[stonetools]

There is really one crucial question that must be answered before we can give up on DRM. Can we assure that writers and publishers can make a good living in a post DRM world? Here, I must say, that I find the arguments of the anti DRM folk rather weak.
1."Somehow, we will find a way to compensate writers and publishers". Somehow? Well, I'm sorry, that's not good enough . We are talking about the the livelihoods of millions of writers and people employed in the publishing industry. I think they deserve more than what may be charitably described as a pious wish and less chaaritably, as fatuous, self serving BS.
2."Look at the example of the music industry. " Yep, let's look at the music industry. Revenues have gone down every where, despite iTunes. And musicians have ways of making a living other than publishing content.
3. "Look at the people at Smashwords and BeoSWrite." With due respect, most of those folks are ASPIRING to make a living through writing and publishing. They don't actually make a living that way.
4."Look at Baen Publishing". This seems to be a good example. However, Baen's is a small scale publisher, serving a niche market. Can their approach scale up to a worldwide industry encompassing many genres? I do not know the answer to that question.
I would humbly suggest that the anti DRM folks direct their efforts to providing a detailed answer to that question, rather than sit around in a circle congratulating themselves on having the "right" answer to the question of DRM. It is only when that question is answered that there is any hope that publishers and authors will give up DRM