Coming Soon for Kindle - lending & more - Page 2

LakeLoon · 10-22-2010, 01:49 PM

Agree that the lending feature, as described, isn't all it could be, but I for one am happy to see it at all. I have friends/family with Kindles, it isn't practical to share an account or swap devices, so this gives us a way to share content legally.

I am very hopeful that publishers will widely permit this feature. My guess is that this is one of the reasons for keeping the capability modest. If Amazon made lending too easy, it's possible that publishers would refuse to enable it for that reason alone.

Also, if account-to-account lending is enabled, this should also mean (in theory) that library lending is possible as well. I kind of hate to see libraries forced to buy multiple versions of ebooks just to support different DRM schemes, but libraries also buy multiple copies of paper books, and this gives Amazon and the publishers at least some financial benefit. A lot of folks on these boards have been clamoring for access to library ebooks, and this development may make it possible.

OakIris · 10-22-2010, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by curstpriest

They are banking on people starting/not having time to finish said lent books. Then they will have to go buy them. And for those stubborn people who refuse to buy them but still want to get them, well, sucks for them. And you can't always get new releases illegally. Despite what Dilbert says about book piracy =).

Great cartoon, curstpriest!

And do you think the lending thing is only so Amazon can make money from folks that couldn't finish the eBook they borrowed? Surely not!

Holly

TomF · 10-22-2010, 04:42 PM

I think that the primary reason that Amazon is doing this is to feature-match B&N, even though this "feature" is pretty lame. If they really wanted to best B&N in this particular area then they'd allow lending for 21 days (like a library) or multiple times, to different people.

I agree that the 14-day lending period is probably designed to encourage more book sales from people who don't finish the book in 14 days. But I think that if they really wanted more book sales from lending, they should allow lending multiple times, maybe up to some limit. For every person that an e-book is lent to that doesn't finish the book there is another possible book sale.

IMHO this looks more like following B&N's lead than a really well thought out plan. It makes Amazon look weak by following rather than leading.

Personally, I'd rather see EPUB support than lending.

jswinden · 10-22-2010, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JaneD

Interesting. Seems like they're at least trying to address the lending issues so many of us have been complaining about.

I wonder how many of the publishers will agree to participate in the lending program?

My guess is that very few publishers will go along with this. Amazon gave us TTS and the publishers mostly got pissed and made Amazon disable it for many of their books.

Kudos and kharma to Amazon for offering a new feature that will be great to have. But don't expect the publishing houses to participate.

LakeLoon · 10-22-2010, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jswinden

My guess is that very few publishers will go along with this. Amazon gave us TTS and the publishers mostly got pissed and made Amazon disable it for many of their books.

Sigh, you're probably right. But I think the resistance to TTS was largely caused by fear that audiobook sales would decline. That's not a crazy fear, given how overpriced audiobooks can be.

Here, we're talking about a feature that has already been offered on another platform. If publishers say "OK" to Nook but "No" to Kindle, they have some 'splaining to do. Amazon is a significant force in retail, so they may have some leverage.

Tiersten · 10-22-2010, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LakeLoon

Sigh, you're probably right. But I think the resistance to TTS was largely caused by fear that audiobook sales would decline. That's not a crazy fear, given how overpriced audiobooks can be.

Here, we're talking about a feature that has already been offered on another platform. If publishers say "OK" to Nook but "No" to Kindle, they have some 'splaining to do. Amazon is a significant force in retail, so they may have some leverage.

If you're using iBooks on an iDevice then you can enable the Voiceover accessibility feature and it will do TTS for books. It also turns on TTS and the other accessibility features for everything else though but there doesn't seem to be any mechanism for publishers to disable it.

JSWolf · 10-22-2010, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JaneD

Interesting. Seems like they're at least trying to address the lending issues so many of us have been complaining about.

I wonder how many of the publishers will agree to participate in the lending program?

Why give publishers an option on lending when B&N doesn't do it? Besides, you can only lend once and that's it. No more for that book.

carld · 10-22-2010, 05:41 PM

I'm surprised there's so many complaints about a new feature that's going to directly benefit readers at no cost. It's not going to be perfect, but it's also not something Amazon had to do. I look forward to using it.

magicmonster · 10-22-2010, 08:29 PM

I wished that they would work on getting epubs and library books onto it instead!

Barty · 10-22-2010, 08:50 PM

The me-too-ism coming from the market leader is disappointing.

