[noobdood]

Okay, maybe it is to lessen the load on the server from any one user during any given period. Makes sense if so. I'm assuming here that one reads online, rather than, say, downloading a PDF or other file of each book.

[joshvm]

I think it's more likely to satisfy copyright law otherwise you'd just be downloading books for free. You can use Adobe Digital Editions which handles the DRM, so you can read offline as well. Online works too. I've not used it much, I think some books have limited copies available to borrow as well so you may need to join a waitlist.

[noobdood]

Thanks.

[ryukafalz]

No, it’s a DRM restriction - you can download a DRM-locked copy that disables itself after a set time, and while you have it checked out nobody else can read that “copy.” Nothing to do with server load.

[noobdood]

Thanks.