[RAH]

I agree that it is kind of difficult to meet the conditions, just from a practical matter. But I suppose it would be easy enough to find a cheap book on B&N (maybe one of their free ones - today! - would that work?) and have 2 people buy it, etc.

I agree it is not right to pirate books. However, I think it is clear that removing DRM is useful from a "fair use" perspective, or even just for archiving your books. If B&N is not around 5 years from now, will I be able to read a B&N DRM book on my new Google ereader (the latest one that's 1/2" thick and runs for a year without charging)? I won't have to worry if I have preserved a non-DRM version.

Also, if I give an epub file with the DRM removed to a friend and stipulate that they delete the file after they are finished reading it, then this is exactly like lending them a physical book (if I only lend to one person at a time). Of course, the wrinkle is that they might not delete it, and might even distribute it. Interesting topic.