Flash Memory with Copy Protection

More and more on the varied uses os flashdrives. Read another bit on this at Engadget - SanDisk TrustedFlash rolls out with built-in copy protection. Now now -- bear in mind that the specifics of this are geared towards appeasing the entertainment industry and has little or nothing to do with us -- or does it? How easy might it be for software companies to start packaging their goods on flashdrives that time-out or provide a set number of installations? How many of us have pulled a previous version of a software item off the shelf to loan to a student or load on a machine temporairly? Just something to think about...

Perhaps there is a place for our needs -- from the article:

The chip design company is introducing TrustedFlash, a memory chip with built-in security that prevents illegal copying. That could help calm the tension between the entertainment industry that wants strict controls on intellectual property and technology companies that want digital content to be freely transferable to cell phones, music players, computers and other gadgets.

How could this help publishers see the light necessary to provide textbooks in alt-formats? What if they could ship us the books en-flash that time out at the end of a semester? Provided of course they can figure out all of the accessibility issues and provide our students with a finished product...ahhhh progress.