Overdrive audiobooks and iPad

So far my experience with my iPad as a reader has been awesome, I've
been using iBooks, the Kindle app and Stanza to read and so far all
are very usable for me and my terrible eyesight. I have purchased
three books so far and picked up a few free books like The Iiliad, but
we're a library family (you can tell the homeschoolers by the 100lb
stack on the hold shelf) and our library(insert link) has a modest
digital collection through Overdrive.

So here's the problem, my wife and younger two kids are reading The
Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings and I wanted to jump in since I last read
the series when the movies were coming out in the theaters. I was
pleased to find that both The Hobbit and a complete collection of The
Lord of the Rings were both available on our digital library site in
Adobe ePub format. A few minutes of web search revealed that although
iBooks uses the ePub format natively, it uses an Apple DRM scheme and
you can only import non-DRM file into it through iTunes. Bummer. A
little more reading indicated that Overdrive is popular with libraries
and that I'm not alone in this issue; and I have to wonder that this
isn't another minor front in the Apple vs. Adobe war, and thus another
reason Steve Jobs is irritating.

So my choices are to strip DRM off the files with a hack, which is
unethical and likely illegal, or just buy the books through Amazon or
the iTunes Store. Being a law-abiding citizen, where speed limits
aren't involved, I'll probably just buy it when I finish my current
book, Lt. Leary Commanding. One more reason to support Jim Baen's
Baen Books and the excellent free library of science fiction he has
made available. I like having choice and I know interoperability
isn't a hallmark of Apple products, but I'm disappointed nonetheless.