A startup would have to battle the legal system the publishers have helped create / abuse. Anyone know what, if anything, might stand in the way of such a setup?
The startup scans your books.You pay a monthly fee for storage of your books at their facility, which is a free-to-use library. You remain the owner of the book and take the scans with you.
There are probably some (many) issues here, such as first sale rights, but it's not crazy.Adding additional businesses could help (coffee-library-book scanning) offset the expense but it's probably easier to try and change the law - someone would be angry enough to make your life miserable.