Overdrive CEO hints Kindle Library launching this Sept

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Harry_Y

I really could care less about which format is "superior"
as long as I can read the words I'm good.
I would tend to believe most users are the same way.

Would you be happy with a text file that doesn't have any formatting, but has all the words?

[carld]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Would you be happy with a text file that doesn't have any formatting, but has all the words?

I would generally. They display just fine on the Kindle and don't look much different than an ebook. A nicely formatted version would be better, but I've read plenty of plain text files with no complaints.

[TimW]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

When I said no you can't, I was replying to a post that said you could take out library eBooks using the Kindle app. It was a mistaken post and the post I replied to has since been corrected.

As to people being able to borrow Kindle eBooks from the library using a Kindle app depends on whether or not Amazon built in the time limited flavor of their DRM. If not, then Amazon will have to update the apps for library access. Or Amazon could have the time limited DRM already in the apps. We won't know until Kindle eBooks are available at libraries and people have a chance to try it out using Kindle apps.

The Amazon Kindle team says:

We are excited to announce that a new feature, Kindle Library Lending, will be coming later this year. Kindle customers will be able to borrow Kindle books from over 11,000 public libraries in the United States.

Kindle Library Lending will provide the same unique features customers love about Kindle and Kindle books, including the ability to read on any Kindle or free Kindle app, Whispersync technology that synchronizes your notes, highlights and last page read, real page numbers, and more. After a library book expires, if you ever decide to check it out again or purchase it from Amazon, all of your annotations and bookmarks will be preserved.

We are partnering with OverDrive, the leading provider of digital solutions to libraries, to bring a seamless library borrowing experience to Kindle. We will announce more information on Kindle Library Lending later this year.

http://www.amazon.com/forum/kindle/r...x1MRWHJW9RLUZE

Yes, library books will (future tense) be available for Kindle apps.

[TimW]

Originally Posted by carld

I would generally. They display just fine on the Kindle and don't look much different than an ebook. A nicely formatted version would be better, but I've read plenty of plain text files with no complaints.

I'm not fanatical about formatting...I find uncorrected OCR errors to be far, far more irritating.

[carld]

Originally Posted by TimW

I'm not fanatical about formatting...I find uncorrected OCR errors to be far, far more irritating.

I agree. I looked at some OCR'd Google books, and they were just laughably bad.

[TimW]

Originally Posted by carld

I agree. I looked at some OCR'd Google books, and they were just laughably bad.

A few sets of human eyes would eliminate a lot of it. I suppose that would cut into the profit margin.

[RockdaMan]

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[thebestjeter]

Originally Posted by TimW

The Amazon Kindle team says:

We are excited to announce that a new feature, Kindle Library Lending, will be coming later this year. Kindle customers will be able to borrow Kindle books from over 11,000 public libraries in the United States.

Kindle Library Lending will provide the same unique features customers love about Kindle and Kindle books, including the ability to read on any Kindle or free Kindle app, Whispersync technology that synchronizes your notes, highlights and last page read, real page numbers, and more. After a library book expires, if you ever decide to check it out again or purchase it from Amazon, all of your annotations and bookmarks will be preserved.

We are partnering with OverDrive, the leading provider of digital solutions to libraries, to bring a seamless library borrowing experience to Kindle. We will announce more information on Kindle Library Lending later this year.

http://www.amazon.com/forum/kindle/r...x1MRWHJW9RLUZE

Yes, library books will (future tense) be available for Kindle apps.

Ooops! That hurts! "to bring a seamless library borrowing experience to Kindle" I like how the word seamlees sounds!

[TimW]

Originally Posted by thebestjeter

Ooops! That hurts! "to bring a seamless library borrowing experience to Kindle" I like how the word seamlees sounds!

Seamless is best. Those seams can start to chafe after a while.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

In seventeenth century metaphysical poetry, for example, stanzas are sometimes written in the shape of what they describe. That can't be done reliably in mobi or epub.

Originally Posted by Ankh

Uhm, that would be like a (mouse) tail shape in Adobe epub version of "Alice in Wonderland" (chapter III)?

Can't be done reliably, as in, formatted not once ultra-carefully but through an entire book with multiple indents, and not by an expert programmer but by an ordinary poet, and by publishing house grunts who wish to lay out/automate hundreds of pages as quickly as possible.

Great example, though -- especially since Alice in Wonderland is ubiquitous. I'll have a look at our MR library's versions of the "Tale of the Mouse" (we have at least three). Have any of our Kindle users taken a look at commercial mobi editions?

Even so, I've yet to see a single ePub or mobi edition in which stanzas with multiple indents are laid out correctly, let alone in a lengthy poetry collection or anthology. So far, everything I've seen has been aligned to the left margin and that, Beuys and grills, is a problem. Sadly, "yet to see" includes the poetry of writers like George Herbert and John Donne.

Entire volumes of sixteenth century prose can't be reproduced because of their layouts: Boxes of continuous text inside larger boxes of continuous text. For the modern equivalent, have a leer at Glas, by Jacques Derrida.

[Harry_Y]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Would you be happy with a text file that doesn't have any formatting, but has all the words?

It really would not bother me.

I've been reading straight text files for 25 years.

Although minimal formatting is good.


.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by Harry_Y

It really would not bother me.

I've been reading straight text files for 25 years.

It really depends more on the intrinsic format of the book itself than one's reading habits. You can't play a fugue for pipe organ on a ukelele.

[BuddyBoy]

Originally Posted by Harry_Y

It really would not bother me.

I've been reading straight text files for 25 years.

Although minimal formatting is good.


.

I find that without minimal formatting, the content has to be spectacularly gripping to hold my attention. My minimum preference? 6-8pt left and right margins, fully justified, indented paragraphs, chapter end page breaks, chapter start 3/4 page. I'm easy to please.

[BuddyBoy]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

I actually think wait times will triple or more, at certain libraries. Especially popular ones like FLP.

But I think it will be a short-term issue. FLP can probably afford to buy more licenses and they presumably will do so. Heavy-users (like myself) will adapt -- heavy-users are rarely using the library for new books, and we usually have a big enough To-Read list that a longer wait at the library isn't a major issue. (I'm "30 of 30" on several books right now alone. Meh.) Light-users, including the new Amazon users, will probably become annoyed and then stop using the system, which will bring wait times back to a more stable spot.

As for Amazon being blamed: Meh. Some people will gripe online about the wait times. Some Amazon users will gripe that they weren't missing anything with libraries because "nothing is ever available". A LOT of people will defend the Kindlers' right to the libraries despite most people not arguing against that point. (See also, kitten juggling.) Mobile Reads moderators will have to issue gentle warnings against personal attacks. Life will continue as usual.

May I please award you the Knight Commander of the order of Cassandra, complete with oak leaf cluster?

I think you are exactly right on how the whole thing will go down.

[DiapDealer]

A LOT of people will defend the Kindlers' right to the libraries despite most people not arguing against that point.

I agree most are not arguing that point. But the few who are, are ridiculously vocal about it.