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The problem is when the publishers try to have it both ways - they try to skirt the 'fair use' provisions of US copyright law by arguing you're not buying the actual content, but a license to use that content.
But when something happens to that content, then they apply the same argument they use to physical objects - you broke it, too bad.
Software companies don't do this - as long as you still have the key (and many of them will send you a new key if your software is registered), it doesn't matter to them where you obtain the replacement content from. Check it out of the library, borrow it from a friend - many will also allow you to download it directly.
But book and music publishers try to straddle the line between physical content and license but keep all the marbles for themselves. It's a 'heads I win, tails you lose' argument much of the time.
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