[tallyhoe]

After you buy download them (a book) to your Kindle can’t you load on to a thumb drive or your computer?

[Jonty30]

I rented a movie recently, off the web, and a 48 hour countdown started when I started the movie. After 48 hours, it disappeared.

I don’t know what the time limit for books would be, but it wouldn’t be any different. The moment you flip the front cover, the clock starts and the end of the term, the book disappears.

[Tanniker Smith]

With a kindle, no. Your books are on the "cloud", so you have a backup of purchases.

There is no countdown feature as of yet. Were that to happen, it would be like renting from a library, not paying full price for something which will go away.