*shrug* I don't have space for a bookshelf either. Most of my book collection -- except for what I'm reading -- is packed tightly into boxes in the same closet as my clothing and a variety of other personal items. It means I have to dig more when I want to find something, but on the bright side, when I move -- which has been happening way too often since the recession caught up with me -- my library is already packed and ready to go. Besides, tight-packed boxes full of books are sturdy enough to sit on, which is nice when you didn't bother to pack any chairs.
I've whittled it down some. I mean, there are books I really adore and want to keep as part of my permanent collection -- stuff by Jim Butcher, Charles Sheffield, Tolkien, David Gemmel, Brian Jacques, and other favorites -- and then there's the ones that, while hopefully they amused me enough to be worth reading, aren't really worth reading a second time. The latter can be sold, simultaneously reducing the number of boxes needed and providing more money to spend on groceries.
E-book DRM horror story:
http://www.teleread.com/drm/how-ereaders-drm-punished-me-for-buying-my-books-legally/More e-book DRM madness:
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2007/04/killed_by_drm_e/The latter mentions that e-book DRM is often tied to a particular device. Now, given that, about half a year ago, some violently insane meth addicts, who broke into my home when I was too ill to stop them (in part because, unbeknownst to me, a nearby meth lab had been poisoning the neighborhood for some time), stole my former laptop, other electronics, and other valuables, I'm not okay with that idea. They left my book collection alone. If I'd had e-books, rather than paperbacks and hardcovers, my loss would've been greater.
Baen's response to the issue:
http://www.baen.com/library/The problem with the e-books is that whether or not they are actually yours is a matter of debate. On the one hand, if you fulfilled the legal conditions of buying rather than renting, then yes, it is yours, legally. On the other hand, there's often a click-wrap license forcing you to agree that you are leasing, rather than owning, before you read the book. If you took it to court with a good lawyer, there's a fairly good chance you could prove that the click-wrap license was, in fact, illegal, but most of us can't afford good lawyers. (Note: Not professional legal advice, but again, see "right of first sale".)
It's an important distinction. An owner has a right to re-sell a book, loan it to friends, etc. A leasee does not.
Even if you don't like to re-sell books, there are a lot of stories about how DRM protected e-books caused the customer all kinds of trouble when their devices failed or were lost or stolen, or their credit card numbers changed, or they were asked to update software, etc. Paper books, on the other hand, are pretty solid, and won't be affect by credit card number changes or software updates, and while they can technically be lost or stolen, most thieves don't consider them high-value items. I've even had books that survived getting submerged in water. Admittedly, the pages were all wavy afterward, but that's more than a lot of electronics could say.
If I can't get my hands and a physical copy of the book to look at, and the author doesn't manage to hook me in whatever sample chapters they put online, then yes, I suppose I could ask around to see if the book gets better, but realistically, I'll probably just forget about him or her. I could read online reviews, but given that a lot of reviewers don't have the same taste as me, I'd rather read for myself. I could ask friends, but most of my friends aren't exactly voracious readers, and those that are often have different tastes. It's not really my responsibility to make up for bad marketing decisions on the part of the publisher by jumping through all those hoops.
Libraries are great things. I very much doubt if many authors feel they are being robbed when people go there to read books for free. How many people have, when they were young and poor, obtained most or all of their reading material from libraries, charities, loans from friends, etc., only to go back and buy their favorites -- including ones they had already read for free -- after making their way up the economic ladder? And how many people who now have money to spend on books still go to the library to discover new authors before committing dollars to them?
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