You know, I started this thread, simply to see if there was a way to lend a book to a friend using the facilities provided by the book owners / sellers. From a layman/dumb user perspective, it's just something you'd expect to be able to do, at least, after they sort the software out. I didn't imagine the ensuing discussion.
Still it is interesting, and if nothing else, illustrates the mess the industry has gotten itself into.