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remember when thinking about this that there must be incentive for the publish, the retailer and the author (see publisher for the self-published) to look at this sort of option.
I don't believe ebooks have achieved the critical mass needed to move to a rental sort of deal. And remember most people will read a book once maybe twice in their entire life. I am not that way but from the other thread it's pretty clear most never will. So given that case there is no real reason to move to a rental based model because there just does not seem to be a business reason to do so.
Once everyone has a reading device then there may be a valid reason. I am looking at MP3 players as a model. It was not until everyone on the planet had or had access to MP3 players with huge storage capacities that prices dropped on the content. I have to believe the same will happen with books. It won't be until everyone is reading again that this sort of move will make sense if done by itself. As part of a collection of services, say Amazon, books might just be a throw-in.
Remember Amazon makes a ton off their book sales and even they will need to show increased profit from the sale of ebooks. Rentals will likely decrease the revenue and bottom line. It's hard to say is decreasing the price of books will actually get more people to read more often. MP3's at a buck a song seemed to be the tipping point but everyone had to have that MP3 player to make it work. Even if everyone owns a reader it won't necessarily mean they will want to read or to read more than the already do. Of course the magpie sorts will gobble up all they can because that is who they are and can't help it.
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