Why is renting games legal?

[2funky4u]

Hephaestos said:
Well a car is used to drive arround and it gets used after a while... i don't think it can be compared with items of intelectual property that don't suffer use in the same way...
But your point about libraries is good, it's the exact same thing.
If you had a great library 2 feet from your house would you still buy books?

The whole idea of renting media (book, movie, games, software, music) is flawed in my opinion....but what I was wondering here was about the legality of the action, for which some of you gave detailed answers, thanks.

 

The idea that you can go to a place and read all the books that you want to read for free or for very little money is one of the greatest ideas that mankind ever had.

And I think that timed digital dowloading can replace the traditional renting of games.

You pay a small sum of money and you can then download the whole game but just for a set period of time, say 24 hours before it deletes itself or it becomes unplayable.