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Originally Posted by wizwor
I believe lending amongst friends is generally unauthorized.
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Sorry, but that is an incredibly selfish world that I do not want to take part in. According to that logic, I would be unable to enjoy a movie with a friend in my own home and other such shared experiences. Thankfully though, the law is on my side.
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I think the solution is obvious: an ebook can only be borrowed by one person at a time. Just like a physical book.
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My library lends ebooks much like they lend pbooks: they buy a certain number of copies. Once all of the copies are signed out, you can request a hold. The only real difference is that books are "returned" automatically at the end of the borrowing period (or sooner, if the patron chooses).
The irony of this situation is that it is probably counter-productive to publishers and authors. They would probably earn far more money if they arranged to lend out an unlimited number of copies with nominal PLR. My library system has ebooks with dozens of holds on them, and the number of holds probably underestimates the demand because there comes a point when you have to say, "well, I'm not going to get it until next year so I'm not even going to bother." Borrowers aren't necessarily going to buy the book inspite of that because the most popular titles are expensive. Libraries aren't necessarily going to buy extra copies because the most popular titles tend to have a limited shelf-life.