Amazon Withholding Books From Libraries

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by Sarmat89

People got that strange idea that libraries are here for reading books for free. That is not what they are for, libraries exist to access out-of-print and commercially nonviable literature.

Their reason may have changed over time, but the original motivation for public libraries was indeed to make reading widely available to those who could not afford books.

From the opening of the debate on the (British) Public Libraries Act of 1850:

All the evidence taken upon that part of the subject tended to prove that the labouring population would be far more advanced if they had such opportunities as were afforded by means of public libraries to the working classes of other countries. There were two kinds of education—that imparted in schools, and that acquired by individuals themselves; and they had the authority of Gibbon for saying that the education which a man gave to himself was far more important than that which he could acquire from a teacher. In public libraries the opportunity of self teaching would be afforded to the labouring classes.

Another, very Victorian, motivation:

the establishment of parish libraries and district reading rooms, and popular lectures on subjects both entertaining and instructive to the community might draw off a number of those who now frequent public houses for the sole enjoyment they afford

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

One of those things is not like the other.
Kobo is a genuine global player, and sells at scale. The others? How well do they sell outside their home regions?
Kobo is the only one Amazon needs to consider a real competitor globally.

But when you add up all the different Readers that ar not Kindles, the numbers increase. Kindle made be the biggest seller in the US, but it's not the biggest seller globally. In the US, Kobo is the biggest competitor to Amazon with more choices of hardware and better firmware.

Yup, like Cloudlibrary, like RBDigital, like BorrowBox.
These services are increasing.
One thing that was on the slight side of Kobo when I was looking at getting an eReader was library lending. Then my library switched away from Overdrive

I'm not 100% sure, but I think Cloudlibrary does use ePub, but they use their own app as a front end.. RBDigital uses ePub with ADE. So you do not need a separate app for that. Borrowbox, I don't know about. So of the three, RBDigtial is not an issue.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Those darn libraries... so "20th century."

As for Amazon and it's not selling its own published books to libraries... for the most part they're not worth reading anyhow. I've quit looking at their free book of the month lists anymore. When I did download them it was a chore to read them. I guess there might be a few exceptions.

Well, it's not like you can't go to the library and check out the paper copy. Yea, I know it's so 20th century, but it's a perfectly acceptable solution if you want to read the book. There is an old saying beggers can't be choosers. If you aren't the one paying, then you take what's available.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Their reason may have changed over time, but the original motivation for public libraries was indeed to make reading widely available to those who could not afford books.

From the opening of the debate on the (British) Public Libraries Act of 1850:


Another, very Victorian, motivation:

Of course, back in those times, the latest fiction was not what libraries did. Fiction existed, of course, but libraries were oriented towards non fiction. Fiction tended more towards being published in magazines and newspapers. Libraries were more to educate rather than amuse.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Of course, back in those times, the latest fiction was not what libraries did. Fiction existed, of course, but libraries were oriented towards non fiction. Fiction tended more towards being published in magazines and newspapers. Libraries were more to educate rather than amuse.

That was a concern even then:

Nothing, he believed, could be more visionary than the fear that these libraries would be filled with novels and the worst description of publications—bad and useless as literature—or that they would be mere receptacles for newspapers.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Unfortunately, no way to download books directly to an eReader (that I've seen).

Actually, that's not quite correct. For Readers that supports downloading ePub using the ACSM file you can download eBooks from RBDigitil.

[CathyA]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I'm not 100% sure, but I think Cloudlibrary does use ePub, but they use their own app as a front end.. RBDigital uses ePub with ADE. So you do not need a separate app for that. Borrowbox, I don't know about. So of the three, RBDigtial is not an issue.

Yes, CloudLibrary uses ePub under the covers; but you can add their books to ADE after checkout if you want. Axis360 has a proprietary in-browser format, but they also let you download ePubs and open in ADE. Hoopla is the one app I use (rarely) that only has a proprietary format.

[CathyA]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Amazon's Kindle ecosystem is completely proprietary. I find it to be extremely unlikely that they would agree to make any of their books available via an outside app. It is more likely that they would allow borrows made using SimplyE to be fulfilled on amazon.com for reading using Kindle apps/devices, as is currently done by OverDrive in the US.

The announcement from DPLA says "Any titles made available to us will be made accessible in EPUB format through the DPLA Exchange and served to patrons via the SimplyE app." I guess there's some wiggle room in that sentence for a Kindle integration, but it seems more like they are expecting Amazon to fit into their existing ecosystem.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sarmat89

People got that strange idea that libraries are here for reading books for free. That is not what they are for, libraries exist to access out-of-print and commercially nonviable literature.

So books on the New York Time Bestseller list are nonviable. Yeah right!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by CathyA

Yes, CloudLibrary uses ePub under the covers; but you can add their books to ADE after checkout if you want. Axis360 has a proprietary in-browser format, but they also let you download ePubs and open in ADE. Hoopla is the one app I use (rarely) that only has a proprietary format.

Hoopla is good for comic books, audio books, movie and TV shows. I don't use Hoopla for eBooks. One advantage to Hoopla is no wait list.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by CathyA

The announcement from DPLA says "Any titles made available to us will be made accessible in EPUB format through the DPLA Exchange and served to patrons via the SimplyE app." I guess there's some wiggle room in that sentence for a Kindle integration, but it seems more like they are expecting Amazon to fit into their existing ecosystem.

Is there a way to get the ePub so it can be viewed in ADE?

[John F]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

...


I'm not 100% sure, but I think Cloudlibrary does use ePub, but they use their own app as a front end.. RBDigital uses ePub with ADE. So you do not need a separate app for that. Borrowbox, I don't know about. So of the three, RBDigtial is not an issue.

Cloud library uses Adobe DRM.

And adding FReading to the list, it uses ADE.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by CathyA

The announcement from DPLA says "Any titles made available to us will be made accessible in EPUB format through the DPLA Exchange and served to patrons via the SimplyE app." I guess there's some wiggle room in that sentence for a Kindle integration, but it seems more like they are expecting Amazon to fit into their existing ecosystem.

That is what DPLA wants. It doesn't mean that Amazon will agree to it.

It has been over three months since the announcement that they were negotiating and still no agreement.

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

One of those things is not like the other.
Kobo is a genuine global player, and sells at scale. The others? How well do they sell outside their home regions?
Kobo is the only one Amazon needs to consider a real competitor globally.

You fail to mention that almost everyone else is using epub with Adobe DRM (or CareDRM in Europe) and are inherently compatible with each other.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

You fail to mention that almost everyone else is using epub with Adobe DRM (or CareDRM in Europe) and are inherently compatible with each other.

And?
The point of selling hardware (for Amazon) is to sell books to people.
Kobo is the only one from that list who is a genuine competitor.