The Limits of Lending
Just when I was getting a little bit excited about the Barnes and Noble Nook – in particular it’s ability to allow the lending of e-books to friends, engadget suggests that the limits of lending are pretty draconian:
Unfortunately, the “world’s most advanced e-book reader” limits the LendMe feature to one 14-day period per book, ever, and that’s only if the publisher gives permission. You also can’t read the title yourself during the loaner period.
I can live with not being about the read the book whilst its ‘out’ (after all, a p-book can’t be in two places at the same time), the idea that you can only ever lend a book once is a real downer. I’ve said over and over that it’s the cultural change towards e-books that’s way more difficult than the technical stuff. Getting people to change the habits of a lifetime is no easy thing to do. The one-off lending limitation doesn’t help at all.
PS: This post made possible by the fact that HK Airport has free wifi, in case anyone’s passing through 
