Well, if you get your gaming stuff through a site with a profile, they give you access to your books online. You could go anywhere, sign in and download them. I agree with you about the feel and use of books; if I am to actually play a game at a table I need a hard-copy book of my own.
That said, I'm not going to buy a single hard-copy Shadowrun book until I know for sure things have been fixed. I don't trust the situation at this point.