The ePagine company (formerly Aligastore) is the publisher of the first bookstore marketplace, placedeslibraires.fr. In response to technical limitations of certain protections, ePagine has developed new tools to simplify the use of digital books and liberalize file sharing within the family while respecting digital rights.
For ten years, ePagine is committed to the promotion of digital books and supports book professionals and readers in their experience of the media. The DRM Readium LCP digital rights management solution is managed by EDRLab, European non-profit organization which participates in the evolution of the EPUB 3 format and the Readium project of free digital reading solutions. Its introduction profoundly changed the digital environment in France. Until then, the digital book encountered technical and technological limitations that were restrictive for the user. Among other things, it was practically impossible to share a digital book file. The closure of an online bookstore made it impossible to continue reading books. People with disabilities complained about reading impossibilities linked to the DRM used. That is why, in the space of a few years, the Readium LCP solution has established itself as one of the standards and preferred vectors for digital books throughout the world. For François Boujard, co-founder of ePagine, “the entire catalog of the French edition is available in bookstores with this responsible protection, and at the same price as on all platforms! The digital book thus accompanies and complements the paper book. »
An intuitive solution and a lightweight formula
Readium LCP DRM is a non-proprietary digital book protection solution that constitutes an international standard, guaranteeing interoperability and simplified implementation within different reading ecosystems, unlike proprietary ecosystems (Amazon, Apple, Kobo/Fnac) which prohibit the purchase of digital books outside of them. It presents itself as an alternative to existing proprietary models, both for consumers and for players in the book world. The Readium LCP DRM now exempts the reader from the creation of an account with a third-party service and their identification prior to reading their digital book. Based on a secret phrase system (pass-phrase), it allows him to easily access his digital books on different reading media. Through a simplified route, the user can load and unlock their content in one of the many free applications using the pass-phrase they have obtained or previously chosen. This lightweight formula has the advantage of a less intrusive solution for the user. Readium LCP DRM is part of the rule of privacy by design, which aims to ensure that privacy protection is integrated into technological and commercial applications by design.
A responsible practice
Within the digital ecosystem, DRM Readium LCP also intends to promote the distribution of content, in particular by allowing the sharing of digital books within the family. Focusing on public accountability and respecting copyright, LCP DRM gives the user the possibility of sharing their content with a restricted circle of people with the secret phrase, and thus to promote a “social” practice of books in a private setting. The statistics established for the year 2021 underline respect for these practices and the virtuous use made of them : on the sample studied, only two paid purchases out of the 3,400 observed were abnormally downloaded and their licenses revoked.
The fully compatible French catalog
Stakeholder in the creation of the Readium LCP DRM, ePagine has managed to reach a new milestone in its deployment : it is now the entire catalog of the French edition which is compatible. Drawing on its links with publishing and having its own digital warehouse, ePagine applies EDRLab protection to all hosted files. In this perspective, ePagine guarantees a plurality of formats and protections. Recently, ePagine has extended the Readium LCP DRM to all available PDF files – previously deprived of this digital lock format –, in order to make the entire catalog accessible to as many people as possible, particularly for academic documents and works. The entire network of partner bookstores offering LCP files is now accessible online, on the ePagine.eu website, to the following address : http://www.epagine.eu/map.php. A dedicated page, presented in the form of an interactive world map, lists all the booksellers involved in the promotion of digital books and allows users to find the nearest bookstore.
A commitment to the book
Leveraging protection interoperability, a digital book purchased from a bookseller can now be read on a tablet, smartphone and computer using numerous free applications, iOS, Android, Windows, MacOS and Linux and on e-readers from different manufacturers, like Bookeen, Vivlio, Pocketbook or Encore Tolino. In the same order of ideas, it is possible for customer readers from different bookstores to access their digital books through the same application and e-reader of their choice. Extending this functionality, ePagine has also set up a new service, the digital library. Available on the ePagine.eu website, it allows a user to easily find all of the LCP works that they have purchased from different booksellers by completing a simple form. All these tools, designed and deployed at different levels, participate in the development of digital books, a reading format which is gradually conquering the French market.
ePage, leader in digital services dedicated to booksellers
Taken over in 2007 by François Boujard and Stéphane Michalon — both from the world of bookselling —, ePagine supports French book professionals, Belgian and Dutch companies in their digital development using a large range of tools and turnkey solutions for booksellers and cultural resellers : data base (paper book, digital and audio, but also music, films, video games, stationery and toy games), websites for online sales, white label reseller portals, marketing tools (newsletters, recommendations, loyalty). In 2018, ePagine develops its own digital book warehouses in France and Holland in order to control the entire sales process, from file storage to customer after-sales service. The company is today the European leader in digital services dedicated to booksellers.. It has its headquarters in Montrouge (Hauts-de-Seine) and teams in France and Belgium. The platform recorded up to 50,000 click and collect orders per day during the confinement caused by Covid-19.
Frank Martin
