JK Rowling's Pottermore Breaks eBook Lockdown, Might Change eBooks Forever

In a break with industry practices, the (“Harry Potter”) books aren’t locked down by encryption, which means consumers can move them between devices and read them anywhere they like. If Pottermore, J.K. Rowling’s new Web store, proves a success, it could provide a model for other authors and publishers and undermine the clout of Amazon.com, which dominates eBook sales.

“We believe that people should have the right, once they’ve bought the book, to read it on any device that they chose to,” says (CEO Charles) Redmayne.

There’s another reason Pottermore is going DRM-free. It wants to “own” the relationship with the customers.