LEND ME on NOOK - False Advertising

[Vanilla_Rooibos]

What I have a hard time understanding is if I own a printed copy of a book I can simply lend it to a friend or whoever without consequence.  I don't believe it is illegal, but if someone knows otherwise I would love to know.  B&N lendme policy on not being able to read it while you're lending it makes complete sense. They should have no control over how many times a book can be lent, or even what books can be lent. Once I purchase the book, it's my property and I have the right to give the book to whoever I please. I understand copyright laws may have a different view, but couldn't I just give it to a friend as a present. That should be allowed.  The could then regift the book back to me, or to someone else.  I'm not making a profit or anything.  The public library systems lend books to hundreds of thousands if not millions of people a multitude of times!  I know that I'm not a public library, but still.  Lending books among friends should not be limited. 

[Doug_Pardee Distinguished Bibliophile]

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Vanilla_Rooibos wrote:

I understand copyright laws may have a different view, but couldn't I just give it to a friend as a present.

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The copyright laws control who has the right to make a copy (hence the name, copyright). You can't make a copy of a book and give it to your friend; you can only give them the copy that the publisher created. With e-books, you can't give your friend an e-book you bought except by making a copy of it.

You can, however, lend your NOOK to your friend with the e-book on it. In that case, you aren't making a copy.

[bklvr896]

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Vanilla_Rooibos wrote:

What I have a hard time understanding is if I own a printed copy of a book I can simply lend it to a friend or whoever without consequence.  I don't believe it is illegal, but if someone knows otherwise I would love to know.  B&N lendme policy on not being able to read it while you're lending it makes complete sense. They should have no control over how many times a book can be lent, or even what books can be lent. Once I purchase the book, it's my property and I have the right to give the book to whoever I please. I understand copyright laws may have a different view, but couldn't I just give it to a friend as a present. That should be allowed.  The could then regift the book back to me, or to someone else.  I'm not making a profit or anything.  The public library systems lend books to hundreds of thousands if not millions of people a multitude of times!  I know that I'm not a public library, but still.  Lending books among friends should not be limited. 

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The first thing you should be aware of is that it is not B&N lending policy, it is the publishers' lending policy, B&N has no say over it, except for pubit books.  

And, while I agree with you, I should be able to lend my books to anyone I want, here are a few of the "problems" with lending eBooks.  

A printed book has a limited life, in that, at some point, that book is going to become unusable, it's going to fall apart.  Not so with an eBook, it could be lend thousands of times without an issue.

Your statement  Lending books among friends should not be limited, says it all.  If people stuck to lending only to friends, it might not be such an issue.  But with an eBook, it is possible to lend it to total strangers because all you have to do is email the file.  There are a number of sites that have popped up, where you can sign up to lend your book to anyone else who has signed up.  You wouldn't lend a printed book to a total stranger on the other side of the country, but, with these lending sites, you can.  If they allowed unlimited lending, then I could purchase a book, put in on that site, and hundreds of people could "borrow" it.  Since there seems to be no way to make sure you are lending it to friends as opposed to strangers who happen to be signed up on the same lending site, the publishers answer is to limit the number of times you can lend.  I think 1 is unreasonable, maybe 3-5 times would be more reasonable, but I can't see them ever allowing unlimited lending.

You don't actually purchase the eBook, you purchase a license to read it.

[kamas716]

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bklvr896 wrote:

The first thing you should be aware of is that it is not B&N lending policy, it is the publishers' lending policy, B&N has no say over it, except for pubit books.  

You don't actually purchase the eBook, you purchase a license to read it.

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I think you hit the nail on the head.  But, I just wanted to point out these two points, as I think they are the major problems with the LendMe program, and eBooks in general.

[MacMcK1957]

One way I've gotten around the lending problem is that when I got my NST I kept my old N1E.  Always happy to lend it to anyone and they have access to my whole library.

[AlanNJ Inspired Bibliophile]

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MacMcK1957 wrote:

One way I've gotten around the lending problem is that when I got my NST I kept my old N1E.  Always happy to lend it to anyone and they have access to my whole library.

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More power to you.  Personally I would never lend any of my devices to someone else (unless they lived in the same house as me).   Unless I'm mistaken once they have that device they could place orders on my account.

