The idea is that a physical book has a lifetime before it has to be discarded due to wear, so they want the e-book to be the same. I think that's dumb, and don't feel we need to be tied to the durability of paper books, but that's their justification.
Re:“The books will stop working.”
by ohithereyou on Thursday June 27, 2019 @06:58PM
(#20299741)
By that logic we could have made every maker happy by selling a buggywhip with every automobile.
In all cases the author gets paid through whatever royalty arrangements they made with the publisher -- but that might contain a lower or zero payment for library and/or educational purchases.