You can also download movies and music for free but somehow people are willing to pay for services like Spotify and Netflix. Downloading illegally distributed books is illegal in most regions and it doesn't support the authors. Personally I don't find reading ebooks difficult. Nothing is easier than buying one on the Kindle store and reading it without having to lug books around.

Did I download illegally distributed copies of media when I was a student? Sure. Am I doing it now that I'm an employed adult? Never.