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I think part of the reason why there are restrictions of various sorts on ebooks is that unlike pbooks they don't age. That is with pbooks the paper degrades over time, the bindings weaken and the pages can become stained not only with things like coffee spills but things like the reader's sweat. With ebooks you can buy a copy of a book today and still have it be pristine looking 20-30 yrs from now. And if you have a back up so that if one copy gets scrambled you can just reload a new copy of the text you don't have to spend $$ again to keep your library intact. So where you might have to buy a new pbook copy of a book like Dracula every decade or so (depending on how often you read it) you might not need to buy another copy of the ebook version in your lifetime. That means less profits for the publisher. Of course you could argue that new writers can take up the slack but the publishers probably only see that a sure thing title isn't being bought over and over again by the public. Why buy another copy of a book you already have and that looks brand new 20-30 yrs after you purchased it after all? They (the publishers) do need to wake up to the fact that the old style of publishing is gone now though I agree. And that includes price. A good part of the cost of a book is things like the warehouse storage, shipping costs, cost of paper and ink, etc. all of which are either non-existant or almost so with ebooks. Til they adapt to the changing world there will always be some piracy. Even after they do there will probably be some, but not as much I bet.
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