Penguin ends library/Overdrive relationship starting tomorrow

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

My issue isn't just the remote accessibility - its their desire to have access to every stage of my consumption process. TM might be ok with Amazon accessing his library data points - but my privacy concerns skyrocketed.

They already know what I read based on the 200+ ebooks I have from them. What's a few library books?

I do not want my information crossed over and I do not want Amazon in my library activities - and Amazon effectively lost a sale of a new kindle.

Library book = store bought book = no difference. There's nothing sacrosanct about a library book. A book is a book is a book.

But what about Amazon?? WHY should Amazon have access to information that Kobo, Sony, B&N, BAEN, S&S, Hachette, Penguin, etc does not? WHAT makes Amazon such a special little snowflake that they deserve that kind of detailed activity that their competitors do not have access to??

Because they have Kindle format and Adobe doesn't.

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

They already know what I read based on the 200+ ebooks I have from them. What's a few library books?

As I said - YOU may be ok with that, but I have issues and concerns about it. I do not purchase any ebooks from Amazon. I only get the free books. So using any of the .mobi format library books - for me - gives Amazon access to a great deal of information they did not have access to previously.

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Library book = store bought book = no difference. There's nothing sacrosanct about a library book. A book is a book is a book.

The problem is the access of data. The more data Amazon collects the more bullets it has to kill of publishers. I do NOT like the idea of having to only go to Amazon for my books in the future. But that is a future we're looking at if someone doesn't stop the bloodsucking monster taking over the living room.

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Because they have Kindle format and Adobe doesn't.

Of course. But I expected a flippant response.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

A lot of people have a very casual attitude towards Amazon - and they will until Amazon does something people doesn't like.

Some people don't know how the whole thing works, but others just draw their lines in different places. I totally understand your concerns, but mine are different, which is why we make different choices. It doesn't mean I have a casual attitude towards Amazon, it simply means that my line for adjusting my own choices is in a different place. We can't all make "big picture" decisions all the time.

I've just been villified (privately, not on the forum) because I refuse to stop buying Penguin books and my reason wasn't good enough. A few of you might already guess my reason - Roc is a Penguin imprint, and that's where Harry Dresden lives. It's a point I will not compromise on. I'm gonna read what I want to read.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

I'm gonna read what I want to read.

As well you should.

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

Some people don't know how the whole thing works, but others just draw their lines in different places. I totally understand your concerns, but mine are different, which is why we make different choices. It doesn't mean I have a casual attitude towards Amazon, it simply means that my line for adjusting my own choices is in a different place. We can't all make "big picture" decisions all the time.

I've just been villified (privately, not on the forum) because I refuse to stop buying Penguin books and my reason wasn't good enough. A few of you might already guess my reason - Roc is a Penguin imprint, and that's where Harry Dresden lives. It's a point I will not compromise on. I'm gonna read what I want to read.

I'm not trying to give the impression that I feel someone else has to make my decisions - but I can't understand the vilification of Penguin when Amazon and Overdrive has just as big (if not bigger) a part to play in this mess.

But I've read pages and pages of outrage and anger at Penguin - while brushing off the whole idea of the breaking of the contract between Penguin (and what sounds like other publishers) and OD by OD - which gives Amazon an unfair business advantage.

So - for me - the majority of this thread feels very lopsided. There's more to this situation than "Penguin hates libraries!" and that is what's bothering me.

ETA: I bet you that if Apple had opened up library lending in this way - by getting the library loan shuttled through Apple's own servers and then emailing people to purchase books they borrowed first - MR would be in an UPROAR and the name calling and flaming would commence.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

I'm not trying to give the impression that I feel someone else has to make my decisions - but I can't understand the vilification of Penguin when Amazon and Overdrive has just as big (if not bigger) a part to play in this mess.

But I've read pages and pages of outrage and anger at Penguin - while brushing off the whole idea of the breaking of the contract between Penguin (and what sounds like other publishers) and OD by OD - which gives Amazon an unfair business advantage.

So - for me - the majority of this thread feels very lopsided. There's more to this situation than "Penguin hates libraries!" and that is what's bothering me.

Totally agree with you here - there are a lot of players in this fiasco, and many of them are at least partly responsible. Penguin only has the distinction of being the most recent to pull out. OD could have had it set up so that a AZW DRM server was part of their system instead of kicking over to Amazon. Any breach of terms that resulted from the current system is squarely on OD. I'm not even going into the other pubs that have already pulled out or never offered library ebooks, because at this point I've forgotten what their various excuses are, but they should be on the ishlist too.

And I didn't mean to come across as though I thought you expected others to make your decisions, I just sometimes worry that people forget WHY others make different decisions. It's so easy for these things to dissolve into chaos, as they are doing elsewhere on the forum. I should have stated things better.

I think perhaps I'm feeling a little battered because reading has suddenly become a moral issue. And I'm not talking about the content, either. (I think by now, everyone has a pretty good idea of what I'm hiding on my Kindle...)

[tubemonkey]

What? ...no mobi in the Penguin store?

[calibrated]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

What? ...no mobi in the Penguin store?

Nope...looks like nothing but epub.

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

... reading has suddenly become a moral issue. And I'm not talking about the content, either. (I think by now, everyone has a pretty good idea of what I'm hiding on my Kindle...)

...speaking of Kindles...


Did you see the March challenge at KS???!? Wow! Yowzers!

I'm in!

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

...speaking of Kindles...


Did you see the March challenge at KS???!? Wow! Yowzers!

I'm in!

No, I actually unjoined because I couldn't keep up with the posts. My reading tastes haven't changed, though.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by calibrated

Nope...looks like nothing but epub.

And last July, Penguin quit selling downloadable audiobooks. They now sell the more modern CD versions.

Penguin - striving to be the market leader in advancing backwards

[calibrated]

It's actually never occurred to me to buy ebooks directly from the publisher, when Google/Feedbooks/Amazon etc. provides one-stop shopping from all the publishers.

In any case, epub-only doesn't bother me. I've switched to buying mostly in epub format anyway--I find that epubs convert to mobi better than the other way around, and I've yet to find one I can't strip the DRM out of. On the other hand, I am stuck with a few AZW files that I can't do a d**n thing with.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

And last July, Penguin quit selling downloadable audiobooks. They now sell the more modern CD versions.

Penguin - striving to be the market leader in advancing backwards

You don't say? I look forward to their Audio Books on Tape and Books on Scrolls next year.

If I can't get an audio book as a download, I just don't even. The last 2 audio books on CD I burned had dozens of skips and errors.

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

No, I actually unjoined because I couldn't keep up with the posts. My reading tastes haven't changed, though.

I don't even try to keep up with the posts. It boggles the mind. I just drop in for interesting looking threads and challenges. March's challenge looks swweeet!

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

You don't say? I look forward to their Audio Books on Tape and Books on Scrolls next year.

Hey Penguin, lookie here. The future beckons you.

Spoiler: