In our posting about Cory Doctorow’s second article in Publishers Weekly (about his Lovers Quarrel with Audio) we found an appropriate illustration, a baby clapping hands over ears (below).

Doctorow has gone one better and sent us a photo of himself (r.) in the same pose.

Thanks, Cory!

Just to summarize, in his second PW piece Doctorow describes the challenge of getting audio versions of his books produced. His only condition is that he has to be satisfied, and that’s a bit of a problem, because Doctorow’s satisfaction quotient does not sit on the same coordinates as those by which the rest of us measure pleasure. Still, in chronicling his adventures in audioland he does not come off as unreasonable. To the contrary, his annoyance with proprietary restrictions, generically known as “DRM” – Digital Rights Management – is something that bothers e-book readers as well as audiophiles.

Doctorow’s quest for an ideal audio experience will benefit all of us and, we hope, enable producers to give customers better products and services.

Check out Can You Hear Me Now? and you’ll see what we mean.