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Originally Posted by nowthenmobile
Bookworm_Girl
I am waiting to see if my neighbouring county allows me to borrow their ePUBs. (My county doesn't lend them.) This is not unheard of. I suppose there is always Philadelphia.
OK - Something I am struggling to understand - What is the point of Overdrive? I can search for a book and then find out which libraries have it. What's the point of that if I can only join my local library? Am I using it wrongly? It seems that Overdrive actually sell these ePUBs and their website services to the local libraries. Why don't Overdrive just lend them directly to the public and charge book rental?
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I hope that the neighboring county works out for you. Yes, Overdrive is the main supplier of the EPUBs and website services to libraries. There are other companies too like NetLibrary, but Overdrive seems to be the most popular. I suppose the reason that you are restricted to your local library is the same as paperbooks. You've contributed taxes to your local area, and they've chosen how to spend them at your local library whether it's more paperbooks or an expanded digital media selection.
You ask a very excellent question. "Why don't Overdrive just lend them directly to the public and charge book rental?" Many people are wondering when companies are going to start offering paid rental services (like Apple TV has just announced for television episodes) or a monthly subscription service (like Netflix for movies and Audible.com for audiobooks). Maybe we will see a sales model like this one in the future.