Quote:
Originally Posted by luqmaninbmore
Doesn't the inability to read the book after it has been lent out imply that there has to be some type of tethering for the PC/Mobile software, too? What's to keep me from reading an EReader book on my disconnected treo or PC after I have lent it?
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Maybe-and maybe not. Right now there's a question, at least in my mind, how far the 'inability to read the book' extends, and that will be determined by how they implement the technology.
As one example, if I lend out a free book (not only non-DRM, but maybe one downloaded from Gutenberg) should I be locked out of reading it? Technically, maybe so, but if I download a second copy then I should be able to read that. (Which means, for practical purposes, if it's a free book why lock it? Maybe just to simplify things from the 'tracking' end. Treat each copy as a separate book even if they carry the same metadata.)
Anyway, implementing the feature at all seems a friendly thing for B&N to do so it doesn't make a lot of sense for them to put severe restrictions on it. My biggest fear isn't that B&N has locked it down to the point where I can't read any copy of a book that I've loaned out, but that they've given publishers to option to 'lock out' the lending capability, much as other systems allow for printing.