I doubt most Kindle users even know there's DRM there. It's not like iTunes DRM where you lost your music if you lost your iPod or computer. With Kindle you can read the same book on the Kindle, iPhone, iPad, Android, PC or Mac, and recover the book from Amazon if you lose all of them. There is some sharing scheme in place in the US I believe but it's already being abused by sites trying to allow people to share with complete strangers to avoid buying books. The lengths people will go to...Judging by current ebook sales I don't think many people share your perception of value either. They're hardly high ticket items. And a book is a book, an ebook an ebook. If you want something to pass around to friends, give away, sell on eBay... buy a book. If you want something quickly delivered and convenient get the ebook instead. Expecting one to perform all the functions of the other is a bit like expecting a CD to play in a tape drive. As to the brief period a book attracts a hardback price before being cut to the paperback one... that's been custom and practice for decades. Some people like hardback books, libraries mostly insist on them. Readers pay a premium, not much of a one these days, for getting the book the moment it appears and in a more durable format that collectors like. If they don't want to pay that, then just wait six months or so. As I said here, ebooks are generally slightly cheaper in price than their print equivalent. Seems very fair to me.