Credit cards used for e-book DRM

Administrating digital rights management for e-book users is being done using Aussie credit cards.

Aussie credit cards are moving beyond their use purely for payments to double as electronic library passes, it has been reported.

The Age notes that Aussie credit cards are now being used in some areas to administrate digital rights management (DRM) for students when downloading e-books to use as course materials.

In turn, this is allowing students to ditch their textbooks and, within the next three years or so, could see them replaced with a single portable electronic document reader.

Richard Siegersma, executive director of e-book distributor DA Direct, predicts that "e-textbooks will be mainstream within three years".

He tells The Age that this will support delivery of course content on a "just in time" basis to full-colour electronic displays held by students.

DA Direct already allows customers in Australia and New Zealand to access content from journals that are part of the Springer database, which they can download to their e-reader.

Written by Mark Hornby