rights Management system. Goodman explained, "When a customer downloads a book in the player, the player software 'morphs,' or takes on the identity of the product. The only brand name the customer sees is whatever the publisher has assigned. In loading Timeline, for instance, the brand could be Random House, or Borzoi, or Michael Crichton, or Timeline. The publisher can use the file for many promotional programs, depending on the links built into the brand name. In no case d s the LockStream name appear in the user's file" (unlike Adobe Acrobat Reader and Microsoft Reader).

The player software is so small that files can be sent easily and quickly to any platform--Windows, including CE and PocketPC, Macintosh, Linux or Palm OS. With a wave of wireless Internet-access devices due out this summer, Goodman sees the ability to deliver small files as crucial for publishers. "Many of these devices only have eight or 16 megabytes of memory," he cautions. "You can't afford to use the whole thing on copy protection. The text of Stephen King's novelette was about 50K, but the protection was many megabytes, and many people's connections broke down during that huge download. We want to avoid that at all costs."

DRM: Easy, Secure, Comprehensive
Another unique feature of LockStream's system is its Digital Rights Management software. Almost all antipiracy software available today unlocks the security wrapper around a file, then leaves an unencrypted, whole file for playback. LockStream sends the file and stores it on the consumer's device encrypted. Each time the user wants to read the file, he enters his key, which is his credit card number, and the file is decrypted on the fly, as the consumer reads it. At no time is an entire unencrypted file available to copy. And, since the credit card number is never embedded in the content file, hackers can't crack the security and steal the credit card. As long as the correct credit card number is entered, the file can be played back any number of times, but underlying signals will automatically degrade any copies made, rendering them useless.

The DRM package notes the terms set by the publisher, manages and reports the transaction to the publisher, and can even calculate and track royalty payments if publishers desire. Goodman reports that the software is extensible as well: "If the publisher normally distributes products through a reseller network, we can support that, too."

Goodman told PW the company is negotiating with trade publishers now and will soon announce several partnerships. The company has offices in New York, Los Angeles and Redmond, Wash., and can be found at www.LockStream.com.
--Paul Hilts

Bartleby.com, AOL in Content Pact

Bartleby.com, a Web publisher offering online access to reference works and classic fiction and nonfiction, has announced an agreement to provide content for AOL@school, America Online's online learning resource site.
AOL@school is a service available through America Online and offers a wide variety of content partners, curricula and content resources for students from the primary grades to high school. The service also provides similar resources for teachers of all grades and for school administrators. AOL@school offers newsfeeds, content from partners such as Bartleby.com and the New York Times, and links to age- and subject-appropriate Web sites. The service is available without cost to schools.

Bartleby.com offers online access to a wide variety of encyclopedias, thesauri and usage manuals, as well as classic works of fiction and p try.
--Calvin Reid

Editor Puts Web Theories to The Test in January Magazine

What began as a Web site to prove academic theories in November 1997 has turned into a lucrative business for Linda Richards and David Middleton, editor and art director, respectively, of January--an online magazine offering English-language book reviews and author profiles (www.januarymagazine.com).
Moving from traditional media to the Internet seemed a natural progression for Richards and Middleton, who had collaborated on print articles for some time, Richards as the writer and Middleton as the photographer. But they increasingly found the experience dissatisfying and turned to the Internet, since Richards has just finished writing several Internet-related books, focusing in part on the qualities that contribute to successful Web sites.

"I got to the point where, academically, I knew what made a successful Web site, but I wanted to test all these theories that I developed," Richards said. That test site became the prototype for January. Initially, Richards and Middleton were more concerned with testing their theories than making a profit, and they hadn't counted on the immediate hit their site would become. The magazine was listed as a Yahoo site of the day a few weeks after its launch, which led to an increase in traffic to the site.

Vancouver-based January magazine covers the gamut of authors and genres, from literary fiction to cookbooks. "The mix that we have evolved is very fun, it's very different," Richards said.

They currently have a deal to supply content to Chapters.ca in Canada and to Youthstream Media, which owns SixDegrees.com, in the U.S. They have been in talks with Barnes & Noble, Borders, Amazon.com and recently, Book Sense, PreviewPort and Screaming Media. The site d s not take advertisements, and depends on revenues from its content deals, as well as a book of the week promotion that is paid for by a publisher.

Following the current trend to marry books and music, January also has a music site, www.bluecoupe.com, which is currently in a soft launched phase. It was scheduled for hard release on June 29. January will also soft launch its e-book site in September, available at www.backlightreview.com. Richards and Middleton decided to keep electronic reviews separate from the content covered in January magazine, since additional factors need to be taken into consideration when considering an e-book. "It's a whole different thing than January. With e-books, even delivery is varied and that needs to be part of the review process. If it takes me an hour to download, I want to share that information with people. There are also various levels of quality and someone really needs to be vetting it," Richards said.
--Leah Eichler

Waterstone's, Versaware in Retail Pact
Looking to bolster the e-books formats offered by its online store, British bookselling chain Waterstone's has reached an agreement with Versaware, an e-book and digital publisher based in Jerusalem and New York City, to allow Waterstone's customers to access and purchase Versaware e-book titles through Waterstone's Online.

Waterstone's currently makes the Glassbook Reader available for free to its online customers, in order for them to purchase and read the Stephen King e-book Riding the Bullet. Waterstone's Web customers will now be able to search for e-books at Waterstones's Online and link to Versaware's e-book Web site, eBookCity.com, to purchase the e-texts. Eventually Waterstones's will make the print, audio and e-book editions of a title available on each book's selling page.

Sol Rosenberg, CEO and cofounder of Versaware, said, "The combination of the Waterstone's brand with Versaware e-book technologies will enable thousands of users to build their own libraries of electronic books."

To mark the new agreement, online customers are being offered three e-books from the Sams computer book series for the price of two. Currently, Waterstone's is offering only reference and academic e-books downloadable to laptop or desktop computers.

The Glassbook Reader (developed with Adobe Acrobat) allows consumers to download an e-book in the PDF format and read it on their home computers. Versaware e-books can be purchased and accessed online and collected in an online account at eBookCity.com. Or the user can download the free Versaware Library Builder software and download the purchased e-book (or Versabook) to a laptop or desktop computer. Once downloaded, Versabooks can be collected in a digital library/database that is searchable across the user's complete Versabook library.
--Calvin Reid

Judges Named For E-Book Contest
The International eBook Award Foundation, the sponsor of the Frankfurt eBook Award, has announced the roster of American judges for the first annual e-book contest. The panelists are Walter Anderson, Daniel Boorstin, Stewart Brand, Maria Campbell, Henry Louis Gates Jr., James Gleick, Cheryl Hurley, Roger Kennedy, Walter Mosley and Paul Saffo.

The IeBAF expects to announce a panel of international judges some time this summer. All judges will review entries in all six categories. Entries are due August 1. Noting the varied background of the judges, Peter Mollman, judging director and former executive with World Book, Random House and Microsoft, said, "We are all delighted to take part in honoring authors, publishers and technical innovators for creating excellence in this new medium."

Roxanna Frost, president and executive director of IeBAF, said that the foundation's mission is also to serve as a platform for the exchange of information, and as a resource for members of the global publishing and writing community.

The IeBAF also works to increase the public profile of e-books.
--Staff
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