[systemicdanna]

This is really sad. Artificial constraints on a medium that was supposed to democratize access to information.

I am right now in line to borrow the new DeGrasse Tyson’s book and will have to wait for almost 6 weeks for my turn. They have only 3 digital copies available and almost a hundred people waiting ahead of me.

[jeroenhd]

The funny thing is that I found a DRM-free copy of the book you mentioned on the internet in less than a minute. PDF or ePub, your pick; probably converted from the same source.

Whatever these publishers are trying to do, they're only hurting their honest customers. It's trivial to find popular eBooks online regardless of library licenses and DRM usage yet honest people's lives are made so incredibly difficult for no good reason.

[candiddevmike]

Hundred people waiting for a 5-10MB file to become "available".

You'll eventually get it, and you might even like it so much that you purchase the physical copy, but that purchase won't happen for months because of some artificial constraint like this.

[tintor]

Well, if they can't wait, they could buy it earlier.