[SmokeAndMirrors]

I'm not buying it. What you pay for when you buy digital content is fundamentally different than what you're paying for when you buy physical content. When you buy DRM'ed books, along with the book, you're paying for one of two things - to either own the content, or to have their cloud as a retainment service (depending on how they market it). This is the only reason it's justifiable to charge more than a buck for an ebook.

These companies have failed to provide either of those things. The OP did not get what s/he paid for. In any other market, we call that a scam.

When Angst bought those books, s/he bought them with the understanding that s/he would have continued access to them on the site, since s/he apparently wasn't allowed to actually own them. Since this is part of the agreement of purchase, the store is breaching their end of the deal by forcing Angst to buy them again. And they're doing it quite blatantly on purpose.

I am well aware the respective companies probably have some clever line of legalese that prevents them from being liable when the DRM behind an ebook they sell essentially screws their customers, but the simple fact of the matter is that is what you're paying for. They didn't hold up their end of the deal.

There is presently no form of DRM'ed content that does hold up that deal. They are all essentially scams - the product never belongs to you, and companies routinely end support for the DRM that makes your content usable and justifies the cost of the product.

Unfortunately, there is currently no recourse for customers who have been screwed this way, because the law is on the side of the companies. It's a new market and money talks.

Copying the library book doesn't hurt anyone as long as it is returned.