Libraries Can’t Buy Many of Amazon’s Ebook Hits

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

JSWolf, about a year ago I did it via the Philadelphia library, on my Kindle Keyboard, in conjunction with a similar discussion thread, just to prove I could. But it's not an experience I'd want to repeat

Response time is slow. And you have to have Javascript enabled/disabled at the right point. And fonts at some points are too small or low contrast. But you could do it.

Now, Overdrive is in the process of switching over to a new user interface. Whether that will make it harder or (less likely) easier, I don't know, and am not in the mood to experimentally determine.

Hacking the Kindle (I consider fooling around with Javascript a hack) doesn't actually count. So the T1/T2 are the only Readers able to do this without a hack.

The new user interface is still the same as far as Kindle eBooks go. You have to go to Amazon to get the eBook as it is Amazon's server serving it.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Hacking the Kindle (I consider fooling around with Javascript a hack) doesn't actually count.

I have never hacked the Kindle. Everything I do is with the stock unaltered device. As for "fooling around with Javascript," this is a simple on-off switch that is part of the Amazon-provided user interface.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

That's a tablet. Not a Reader. You still need a computer to download eBooks to a Kindle Reader.

Don't need a computer; just wifi. I use the OverDrive app on my Nexus 7 to borrow Kindle books and then fetch them with my Kindle 4.

[Sregener]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Don't need a computer; just wifi. I use the OverDrive app on my Nexus 7 to borrow Kindle books and then fetch them with my Kindle 4.

You've missed the point. eReaders like the Kobo Touch or Glo, Nook Simple Touch, or the many other ePub eReaders out there, can't directly fetch eBooks from the libraries. The Kindle was pointed out as the exception for exactly that reason: the Kindle can download books without a computer because the books do not come from a third party (Overdrive), but from Amazon's servers. And it is just that fact that makes some publishers uncomfortable. Why they care, I don't know. Bits are bits, and most people generally don't care which Internet IP address the bits came from, as long as they can read the content without risk of a virus.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Sregener

Why they care, I don't know. Bits are bits, and most people generally don't care which Internet IP address the bits came from, as long as they can read the content without risk of a virus.

They care because it is Amazon doing something right (it validates yet again the virtues of Whispernet).

Bits are bits and licenses are licenses and nowhere in the contracts does it state that accessing the library ebooks has to be unnecessarily cumbersome. And the fact that both the Overdrive app and the Sony readers achieve a similarly frictionless process is proof that the allegedly frictionless access is not the issue but another smokescreen. The tantrum is simply over Amazon being able to not only offer their users a path to library ebooks but a path with richer features (once you get the ebook) than the competition.

Think about it; how are the publishers *ever* going to kill Amazon if they keep matching and improving on the competition?

Library ebooks used to be a competitive advantage (on paper) for ADEPT-based eReaders; now it is either neutral or slightly negative depending on how frictionless the access offered it. That is the reason for all the gnashing.

[petrucci]

Is the root cause of the lack of availability the unwillingness of libraries to pay the price set by the publisher?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Don't need a computer; just wifi. I use the OverDrive app on my Nexus 7 to borrow Kindle books and then fetch them with my Kindle 4.

The tablet is the computer.

Of course, we can change the statement to read... One cannot borrow eBooks from Overdrive for an eInk Kindle without the use of another device be it a tablet, smartphone, computer or some other similar device.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by petrucci

Is the root cause of the lack of availability the unwillingness of libraries to pay the price set by the publisher?

The libraries are buying a lot of the books available even at some of the super high prices being asked. Some of the big publishers however don't feel the current system works at any price. They want it to be harder to borrow an eBook than it currently is. They say there isn't enough "friction" in the transaction in the way that with a pBook you have to drive to the library and check out the book and then drive back and return it. Some publishers favor a system where they get a cut every time a book is borrowed which is pretty much not doable for the libraries.

[Synamon]

Originally Posted by petrucci

Is the root cause of the lack of availability the unwillingness of libraries to pay the price set by the publisher?

MacMillan, Hachette, and Simon & Schuster do not allow libraries to access their ebooks at any price. Penguin pulled out of Overdrive a year ago and supposedly will offer some of their titles with 3M, although as far as I can tell that's not really happening.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Of course, we can change the statement to read... One cannot borrow eBooks from Overdrive for an eInk Kindle without the use of another device be it a tablet, smartphone, computer or some other similar device.

Which you know isn't correct, as it has already been pointed out to you in post 43.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Hacking the Kindle (I consider fooling around with Javascript a hack) doesn't actually count. So the T1/T2 are the only Readers able to do this without a hack.

Who are you to say what does or doesn't "count"? Turning off Javascript isn't a "hack" - it's simply a browser option on the Kindle. Seems to me that you're just (as usual) stacking the deck to get the answer you've decided in advance that you want.

It's certainly not true to say that the Sony (or the Kindle) are the only devices that support wireless downloading of library books. Onyx readers have supported it for a very long time.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by Sregener

You've missed the point. eReaders like the Kobo Touch or Glo, Nook Simple Touch, or the many other ePub eReaders out there, can't directly fetch eBooks from the libraries. The Kindle was pointed out as the exception for exactly that reason: the Kindle can download books without a computer because the books do not come from a third party (Overdrive), but from Amazon's servers. And it is just that fact that makes some publishers uncomfortable. Why they care, I don't know. Bits are bits, and most people generally don't care which Internet IP address the bits came from, as long as they can read the content without risk of a virus.

FYI - the Sony PRS-T1 and T-2 eink readers can borrow directly from the Overdrive libraries. Though I suppose that's not really relevant to a thread about Kindle books.

[CyGuy]

This just doesn't make any sense to me at all. The ebook is either for sale or it isn't. The publisher or author has no say in who can or cannot purchase it. The library should simply purchase the product from wherever and loan it out as usual.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by CyGuy

The library should simply purchase the product from wherever and loan it out as usual.

And how do you suggest they do that.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by CyGuy

This just doesn't make any sense to me at all. The ebook is either for sale or it isn't. The publisher or author has no say in who can or cannot purchase it. The library should simply purchase the product from wherever and loan it out as usual.

There is no "loan it out as usual" when it comes to ebooks. Never has been. Should they go ahead and strip the DRM off before they start loaning them out? We want libraries to thrive, not be slapped with injunctions by publishers.