Harbinger of Books

My issues with DRM books really hit home over the summer when I was listening to NPR and the reporter is talking about cleaning out his aunt's house after her death and the vast amounts of book. He began to think about what will happen today with the rise in e-books ...will someone leave their Kindle with all their books in the will and does that feel the same??

I strolled into B&N today in between meetings and I really noticed how dead it was. All summer we have heard things like the nook is going out of business or no they will hang on. As I strolled through the empty store today all I could think about was what will happen when my original nook dies?? So far so good she is still kicking and I loved the whole expandable drive so I spent a lot of money over the years at B&N. Now I wonder if B&N is to close or nook goes away will another ereader like Kobo be able to read my stuff?? Will it sit on my computer..can I (dare I say it) where I will be forced to strip the DRM for my own reading pleasure?? 

This feels like the worlds oldest conversation that just does not seem to change yet and still I felt the need to see if I could find any answers. After a quick search sadly I realized nothing has changed and so I find myself annoyed at DRM. I mean if I buy the book why can't I put it on different devices?? I get it in theory I don't actually buy a book I buy a license permitting me to read a book under certain circumstances. Yet oddly enough this feels like a purchase I should have ownership over. Then I think silly me when I buy my magazines from kindle I can read them on my kindle fire but not using the kindle app on my tablet. How fair is that I am restricted within the same company? So why then would I think ebook providers/publishers would be willing to share?? Clearly I am a lot foolish because I know this yet I still subscribe to amazon for all of my newspapers and magazines because it is super convenient and I pretend like what I buy is my own as opposed to a special license.

Back to the original issue at hand what will happen if B&N closes shop? Will my license be transfer to another company where I am force to purchase a new device so I can read my books that I have already purchased..er borrowed?? Or will they release the DRM so I can actually own my e-books and load them on a device of my choice?? It also hit me that if I was to close my amazon account (oooo shudder) that would mean I loose all of the access to my materials - books, magazines, old news papers, music that I have not downloaded - heck would my kindle even work??

Somehow I get the feeling we the e-book buyers are the ones who will be royally screwed.