[MacMcK1957]

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AlanNJ wrote:

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MacMcK1957 wrote:

One way I've gotten around the lending problem is that when I got my NST I kept my old N1E.  Always happy to lend it to anyone and they have access to my whole library.

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More power to you.  Personally I would never lend any of my devices to someone else (unless they lived in the same house as me).   Unless I'm mistaken once they have that device they could place orders on my account.

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I did lock that down so my password is required for ordering.

[nancy59]

I totally agree with you.  I never paid much attention to the Lend Me option and just lent someone a book.  I didn't realize I could only do that once.  This is so stupid, if I had the paperback I could let an unlimited number of people read that book, how is this different.  If I buy it I should should be able to do whatever I want with it.  I love my Nook but this is ridiculous. One way for B & N to boost book sales.  Also, do you know how they decide which books I can lend?  I just bought one and was going to lend it to somebody and its not an option.  Again, I don't like B & N deciding what I can and can't do.

[keriflur]

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nancy59 wrote:

I totally agree with you.  I never paid much attention to the Lend Me option and just lent someone a book.  I didn't realize I could only do that once.  This is so stupid, if I had the paperback I could let an unlimited number of people read that book, how is this different.  If I buy it I should should be able to do whatever I want with it.  I love my Nook but this is ridiculous. One way for B & N to boost book sales.  Also, do you know how they decide which books I can lend?  I just bought one and was going to lend it to somebody and its not an option.  Again, I don't like B & N deciding what I can and can't do.

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It's um, not B&N that makes these decisions.  Read the whole thread, the answers to your questions are in there.

[Sun_Cat]

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nancy59 wrote:
If I buy it I should should be able to do whatever I want with it.  I love my Nook but this is ridiculous. One way for B & N to boost book sales.  Also, do you know how they decide which books I can lend?  I just bought one and was going to lend it to somebody and its not an option.  Again, I don't like B & N deciding what I can and can't do.

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Please read the earlier part of this thread to correct some misconceptions you have about what's actually going on with the Lend Me feature. For example:

1. B&N doesn't decide anything regarding lending. The book publishers make the decisions.
2. You can't buy an ebook from B&N or anyone else. You can only buy a license to use the ebook in ways that the publishers dictate.

If you want to see this situation change, write to the big publishers. It won't do any good to complain to B&N or about B&N because it's out of their hands.

[cntryguy]

I like the lendme, I have never used it but it is nice to have to share books with others. I understand why they allow only 1, if you can send to more than one then they lose money. Nook beats the kindle by far so as long as they don't pull what kindle did with their programming I will stay true to nook.

[keriflur]

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cntryguy wrote:

I like the lendme, I have never used it but it is nice to have to share books with others. I understand why they allow only 1, if you can send to more than one then they lose money. Nook beats the kindle by far so as long as they don't pull what kindle did with their programming I will stay true to nook.

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What did kindle pull with their programming?  Just curious, I don't own a kindle so I'm not in the loop on what they're doing over there.

[lawfos]

Barnes & Noble "with the NOOK" is a big rip-off with regards to the "lend me" policy.  If I purchase a Book on the Nook it is my book and I should be able to lend that to my spouse if I wish to or anyone for that matter.  From my perspective, if I purchase a Book at any store in the country I can lend it to anyone I wish.  I should be able to do that with the Nook purchase as well.  Barnes & Noble are currently cheating everyone.  I was told by an employee prior to purchasing the Nook that I could "Lend" any book I purchased.  Obviously that employee lied to me or was misinformed.

In addition to the lend me policy being a rip-off there is also an issue with the battery life on the Nook Tablet.  IT actually SUCKS.  I purchased two Nook Tablets - one for me and one for my wife. If I knew then what I know now, I would never made this purchase. 

I am currently in the process of starting my own Blog and make it known to all that I can what a rip-off the Nook is and that Barnes & Noble is as well.