I wonder if it's possible to lend books without giving any personal info. This way you can swap books with people on, say, mobileread.com

Ervserver · 10-22-2010, 09:00 PM

soon as I hear about one of the readers adding new features I rush to this forum so i can read all the complaints

Quote:

Originally Posted by carld

I'm surprised there's so many complaints about a new feature that's going to directly benefit readers at no cost. It's not going to be perfect, but it's also not something Amazon had to do. I look forward to using it.

kevinp · 10-22-2010, 09:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carld

I'm surprised there's so many complaints about a new feature that's going to directly benefit readers at no cost. It's not going to be perfect, but it's also not something Amazon had to do. I look forward to using it.

That's just it - these aren't real 'benefits' for most of us. I don't know anybody that owns a Kindle, so lending is of no use to me. I don't want to read newspapers on my PC either.

mdovell · 10-22-2010, 09:32 PM

Lending might be ok I guess. I mean if someone reads something interesting they can send it to others.

It's not huge thing but it's better than nothing.

ChrisChillin · 10-22-2010, 09:39 PM

I'm actually quite interested in seeing what it looks like to have the periodicals available on the apps. I keep reading reviews on Amazon stating that the magazines leave out some pictures and graphs, even though, it seems to me, there's no technical reason why they would need to do so. Of course, the newspapers and magazines leave out whole articles as well. I just wonder if the ability to have the subscriptions on the apps as well would be an encouragement to the periodical publishers to have everything they put in their print editions also available in the Kindle versions.

TomF · 10-22-2010, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdovell

Lending might be ok I guess. I mean if someone reads something interesting they can send it to others.

"Others" meaning one other person.

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10-22-2010, 01:49 PM	#16
LakeLoon Wanderer Posts: 49 Karma: 318 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: New Amsterdam Device: Kindle 3	Agree that the lending feature, as described, isn't all it could be, but I for one am happy to see it at all. I have friends/family with Kindles, it isn't practical to share an account or swap devices, so this gives us a way to share content legally. I am very hopeful that publishers will widely permit this feature. My guess is that this is one of the reasons for keeping the capability modest. If Amazon made lending too easy, it's possible that publishers would refuse to enable it for that reason alone. Also, if account-to-account lending is enabled, this should also mean (in theory) that library lending is possible as well. I kind of hate to see libraries forced to buy multiple versions of ebooks just to support different DRM schemes, but libraries also buy multiple copies of paper books, and this gives Amazon and the publishers at least some financial benefit. A lot of folks on these boards have been clamoring for access to library ebooks, and this development may make it possible.

10-22-2010, 04:42 PM	#18
TomF Kindle Enthusiast Posts: 243 Karma: 1818 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: San Diego, CA Device: Kindle 3G Graphite, Kindle Fire	I think that the primary reason that Amazon is doing this is to feature-match B&N, even though this "feature" is pretty lame. If they really wanted to best B&N in this particular area then they'd allow lending for 21 days (like a library) or multiple times, to different people. I agree that the 14-day lending period is probably designed to encourage more book sales from people who don't finish the book in 14 days. But I think that if they really wanted more book sales from lending, they should allow lending multiple times, maybe up to some limit. For every person that an e-book is lent to that doesn't finish the book there is another possible book sale. IMHO this looks more like following B&N's lead than a really well thought out plan. It makes Amazon look weak by following rather than leading. Personally, I'd rather see EPUB support than lending.

10-22-2010, 05:41 PM	#23
carld Wizard Posts: 2,698 Karma: 4748723 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	I'm surprised there's so many complaints about a new feature that's going to directly benefit readers at no cost. It's not going to be perfect, but it's also not something Amazon had to do. I look forward to using it.

10-22-2010, 08:29 PM	#24
magicmonster Groupie Posts: 170 Karma: 1033664 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: Kindle 3, Nook Color, & Dell Axim X50v	I wished that they would work on getting epubs and library books onto it instead!

10-22-2010, 08:50 PM	#25
Barty doofus Posts: 2,549 Karma: 13089041 Join Date: Sep 2010 Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kindle Voyage	The me-too-ism coming from the market leader is disappointing. I wonder if it's possible to lend books without giving any personal info. This way you can swap books with people on, say, mobileread.com

10-22-2010, 09:32 PM	#28
mdovell Zealot Posts: 148 Karma: 3168 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: Kindle DX	Lending might be ok I guess. I mean if someone reads something interesting they can send it to others. It's not huge thing but it's better than nothing.

10-22-2010, 09:39 PM	#29
ChrisChillin Eckhartian Posts: 334 Karma: 1766384 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: USA Device: Kindle Touch	I'm actually quite interested in seeing what it looks like to have the periodicals available on the apps. I keep reading reviews on Amazon stating that the magazines leave out some pictures and graphs, even though, it seems to me, there's no technical reason why they would need to do so. Of course, the newspapers and magazines leave out whole articles as well. I just wonder if the ability to have the subscriptions on the apps as well would be an encouragement to the periodical publishers to have everything they put in their print editions also available in the Kindle versions.