Libraries, Ebooks and Publisher Restrictions

[Regina]

Interesting!

[Dana]

Amy or "Ames" wrote: "I just spotted this:

Though there wasn’t too much Dougall could say about the future of Google eBooks, he did report that the international rollout will kick into high gear this year, with the ult..."

Amazon hates being 'one-uped' so I can't imagine that anything Google starts cooking up, won't be imitated (if not done first) by Amazon. Book rental...here I come! Sweet!

[Regina]

LOL. Book rentals will seem to be really key in places where there is no overdrive or little overdrive content. I will say since I started sharing accounts with friends on Amazon, I have sooooo many kindle books to read. I think Amazon's feature in terms of account sharing is such a great thing.

[Dana]

Absolutely! Loaning books is a must. :)

[Regina]

I do love the lending capability (and wish it was expanded), but I mean the account sharing, where amazon allows members to sign in on each other's account and download books -- when you sign back in to your own account the books stay on your kindle. Love it. I do this with about 5 friends and neighbors. Some book clubs have formed a separate book group amazon account to take advantage of this as well.

[Dana]

Oh! I hadn't tried that out before, cool! I'll check that out. :)

[Vivian]

Erato wrote: "I own a Kindle and work at a library so this is like waiting for Christmas to come! Gah! I'm so excited though.

I don't think there will ever be a complete elimination of the the limits issue, but..."

That's interesting! I agree, the article wasn't really specific about lending limitations, but the fact that Overdrive is addressing the issue is a good start.

[Steph, Serious series addict]

Regina wrote: "I do love the lending capability (and wish it was expanded), but I mean the account sharing, where amazon allows members to sign in on each other's account and download books -- when you sign back ..."

That's very interesting, Regina. Is it (the Amazon group) something that we could set up for SOS? Do you have to give out your personal acct and password to share with others or does the group acct have it's own info? I'm guessing for the group acct, you'd have to buy your ebooks through that acct in order to share w/others in the group? Right?

[Judithe, Soap Operas never end....]

@ Dana~*Fingers crossed* (RE post #150)

OHHHHH...does your library have lots of e-books? Does it allow non-resident users at a non-prohibitively high fee? Inquiring minds want to know....

[Steph, Serious series addict]

Are you asking me? or Regina?
I'm not sure if she's spotted my questions or not.

[Judithe, Soap Operas never end....]

And the amazon thing is just too cool! Something to definitely explore!

[Steph, Serious series addict]

I agree :)

[Vivian]

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/...

It's sept and still no Kindle access, I'm still waiting, anyone have more info about when this thing is finally gonna happen?

[AH]

No, but on another note, I read somewhere that Sony is going the way of epubs. Not sure if they are dumping their format completely.

[Literary Ames]

Kindle access is now available in Seattle libraries. ' The official roll-out of the program should still hit most USA libraries by the end of the year.'

http://goodereader.com/blog/e-book-ne...

[Vi]

AH wrote: "No, but on another note, I read somewhere that Sony is going the way of epubs. Not sure if they are dumping their format completely."

Sony has their own format?

[Regina]

The roll out has happened pretty much everywhere now for Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custome...

Also the delivery is amazing -- it can be delivered wirelessly! And kindle owners can manage their library books from the amazon website with their other books and they will receive a notification 3 days before the book expries! Oh, also you can choose which device it is sent too so that includes smartphones!!

[t'irla ~The Bookslayer~]

I have had a sony for 3 years..and I read .pdf and epub..I have bought from the sony store...never seen anything in a sony format...so I'm confused too (just bought a Kobo to replace it tho)

[Dana]

Hurray! Finally, the wait (for we Kindle owners) is over! Wheeeeee! :)

My library already has their Overdrive relationship in place so I can't wait to get my hands on it. Gimmee now!

[Vivian]

Woohoo!!!!! Off to do some browsing :D

[Judithe, Soap Operas never end....]

There was an article about this on Wired ~


Amazon’s Kindle Gets a Library Card.

Have to see how it works at my library! (being able to "click" to turn a page rather than "swoosh" would be my biggest joy right now...overdrive doesn't do the "click" on my smartphone :( )

[Dawn]

When I first got my nook I wanted the kindle but the no library thing is what stopped me. Now I am seriously considering getting the kindle especially because I have quite a few books on my kindle pc and it is so much easier to find indi authors on kindle.

