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Originally Posted by Gwen Morse
I don't think anyone mentioned this already (if they did I missed it), but, I don't think *Amazon* set the terms of the lending. I think B&N did and no publisher (or few) will agree to different terms.
I'm sure smaller/self-publishers would be willing to agree to more generous terms, but then it causes confusion if there are different lending policies for different books.
On the plus side, with both B&N and Amazon allowing lending, that gives them some slight strength to push back against publishers and negotiate for more generous lending terms in the future.
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I do think that is a good point. The one thing as readers we should want is for things to be somewhat consistent across online stores and distributors.
The one thing that would be bad is if terms did vary and publishers didn't like it, then a publisher might only choose to sell through a specific source. I already hate the fact that in other industries, including some books, that a manufacturer (to keep it more general) will often go exclusively through specific stores or web sites.
The beauty of capitalism is competition for the consumer, but that goes away if we only have one store front to choose from on certain items or titles.