At BEA today, a researcher analyzed results from a pioneering study about book piracy on the Internet. Since fall 2008, Brian O'Leary, a principal at Magellan Media, has monitored pirated copies of O'Reilly Media titles.

Out of approximately 65 O'Reilly Media front-list titles from 2008, 21 titles have been pirated on peer-to-peer filing sharing sites. The most pirated title was "iPod: The Missing Manual." "Impact of P2P and Free Distribution on Book Sales" is now available for purchase.

Even more interestingly, none of the O'Reilly "Head First" series were pirated on these sites. O'Leary quoted managing editor Mac Slocum's explanation: "The non-linear format makes them tough to reproduce in a digital form--they're full of illustrations, thought bubbles, photos, quizzes, etc."