The iPad and textbook piracy

CourseSmart has been all over the tech blogs today, with its new iPad app and claims that its catalog contains 90% of “core textbooks.” I definitely understand the appeal of storing and using textbooks on a tablet device: no books to carry around or forget at home. Everything’s there on one device, complete with bookmarks and annotations.

But here’s what I’m really wondering: aside from legit textbook sources like CourseSmart, how will the new breed of tablet computers affect ebook piracy? There’s certainly no shortage of textbooks on Bittorrent sites, Usenet indexes, and Gigapedia.