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All the piracy talk ignores some fundamentals that are really important for the book publishing industry.
1. No one has any idea of how many books are really being downloaded and read.
2. No one has any idea of how many of the downloaders are downloading the book simply because it is downloadable.
3. No one knows what percentage of the downloads are truly lost sales.
4. Everyone mistakenly compares book piracy with music piracy but they aren't even apples being compared to oranges -- they are more dissimilar than that. Downloading music essentially translates into instant gratification (the ability to listen to the music in its entiretly immediately) both individually and in a group. Downloading and listening require virtually no work. In contrast, downloading a book is more work intensive and doesn't provide instant work-free gratification. A book only can provide gratification after it has been read (or perhaps while it is being read), which isn't a 5-minute venture.
I suspect -- but clearly do not know -- that most book piracy is simply a way of thumbing one's nose at "the authorities". I suspect that for every 1,000 downloads of a particular book, only 1 is read and that 1 is unlikely to be a lost sale. Music downloads are different in almost every way.
5. None of the major publishers and most authors are receptive to experimenting with the Baen model, largely because it is easier to assume that everyone interested in a particular book would steal that book given the opportunity.
Unfortunately, as long as there is piracy publishers and authors will demand DRM, and as long as there are high prices, delayed ebook availability, and DRM there will be piracy. The circle will remain unbroken until some major publisher finally decides to try some other tactic.
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