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After following so many of the DRM-related threads on this site, I think it should be clear by now that DRM cannot do the job it is designed to do. This is the mistake of the music and publishing industries, trying to impose an unworkable solution to maintain their current business model. They are simply not accepting that the existence of electronic media demands a new business model, or they are actively working to slow down the creation/acceptance of the new model that they know must come.
There's simply nothing convenient about DRM, short- or long-term, whether it is hardware or software based, so I can't see it being a part of the new model. It would be like printing paper books on special paper that cannot be copied, or even viewed by anything other than the human eye with genetically-matching glasses! The paper industry knows better than to do this to prevent books being loaned or copied, and it will eventually be clear to them that en e-book analogue will be similarly useless.
As Bob just suggested, the new business model must have an acceptable cost/convenience factor to make it easier to buy the content than steal it. The model will surely change the dynamic of book production, sales, and profitability, which will surely be painful or mortal for existing paper-based publishers. They will either adopt, or perish, according to their innovative abilities, flexibility, or deep pockets. If that's not enough reason to delay the new model with DRM tactics, I don't know what would be.
So we can't be surprised that all of this smoke is being blown up our collective skirts. We can only continue to wait, and deal with the status quo as best we can, until it all blows away.
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