While Eric's still in the South Pacific, we'll point out that his latest column in the just-relased first issue of Jim Baen's Universe second year is about the relationship between drm-free ebooks and the opacity of the book market. 

It starts: 

In my last essay, I approached the question of so-called online piracy from what I called a "negative" standpoint—by which I meant that I was content with knocking down the arguments advanced in favor of DRM. In this essay, I want to turn the problem around and approach it from a positive standpoint, by examining the many ways in which a non-DRM approach to electronic publishing can help the situation of authors and publishers."

 Read the rest of it (and the new issue of Universe) here.  http://baens-universe.com/articles/salvos7

 (The article is free, the rest of the magazine requires subscription to read more than the first half.  You know the principle,  "Hey Kid!  Come'ere!  Try this! The first-half's free!) 

–Loyal Minions