Quote:
Originally Posted by Leep
Seems to me that it is not in Amazon's interest to make the Kindle compatible with Overdrive library books.
Let's face it, Amazon's goal is to "sell" books. Folks that choose not to go through the steps of tweeking library books to work on the Kindle, find it easier to purchase the book from Amazon. I suspect that Amazon makes very little money on the Kindle, but has a very substantial continuing revenue stream from all the ebooks it sells.
cheers
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By this argument, there would be no ebook lending on Sony Reader, or Nook, or Kobo. They each have stores they'd like you to buy from, and so it is equally 'not in their interest' to allow library borrowing. But they do, and they promote the feature strongly.
OverDrive justifiably claims that their lending system drives sales. Libraries have limited selection, and like physical books, each digital copy can be lent to only one patron at a time, and for a limited time. If you have to wait 2 months for a book, or you don't finish before the lending period is up, or your library doesn't have the book you want to read in the first place, you're likely to just go and purchase it. If your reading device is a Nook, you'll probably use the B&N store. If it were Kindle, you'd probably get it from Amazon. So with this feature, Amazon would sell more Kindles, their competitors would sell fewer of their devices, AND Amazon would get more sales.
I suspect the reason they haven't done this to date, is that the cost of establishing the necessary contractual relationships and lining up content is greater than the benefit they'd derive. But at some point Amazon will do it: customers want it, libraries want to serve their patrons, OD wants to make more money.