Amazon to Allow Library Dowloads of books onto Kindles soon.........

[loosechickens]

Not being able to download library books onto my Kindle has been the one fly in the ointment when I compare my much loved Kindle to the Nook and others, which DO allow it.

But now, Amazon is giving in....YAY......and soon we Kindle owners will be able to download library books onto our Kindles AND have the many other advantages of the Kindle technology and ease of use without having to look longingly at their friends with Nooks downloading library books.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/21/technology/21amazon.html

[The Storyteller]

Yeah, most librarians aren't really all that thrilled with the deal, as the only way to get them is to subscribe to OverDrive, which pretty much sucks. You "buy" the books, but then have to pay a hosting feed. If you decide to drop your subscription to OverDrive, you lose the books your library "owns". And OverDRive has been taking advantage of that, by upping their fees by as much as 100% a year for some systems.

Plus, Kindle books are a single platform item. If your users have a Nook or Sony Reader or some other device, they can't use it.

So, even if your system loans e-books, it isn't a sure thing it will purchase Kindle e-books. In fact, the odds are against it, based on the buzz in the community is at the moment.

[razz]

Interesting comment, storyteller, as DD and I were just discussing the services at her library compared to mine and she was hearing about the cost of the library's licence to download individual books requiring renewal after 26 patrons access that book.
Have to watch what happens with the competition going on for market share.

[The Storyteller]

Yes, Harper/Collins thought the 26 circ thing would be a great idea. They didn't count on libraries decided to not only forgo the 26 circulation ebooks, but their hard backs as well. There is a fairly widespread boycott going on for HC products at the moment.

I understand the point that hardbacks and paperbacks don't last forever, but it is pretty much unheard of for a book to only go out 26 times. We have those poorly bound mass market paperbacks that have gone out 150 and still on the shelf. Couple that with the cheaper costs for "publishing" (no paper, glue, ink, binding, etc to worry about) and the fact a book could be kept in print pretty much forever without having to worry about those pesky warehousing or inventory tax issues at the end the year, and the e-book is a win-win-win for the publisher.

Personally, I think it is a move to weaken libraries in general. If libraries disappear, then everyone could only get their books by purchasing them.