Is Book Sharing Really a Threat to Publishing?
By Kirk Biglione | MediaLoper
Last week bookseller Barnes and Noble unveiled the nook, its long-awaited eReading device. Although ill-named, the nook is a worthy competitor to the kindle, offering a number of features not found on the Amazon device, including LendMe, a feature that allows for controlled sharing of ebooks. While the sharing feature comes with a number of limitations, it would appear to be a small but important step towards making DRM-restricted content slightly more flexible for consumers. There’s just one problem — publishers want no part of the nook’s LendMe feature.
Publishers Lunch reported last week (registration required) that many large publishing houses have indicated that they won’t participate in the LendMe program.
To be clear, the LendMe feature is extremely limited. Books are lent for a maximum of 14 days. And unlike the library, there are no extensions. When a book is lent, the lender loses access, and once the book is returned to the lender it can never be lent again.
So, why are publishers opposed to the nook’s crippled ebook sharing scheme? As one Unnamed Publishing Executive told Publishers Lunch…….(read more)
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