[bklvr896]

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lawfos wrote:

Barnes & Noble "with the NOOK" is a big rip-off with regards to the "lend me" policy.  If I purchase a Book on the Nook it is my book and I should be able to lend that to my spouse if I wish to or anyone for that matter.  From my perspective, if I purchase a Book at any store in the country I can lend it to anyone I wish.  I should be able to do that with the Nook purchase as well.  Barnes & Noble are currently cheating everyone.  I was told by an employee prior to purchasing the Nook that I could "Lend" any book I purchased.  Obviously that employee lied to me or was misinformed.

In addition to the lend me policy being a rip-off there is also an issue with the battery life on the Nook Tablet.  IT actually SUCKS.  I purchased two Nook Tablets - one for me and one for my wife. If I knew then what I know now, I would never made this purchase. 

I am currently in the process of starting my own Blog and make it known to all that I can what a rip-off the Nook is and that Barnes & Noble is as well.

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It's a publisher restriction, not a BN restriction.  The same restriction applies to lend me books from anywhere, including those on the Kindle.  So if you're going to complain in a blog about the restriction, make sure you have your facts correct.  Don't blame the retailer (BN) for what the publisher is doing.  You'd have exactly the same issue regardless of what device(s) your purchased.

And you can share the books between you and your wife without using the lendme feature.  Just follow the instructions in this post.  

[deesy58]

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lawfos wrote:

Barnes & Noble "with the NOOK" is a big rip-off with regards to the "lend me" policy.  If I purchase a Book on the Nook it is my book and I should be able to lend that to my spouse if I wish to or anyone for that matter.  From my perspective, if I purchase a Book at any store in the country I can lend it to anyone I wish.  I should be able to do that with the Nook purchase as well.  Barnes & Noble are currently cheating everyone.  I was told by an employee prior to purchasing the Nook that I could "Lend" any book I purchased.  Obviously that employee lied to me or was misinformed.

In addition to the lend me policy being a rip-off there is also an issue with the battery life on the Nook Tablet.  IT actually SUCKS.  I purchased two Nook Tablets - one for me and one for my wife. If I knew then what I know now, I would never made this purchase. 

I am currently in the process of starting my own Blog and make it known to all that I can what a rip-off the Nook is and that Barnes & Noble is as well.

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Time to read the fine print.  You do not "own" the e-book just as you don't "own" Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, Mac OS X, your favorite PC game, or almost any other software, unless you write it yourself.  What you purchased is a "Limited Use License."  You are not free to share it or reproduce it unless specifically authorized by the publisher. 

Get used to it.  It has been this way for a very long time and isn't likely to change soon. 

[keriflur]

Barnes and Noble is cheating everyone.  I bought my nook so that it could clean my house and make me dinner.  It refuses to do either of those things.  I want my money back.

Barnes and Noble needs to explicitly say that nook doesn't cook and clean, and none of the marketing materials make that clear.  What a scam.

I'm going to buy a kindle.

[Bears_Chick]

I LOVE my NOOK as well; however, one of the main reasons I purchased a NOOK over a Kindle was because two of my girlfriends had NOOKs and said "we can lend books to each other!" So cool! I went with the NOOK. Then another one of our gfs went out and also bought a NOOK also, for the same reason. Just today we realized that you can only lend a book one time. I understand putting limitations on lending, but ONE TIME?! Seriously?! I can lend a physical book to as many friends as I want, but an eBook, which I paid the SAME PRICE for... I can only lend to ONE friend. So now it's going to be a rush... who can get the Lend Me the quickest! I'm very disappointed!

To the powers that be, you need to change this! Keep a limit on it if you want, but allow us to lend four-five times. Be realistic!

[Sun_Cat]

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Bears_Chick wrote:

To the powers that be, you need to change this! Keep a limit on it if you want, but allow us to lend four-five times. Be realistic!

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Please read this entire thread for a real understanding of this issue. The powers that be who can change this aren't here or at B&N. They are publishing house executives.

[Bears_Chick]

Sun Cat, I realize it's not BN. I read the thread... Hence "Powers That Be" and not Dear, BN.

Do you think publishing agencies don't read threads on the BN website that are talking about the rules they make?

[keriflur]

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Bears_Chick wrote:

Sun Cat, I realize it's not BN. I read the thread... Hence "Powers That Be" and not Dear, BN.

Do you think publishing agencies don't read threads on the BN website that are talking about the rules they make?

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I don't think they read them, no.