[Psykhe]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

Actually, it's more like this:

pay more money than you would for the paperback (-)
support producer with a few pennies (+)
get it whenever the publisher feels like it, or maybe not at all (-)
deal with hassles trying to actually use it (-)

vs

get it for free (+)
do not support producer with those few pennies (-)
get it the day it comes out if not before (+)
get it in the format you need (+)

I am not being selective, I am just comparing the actual differences. What your wrote does partly contradict each or is not comparing a bought vs a stolen ebook. Or has nothing at all to do with DRM.

pay more money than you would for the paperback (-)
vs
get it the day it comes out if not before (+)

Only a very small minority of books are available as (cheaper) paperpack version on the day they come out. On release day ebooks are in the majority of all cases (a tiny bit) less expensive as the hardcover.
(As a sidenote, there isn't really moneygrabbing or overpricing involved there, production cost difference between a hardcover and a massmarket paperpack aren't nearly anywhere as large the their price difference. In general production (with this I mean printing, etc, not the text layout and stuff) is no large part of a book price. The big majority of the money you pay is for the privilege of reading it early. So ebooks do not really produce more profit than hardcovers.)

Later, when there are cheaper paper versions around the ebooks do not *always* follow through, but that is a) not universal (at i.e. Bean cost 6$ which is on par with paperpacks) and has nothing to do with DRM. Of cource, another book I was looking for yesterday was 15$ as ebook and available as used paper book for 3$. Guess which ebook I certainly won't buy?
It is simply one issue with ebooks vs normal books, not one with ebooks with drm vs ebooks without them or bought ebooks vs stolen ebooks.

Also, "got it the day it comes out if not before"? I am calling BS on that (bolded) one.

get it whenever the publisher feels like it, or maybe not at all (-)

If the publisher decides not to release it as ebook then the whole DRM thing is a moot point anyway since as far as I know it there isn't one on printed books. Your point?

For someone who doesn't care much about the author, or who knows how little of a book's cover price actually goes to the author, those downloads look like a better and better deal. If their consciences bother them, they can snail off anonymous money orders to authors, I suppose.

Actually according to what the Author Charles Stross says book publishers are not evil conglomerates making billions from our money like the much beloved music industry. And he presents his point pretty convicingly. There is much much more work behind a book than what the author does.
Very nice article, it was certainly enlightening to me. It might be painful to you though, considering your opinion of the situation seems to be set in stone.

That's why I buy books from publishers who get it. That's why I download public domain books. That's why I won't buy from the cartel publishers, because they're looking out for only their own interests, not mine, not the author's, not the bookseller's, not anyone else's. You want to support the cartel: how about telling them to give the public what they want, instead of trying to force the public to want what they give them?

And this has to do with the effect of DRM how exactly?

I can guarantee you that, were I writing in German, I'd have my posts checked by a native speaker to be sure I was saying what I meant, and not just hoping someone could figure it out.

Firstly:

Secondly: Then do it instead of talking tough. No need to do everything, this quoted paragraph alone will do fine.