[Literary Ames]

I recently emailed my library system in the UK about their plans for e-lending in the future and it doesn't look good. This is the response I got:

We are actively researching the e-lending market and are keen to develop the library service to embrace new technologies. We are already familiar with Overdrive and their products having attended a seminar about e-books where they presented a paper and been in receipt of their marketing material. However Overdrive has currently only made their products available to Kindle users in the US; they are still in discussion with the UK market. It is a rapidly changing market with different e-readers being introduced on to the market, for example W H Smith will be selling Kobo e-readers. Another issue is that some of the major publishers Faber, Pan Macmillan, amongst others, are still not making their material available for e-lending and some (Harper Collins for one) have ceased supplying titles. Therefore we do not want to commit to a contract that is restrictive. There is also a strong bias towards American publishers at the moment with only about 20% of UK publishers make their material available. We have also spoken to colleagues in other public library authorities to learn from their experience and found that libraries that have already committed to e-books have found the titles to be very limited, particularly in popular fiction. There is a lot of uncertainty over which commercial model will work in the long term however we are committed to exploring the options and will continue to monitor the market to choose a product that offers the most flexible package for library users.

Bummer :(

[Regina]

Their response is very informative though. Interseting how what they discuss goes back to the intial article I posted about!

I am sorry though, this really sucks. I have to admit, I buy so much less now that e-lending exists.

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

Ames, my local library does Overdrive elending but I haven't tried anything yet.

It is a limited range of ebooks, but I thought that was probably due to funding of our library and the fact that they are building up their lists. They are adding to it every week though.

I'm pretty sure they aren't using the kindle version of anything though. Or if they do, I know we get the choice of PDF and epub for all the ones I looked at.

[Steph, Serious series addict]

Nice, informative response. Sorry it's not what you were hoping for though.

[Dana]

My library is doing a lot of the same Ames. Since I work for them this makes answering questions LOTS of fun as you can imagine. Many libraries seem to be holding back on commiting, or at least exclusively, to Overdrive. My library is trying to contract with 3 companies right now to offer more titles and with larger multiples of copies to their patronage. That's all great blah, blah, blah....but I want it now dang it! And that is here in the states where we aren't having to deal with all the restictions. Gah!

Sometime I just want to put all tech in the hands of 12 year olds. At least they wouldn't sit around 'ho-humming' about the decision.

On the other side, I see the point of not putting all your eggs in one basket so to speak. It is a new gig and you want to make sure that you don't get corraled into the first flashy offer and then find out if you waited 6 months you could have signed on with someone 10 times better!

Here's hoping that the 10 times better happens in 6 months and not 6 years ")

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

Amen to that Dana!

[Steph, Serious series addict]

Agreed!

[Josie]

Ames, it's strange how some libraries are holding back and others are just diving right in. In the Leicester libraries there are loads of ebooks that are actually ones I would/have read, for example:


and the rest of the series
and the rest of the series
and the rest of the series
and the majority of the rest

I'm not sure how many more they keep adding but I'm pretty sure you can join online if you want to get the ebooks. Let me know if you want any links :)

[AH]

My library was one of 4 in Quebec that joined Overdrive. Finding books on Overdrive is time consuming and they just seem to get Oprah's book picks and bestsellers. They also don't really classify books well, so I haven't had the patience to use them.

[D.G.]

That sucks, Ames.

The 3 library systems in NYC all have Overdrive and the ebook/audiobook selection is amazing, specially for the Brooklyn Library. Lately almost every book I want I have been able to find in one of the three libraries.

I'm saving so much money with the e-lending that now I'm more likely to buy ebooks at full price (something I was totally against) for those books I cannot find there. At least for authors I know and like...I still won't pay $10 for an ebook of an unproved author.

[Dawn]

I think NYC has the option that if people want who live out of state want to buy a library card they have that option. I think it is like $75-$100.

My cousin lives in North Carolina and I think they have a wonderful system.

[Regina]

DG I agree. That is a good point. While I am not randomly buying books anymore, I am more likely to buy my favorite authors and to pay higher prices, bc I know at the other end I am getting almost all of them that I want from overdrive.

There are notable exceptions and those are the publishers that refuse to do elending -- the ones referenced in Ames post and in the article that I posted in the first post of this thread.

[Regina]

Did you see the announcement by Amazon today? It is becoming a sort-of lender for certain titles and only for people who own a kindle device (apps won't work for this):

The Amazon Info about it.


The Press Release.


I have paged through about 55 pages on my kindle looking for books (there are 860 pages) and I found 8 books so far I would be interested in. I am guesing the titles will change.

[D.G.]

Interesting...they are definitely upping the ante so people get Kindles and the Prime membership (which you also need to borrow these books for free.)

[Regina]

Yup. I have had Prime for years as I buy everything from Amazon. It is nice to be able to order multiple times a day and not worry about shipping. Also, we stream movies and TV shows from Prime. So for me, it is just an added bonus.

There are other limitations. 1 title a month per account. Not all publishers are on board.

[Dawn]

Regina overall do you like Prime? I have been considering letting go of netflix. I think for me it will be worth it just for the shipping. Recently I have buying groceries and odd things like that.

