Well, it looks like they are doing a good job at creating friction. It is just that it may not be the type of friction that they wanted (i.e. they are alienating readers).

Then again, I'm of the opinion that technology should benefit everyone more-or-less equally. The publishers are doing a bit of a power grab by killing the resale market. While I understand why this is necessary (resale in the digital world easily becomes piracy), that doesn't mean that I have to like it. Now they want to add artifical limits like friction? Friction with printed books wasn't terribly different between libraries and stores. Stores had a slight advantage because they had more copies, but not much else.

Maybe the solution is for publishers to become libraries themselves, while having public libraries lending ebooks as well. The big difference is that libraries could only lend out copies they buy, while publishers would have an unlimited supply. The big advantage of the publishers library is that you would never be on a waiting list (you simply pay X dollars per year to borrow N books at a time). The big advantage for libraries is that they could operate much as they always have.