Comment Like a Public Library (Score 1) 192
How is renting a book for a month any different than borrowing that same book from the library for a month (as far as the publisher is concerned)?
As long as Amazon has bought enough "copies" of the book to cover everyone who is reading that book at any given time, then the publisher has already made their money.
It's possible that amazon IS screwing over the publishers, by either paying too low of a price per copy or by not paying for all the copies in circulation, but that has nothing to do with the legitimacy of the rental service itself.