That sounds like a very complex scheme, Richard. Best of luck to you if you can make it work though. I think the next big internet success story is going to be whomever gets a taker on something like 'the books are free but the movie rights cost a million dollars' but I could be wrong.
It's important to think not just about what might be changing for the worse but what might be changing for the better, too. I'll give you an example, I am in my 30s now and finding it harder and harder to keep my weight down compared to when I first started working out, in college. So when I look to add something to my schedule, I am increasingly trying top get away from things like movies and internet which involve just sitting around. I sometimes go to the community centre to skate or use the track, I am pondering Tae Kwon Do classes and thinking of getting a wii for a bit of fun extra activity. Books would be seemingly incompatible with this new get off the couch approach. Even audio books are problematic because you can *only* listen and can't read the traditional way. The Kindle has been a valuable upgrade for me because the TTS lets me use it like an audio book, the resume 'normal' reading later. Yes, this might sometimes involve removing the DRM to enable this feature, should one be amenable so such a thing
But if the choice for the publisher is 'enable this feature and people like me will buy the book' or 'restrict it using DRM and lose some sales' then why should they not enable the feature?