Quote:
Originally Posted by p3aul
Everyone has a right to an opinion. But I would like for someone to comment on this simile. >>Your concept is like me buying a hardback book; reading it, then taking it back to the dealer and saying "Here is this hardback book. I'm not giving it back to you but, because I've bought it, now I want the paperback version for free.<<
Then I'll shut up. Any takers? 
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How about this one:
"You can buy our book, but in order to read it, you'll need to use our special glasses. You can't read the book without it, and it's illegal for anyone to tell you how to remove the filter over every page that makes you need the glasses. Oh, and when you're done with the book, you can't sell it or even give it away."
However, if I buy a hardcover book, I'm free to copy the whole thing into a spiral notebook if I want to spend that time writing. That's what format-shifting is--I'm not asking the publisher to provide me with a hardcover, a paperback, and a magazine format of the same book; I'm requesting that digital copies come with the same freedoms that are included in paper ones: the right to modify or copy for personal use.
I don't buy DRM'd ebooks. Any publisher who thinks I'm so dishonest that I can't be trusted with full access to my purchases, doesn't want my business. I don't buy furniture with restrictions on what room of the house I can place it in, and I don't buy books that tell me what computer I can read them on.