Quote:
Originally Posted by scveteran
They are not being dishonest. They tell you that a feature of the system is that you can lend your books. I really think it is silly to not realize that there will be limits on that.
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Do they sell their pbooks with the ability to lend them once, for a maximum of 14 days? Why would anyone assume that ebook lending comes with that kind of limit?
The other limits built into it seem reasonable--receiver must have an email address and a BN-software-compatible device. Nobody's complaining about those aspects. They're complaining about the limitations on lending because, well, "to lend" doesn't mean "to hand to one other person for a maximum of two weeks." Advertising "it will allow lending" implies neither "once per book" nor "two weeks per book."
I like the idea of "we've figured out how to lock you away from your purchase, and hand it to someone else with different DRM arrangements." Yay. Ebooks NEED that.
And, in order for ebook purchasers to have their full legal rights, they need unlimited access to it. Lend or re-sell at will, just like pbooks. (Does this mean "less income to publishers?" Yes... and so do used bookstore purchases.) They have no legal right to insist that ebooks are non-transferable property.