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Originally Posted by medard
When you buy a paper book you're actually buying the freedom to do whatever you like with that book.
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No you aren't; you're buying a rather restricted set of rights. You cannot, for example, hold a public reading of the book at which you charge for admission, or make a copy of the book and give that copy to a friend.
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As long nothing unforseen happens you also have the ability to read this book as long as you live. This concept does not work with digital text files, no matter if they use DRM or not.
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Sure you can, if you have the ability to convert it to whatever format is in vogue at the present time. All current ebook formats are HTML-based, so conversion is pretty easy. eBooks have distinct benefits in terms of longevity; digital data doesn't degrade with time, whereas your 20-year-old paperback is likely to be falling to pieces after a few reads.