I can transfer disk images on the cheap with ADTPro.
I'm pretty hardcore about the nostalgia thing (including that unique 5.25" drive startup sound), so I'll just keep making backups. Floppies are hard to find in the wild for sure, but I figure there are plenty on eBay. I did score a large lot of 3.5" double-density floppies locally for free fairly recently; many contain Atari programs.