[fugazied]

I agree entirely, at a bare minimum I want the same benefits I would receive when purchasing a paperbook when I purchase an ebook.

Some computer game companies have similar kinds of rights management. For example 'Steam' software allows you to log into their server and play a game you own from anywhere. The limitation is that you cannot have 2 instances of the game running at the same time, so you can't share your username/password so 2 people get to play the game simultaneously.

Now the problem with that kind of DRM arrangement is that it requires constant communication with a central database via the internet. That means that if you cannot connect to the internet to authenticate you cannot use the book. The internet is 'pretty much' everywhere nowadays, but not everywhere.

Therefore her is the system I propse: you 'checkout' your books for your devices, and check them back in via the internet. The book remains on your reader (if you so desire) but only 1 instance of the book can be checked out (active) at a time. If you have internet at your house you can easily check the book in, and ring up your grandmother and she can check it out and you have lent it to her. She can then go somewhere without internet and still use the book.

Ideally the book will work on numerous devices, so any ebook or computer device can check out/check in the book. So I can download some software and checkout a book on my laptop. You could make it default to checking the book in when you close it. Really the other kinds of complex DRM are just a pain, this method gives us the same paper book rights and should keep publishers happy.

Edit: Of course the ugly part of this scenario is when a publisher running the authentication system goes out of business what happens to our checked in books?