Self-Destructing Ebooks

On August 7th, RosettaBooks announced the first "timed" ebook. The ebook, Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, is available in the Adobe format from RosettaBook's website at a cost of $1. The catch is that the ebook can only be read for an accumulated 10 hours, at which time the ebook "self destructs" and the the content is no longer available. The "timed" licensing technology, created by digital rights management provider, Reciprocal, Inc., has been used in the music industry, but this is the first time that it has been applied to ebooks.

Adobe has built a similar timed feature into its Adobe Content Server, which is a combination of former Glassbook's Library and Content Servers. This feature allows the owner of an ebook to lend the ebook to another user for a set period of time. During the lending period, the ebook cannot be opened by the original owner of the ebook, and when the lending period expires, the lent copy "self destructs" and the ability to the read the ebook reverts back to the original owner.

Both Reciprocal's and Adobe's product suggest that the ability for libraries to lend ebooks to patrons might not be too far off in the future. However, self-destructing books may not go over well with all of our library patrons. How would university faculty, who, as a whole, general ignore the due date on library books, react when a text with which they are working suddenly self destructs? Moreover, is 10 hours really enough time for a disabled person or someone with low reading comprehension to complete a 275-page book?

Unfortunately, it is the publishers, not the ebook consumers, that determine if an ebook can be lent and how. For libraries, this would mean a complicated breakdown of ebooks into different lending categories-- can be lent indefinite number of times; only 2 lendings left; cannot be lent; etc. What a nightmare this could be!