[JoeD]

It depends.

I'm not against the idea of lending to friends or even random people, however I'd like it to be more like the physical world where you lose access to your copy until the person either gives you it back or the loan expires.

For small groups, I'd see no real issue with that. Saying that I don't see an issue with people clubbing together to buy something and then taking turns to read/watch it either.

The problems start when the groups grow.

As for sharing multiple copies with a group. Again, not really sure. For a small book club of say 5 members, an author might be ok with it as long as those who received the copy do not retain it after they've done the review for that week/month.

Both are likely just as illegal at the moment, however for small book groups (not sure where the line would be on "small" though, 5-10 certainly, 100, probably not) I have a hard time seeing it as morally wrong. As long as it's one copy passed around and it's done inline with the way we'd pass a book physically.

I don't think there's an easy answer.