I've always been concerned about the unidirection that society places on "piracy". What about publishers that; 1) use DRM such that you are restricted to a single device, 2) require a special device to read their books, 3) charge prices as high as pbooks even though the cost of ebooks is much lower - i.e. no paper, ink, labor or facilities to produce & distribute, no middle man, etc.
We're being ripped off by the publishers with ebooks but are they called "priates", "theives", or any such emotional words. They have the big bucks and lobby to make "piracy laws" so that what they do is legal "stealing".
Hopefully ebooks will elliminate publishers and I think that's what they are affraid of more than piracy. By making what we want illegal or at least questionable they maintain control. However they are really no longer needed. Authors (with appropriate editors/proofreaders) can work without them and sell their products through simple brookers in a similar way that Wal Mart sells individual songs via the Internet.
Baen has the right idea. Look at their
site, The authors are making more royalities and the good authors are actually giving away free ebooks of their older books - good advertising for their newer books. This is also very Darwinian - only the best will continue to be supported.
Enough rant - my two cents worth.
