Library Lending for Kindles, coming soon.

[temporus]

Here's the news blurb from Amazon.

There's not a whole heap of details here to work with.  But still and all it seems pretty cool.  One thing that jumps out at me that is neat is that your margin notes, and your last page read get saved on your device, so that if you take the book out again later, you still have all that info.  But wait, there's more, if you turn around and buy your own copy of that book, you get to retain all that info too.

However, what's missing here in the press release is details people are going to want to know about.  Such as how many times can someone take out a book.  How long do you get it?   How does the library have to account for it?  Is it a license fee per user who takes out a book, do they have to purchase the book, then get a limited number of downloads to customers before they have to repurchase, etc?  And when can we expect to see this arriving at those 11,0000 local libraries.  

I'm sure we'll hear more about it as the year goes on, but I'm pretty excited.  I'm a big library fan, and anything that helps libraries keep up with the times is good in my book.  I think that it's good for libraries to have options to be able to support their customer base.  With Kindle currently (for however much longer that might remain true) in the lead as far as ebook sales/market share, it's good to finally be able to offer Libraries to get in on the sharing of Kindle editions to their membership.  This is an area that Amazon has been lagging in overall, but trying to catch up.  (With the lending in general, and now with Library lending.)  

Overall, I'm happy to see this, but I hold back final judgment until I see the final details, and if it will really work.   I suspect my wife will be happy to hear this option available, as such an avid reader, she's always clamoring for more, and she, like I am, is a big fan of public libraries, and I suspect being able to borrow digital books will give her more options now that she enjoys reading digital editions.

What about you, if you have the opportunity to borrow digital editions from your public library, would you?  Or would you still prefer the physical edition?

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Still thinking . . . I love libraries, but the evidence of piracy is on the rise, which is a grim thing.

[temporus.livejournal.com]

Piracy is a grim thing indeed. Perhaps (and only perhaps) having the option to borrow from a libarary, where some kind of fee eventually wends its way to the publisher and author, will help curb the typical person from wanting to pirate. We'll never stop the hardcore pirates. I can't help but believe that if there are legitimate ways someone can read a book for free, that most reasonable people can be guided into that path rather than piracy. But without the options in place, it's hard to combat the mental process of the younger generations. I've already been on a rant to younger members of my family about such things. It would be nice to direct them into positive habits, rather than just beating them up about the negative ones.

Of course, that means that the e-lending features do have to work properly to support authors and publishers, or the whole thought is moot.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Yes, oh yes.

[jongibbs.livejournal.com]

I'd borrow an eBook from the library.

Interesting posts about writing – w/e April 22nd 2011

[pingback-bot.livejournal.com]

User jongibbs referenced to your post from Interesting posts about writing – w/e April 22nd 2011 (http://jongibbs.livejournal.com/184011.html) saying: [...] (Ray Rhamey) [Jon’s Pick of the Week]    Library Lending for Kindles, coming soon [...]

Here from Jon's blog-

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

I am a librarian, and, in my system, we have been lending e-books for many months now, and digital audiobooks for years. So I was quite angry with amazon for awhile because we had to tell our kindle-owning patrons, "No, you can't download library books on your kindle." I've borrowed library books on my iphone (most often), on my computer, and on my sony pocket e-reader. So I'm happy that we won't have to say that any more! E-books are becoming steadily more popular with patrons of all ages, though I think the older folks prefer the audiobook/mp3 format. Personally, I do prefer "real" books, but will buy or borrow e-books if I can't wait to get my hands on the book in question and also don't think I'll want to read it more than once or twice. Most recently, I borrowed the e-book of Alexander McCall Smith's latest.