As if ebooks weren't ephemeral enough, today Amazon launched a lending library for Kindle owners, offering just over 5,000 titles—though none, the Wall Street Journal notes, from the 6 largest book publishers, who have indicated concern that "a digital-lending program of the sort contemplated by Amazon would harm future sales of their older titles or damage ties to other book retailers." Readers can borrow one book at a time from the library, one per month, and there are no due dates. (The term "library" is a bit of a misnomer, as books can only be borrowed by Amazon Prime members—membership runs $79 per year—and there's no place for homeless people to use the bathroom.)

The Wall Street Journal has all the details, and Forbes has a consideration of whether this will help or hurt novelists and publishers.