[Regina]

Dawn to answer your first question, I love prime. I think I have had it now for 9 years. I order from Amazon alot, before it was just books. But now it is everything and often I order for friends and family so they don't have to pay shipping.

I would not get Prime just for the streaming and I wouldn't give up Netflix for the streaming without seeing what was there first. Netflix by far has a greater selection of movies and tv shows. Although, Amazon is literally signing contracts with production companies daily and adding titles daily. So I imagine the available titles will expand by leaps and bounds. This is what I have found, if a movie or tv show is not available for streaming on netflix (meaning you have to request the disc) then it is not available for "free" streaming on Amazon -- but it is available to stream for a fee (like 1.99 or 2.99). So there is instant gratification and it is much less expensive than On Demand through cable/u-verse/satellite. I have not looked through the offerings in a few weeks on Amazon, but since the last time I looked they have added more and more companies. So my commentary may be out of date.

[Literary Ames]

Dana wrote: "Here's hoping that the 10 times better happens in 6 months and not 6 years ") "

Me, too. :)

@Josie: That's interesting about Leicester libraries. I've checked them out but so far I either own or have read most of their ebooks I'd be interested in.

@Regina: That looks great! I wish Amazon would hurry up and deliver some of them services in other countries.

I wish publishers would embrace ebooks and the changes in technology. You'd think they'd jump at the chance of putting their books into more customers' hands. All this red tape is slowing everything down. I want it all and I want it now, damn it!

[Mary X]

I've had Amazon Prime for years. I have an Amazon credit card and use it for everything (pay it off each month). I used my pts to pay for my Prime Membership and my Kindle. I figure 1 book a month from the Lending Library will "pay" for the Prime Membership.

I don't do much video streaming on Amazon though for the reasons Regina mentioned. If Netflix doesn't have it streaming than Amazon most likely doesn't have it for streaming under the Prime membership either. Plus we can use Netflix through the Wii to watch on the TV. I might drop Netflix when I get an Internet capable TV though sometime next year. But right now my kid watches a lot of Netflix content through the Wii.

I originally got Amazon Prime because I lived on an island in WA state for 9 years. It was a long drive to shop anywhere but a small Kmart, small Walmart and a small Navy Exchange. Going shopping meant at least a 45m drive to the mainland (further if I wanted more than Sears and JC Penney's) and quite possibly a $30 in ferry fees. I got hooked on internet shopping and the free shipping more than paid for hte Prime membership. I still shop online a lot now because I'm a full time working single mother and it's easier and faster.

[Mary X]

Oh and I finally broke down and bought a Kindle because I realized my pts would pay for it, a case/stand and clip on light. Also because they started the lending thing and finally hooked up with my library. I still think most ebooks are way over priced. I'll remain a primarily print gal unless they come up with some sort of Netflix for ebooks thing. I'm not a rereader and want to sell, trade or donate books when I'm done. Yes you can lend some ebooks but only once and then only for a 2 week period. You can't buy an ebook, trade it with someone else, then trade that book for antoher book and so on and so forth like you can with print. You can't bring your ebooks to a used book store and get credit towards other books. If I can get a book in print for the same or cheaper than the ebook-than I'll get it in print.

[Regina]

Crap, Penguin pulled the plug on library ebooks, article here.

[AH]

That sucks.

[Regina]

I know. I wish we could all move past the pirating issue. Not sure how, but I wish we could.

[AH]

I think that the pirating will go away once they figure out fair pricing for ebooks. I go insane when I see DTB cheaper than ebooks. I really don't think library patrons are their source of pirates.

[Regina]

AH wrote: "I think that the pirating will go away once they figure out fair pricing for ebooks. I go insane when I see DTB cheaper than ebooks. I really don't think library patrons are their source of pirates."

I agree.

[Literary Ames]

That's sad. A backwards step, I think. No one seems to be learning from the music industry. DRM, agency pricing (universally high prices) and a reluctance to be seen to be giving anything more than a sample for free is driving piracy rather than preventing it. I've read some good books that were (legally) free by authors I'm now interested in because of those reads.

[Lauren]

I seriously do not understand their logic. Another article in the Washington post on the same issue states that "publishers have long been concerned that allowing library patrons to download e-books might harm sales."

Surely the same thing applies to paperback and hardcover books. When someone borrows these from they library, they don't buy them either. So why are they only pulling the plug on ebooks?

[Regina]

Laura, the opening article I cite to addresses that somewhat. Supposedly the ease of the download and check out process causes certain books to be checked out more often than paper/hardcover books. It is just as easy to checkout e-library books as it is to buy them. We don't have to take the extra steps and go to the library.

I think the publishers are being short-sighted. In the Amazon Kindle group here on GR, one poster said that Penguin was marginalizing its authors. And I thought that was interesting.