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One very minor clarification regarding the B&N Mac .pdb situation: it's not that we have the option to buy books in .pdb format, because we don't specifically.
We're just able to download our purchases in either the older original .pdb or newer standard ePub format, depending on whether we do it directly from our My NOOK Library account page at the website, or via the NookStudy app. This is due to B&N never bothering to update the official Mac version of its desktop reader app to properly support DRM-ed ePubs, so eventually they just switched us all back to the .pdb downloads to stem the complaints about the app crashing with DRM ePubs.
Incidentally, I think that some apps-but-not-dedicated-devices have been showing up using the new version of ADE that also supports B&N-style ePub DRM. I've seen people mention something called "Blufire" for either iPad or Android tablets, and maybe someone who's got one can confirm/deny.
Also, the way to tell if an Amazon book is DRM-free is to look for "Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited" in the Product Details on the book's description page. If it has a number listed or omits that field entirely, then it's DRM.
There's currently no similar indicator for DRM-ness or not at B&N, but some publishers seem to consistently have no DRM on their B&N books (for people who like erotic romance, Samhain's promotional free book offerings have been consistently DRM-free, and I'd guess that the regular paid portion of their B&N catalogue from which the freebies are drawn are, too).
Hope this helps.
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