“We reject the view that copyright owners and their licensees are required to provide consumers with perpetual access to creative works.” — Steven Metalitz, legal representative of the American motion picture and record industry associations, in a letter to the Copyright Office.

Required? Of course not. But both Apple and Amazon prefer DRM-free content in their music stores as consumers learned repeatedly that any music they bought could stop playing just because the company they bought it from lost interest in the market. That same lesson is now being relearned by early adopters of electronic books.

Required? No. But if you don't sell products people want to purchase at a price they’re willing to pay, you’re going out of business,. Unmourned.