Amazon to launch Library Lending

[Ken Stuart]

Your existing collection of downloadable eBooks will be available to Kindle customers. As you add new eBooks to your collection, those titles will also be available in Kindle format for lending to Kindle and Kindle reading apps. Your library will not need to purchase any additional units to have Kindle compatibility. This will work for your existing copies and units.

This can only mean one of two things:

1 - All Kindles and Kindle apps will be updated to read Epub files. This will still be separated out as "for Kindle", possibly for some minor technical differences, but mostly for Marketing reasons - to keep Average Joe blissfully ignorant of the concept of an open format.

OR

2 - The "checking out of a book that is available" will become 100% Accounting. Neither Publishers nor Libraries actually care about the text of the books, they only care about Authors and Titles (and sales). Much like Microsoft Windows, a library buying 3 copies of a Stephen King will actually be buying 3 licenses. Then Overdrive (or even Amazon themselves) can store and serve the actual physical books in whatever format is required by the Patron. Given how small ebooks are, relative to current hard drives and broadband speeds, the actual ebooks for all the Libraries could be stored on a web server in a Janitor's hall closet in Moscow...

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Okay, going from the Overdrive blog post, they are following the logic that the libraries are buying licenses, not files (Baen takes the same position) so the book can be delivered in any format. Simple, straightforward and religion-free.
Epub, mobi, whatever, is irrelevant; what matters is the book, not the format.

Which is very nice, because as formats mature and change libraries won't have to re-buy/license works that they have already paid for... except for that one publisher that wants to limit checkouts for each ebook purchase.

BOb

[SensualPoet]

It's always amusing to see those folks who believe everything Amazon does must be evil, fret again when Amazon does (yet again) something really customer-centric.

Library lending has been the single outstanding ePub differentiator in the market. In all other respects -- depth of catalog, international availability, breadth of devices, platform features -- Kindle is superior on every count. But you couldn't borrow library books because Overdrive -- which manages the relationship between publisher, library and library patron -- developed an ePub solution.

Now Amazon has stepped up and provided Overdrive with a win-win: a seamless back-end solution which allows Kindle platform devices and apps to talk to Overdrive. Presumably there is no cost to Overdrive; and Amazon leverages its Whispersync cloud to deliver content to Kindles and Kindle apps. Amazon made the gamble from day one: your ereader and ereader app must be connected at all times; that is not true of leading competitors like Sony.

Currently, Overdrive hosts everything for libraries, including all content, the delivery costs and the e-mail notification system. All the library does is provide an encrypted link to verify the specific library patron is logged into the delivery page, and manage their own way of creating and maintainig a library account. The library also selects books to be made available and buys licenses accordingly -- all that changes hands is "cash"; Overdrive does all the work.

Back at Overdrive servers, files sent out to Kindles just have a different DRM wrapper on them -- just as its ePubs have a specially DRM warpper than "expires" after a set date. For a Kindle to work with this system, the Kindles will need a small new software patch to receive these books and ensure they expire appropriately. It could be that Kindle library books will reside in a special directory on the Kindle which, when opened, logs into Overdrive to switch content on or off. Whiel Kindles are all connected, their radios can be turned off; the verification on opening may be mandatory. Nuisance? Not really: because the content is delivered directly to your device. With the ePub model, you have to download as ASCM file, transfer this to an ADE reader, and open the file, then move that to your e-reader. Kindle wins that one!

Finally, the Kindle value add: keeping your annotations. There is no Big Brother thing here. The instant a Kindle file is opened on your Kindle, a small text file is created which holds any annotations you might make. That file resides on your device, or can be synced with your account cloud to be shared if you open the same file on another device. The file remains in your account (or on the Kindle you borrowed the library book on) until you manually delete it. If you ever buy the same edition of the book, your annotations are already there. Amazon isn't reading or sharing these notes; end of story.

So: Overdrive wins, Amazon wins, libraries win, the customer wins. Sorry, Sony.

[Zarich]

Plus this will get more people to buy a book. Read a book you love and make notes all over from the library you gonna wanna own it. Now you will buy it from amazon so as not to lose your notes.

[Loosheesh]

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

It's always amusing to see those folks who believe everything Amazon does must be evil, fret again when Amazon does (yet again) something really customer-centric.

Library lending has been the single outstanding ePub differentiator in the market. In all other respects -- depth of catalog, international availability, breadth of devices, platform features -- Kindle is superior on every count. But you couldn't borrow library books because Overdrive -- which manages the relationship between publisher, library and library patron -- developed an ePub solution.

Now Amazon has stepped up and provided Overdrive with a win-win: a seamless back-end solution which allows Kindle platform devices and apps to talk to Overdrive. Presumably there is no cost to Overdrive; and Amazon leverages its Whispersync cloud to deliver content to kindles and Kindle apps. Amazon made the gamble from day one: your ereader and ereader app must be connected at all times; that is not true of leading competitors like Sony.

Currently, Overdrive hosts everything for libraries, including all content, the delivery costs and the e-mail notification system. All the library does is provide an encrypted link to verify the specific library patron is logged into the delivery page, and manage their own way of creating and maintainig a library account. The library also selects books to be made available and buys licenses accordingly -- all that changes hands is "cash"; Overdrive does all the work.

Back at Overdrive servers, files sent out to Kindles just have a different DRM wrapper on them -- just as its ePubs have a specially DRM warpper than "expires" after a set date. For a Kindle to work with this system, the Kindles will need a small new software patch to receive these books and ensure they expire appropriately. It could be that Kindle library books will reside in a special directory on the Kindle which, when opened, logs into Overdrive to switch content on or off. Whiel Kindles are all connected, their radios can be turned off; the verification on opening may be mandatory. Nuisance? Not really: because the content is delivered directly to your device. With the ePub model, you have to download as ASCM file, transfer this to an ADE reader, and open the file, then move that to your e-reader. Kindle wins that one!

Finally, the Kindle value add: keeping your annotations. There is no Big Brother thing here. The instant a Kindle file is opened on your Kindle, a small text file is created which holds any annotations you might make. That file resides on your device, or can be synced with your account cloud to be shared if you open the same file on another device. The file remains in your account (or on the Kindle you borrowed the library book on) until you manually delete it. If you ever buy the same edition of the book, your annotations are already there. amazon isn't reading or sharing this notes; end of story.

So: Overdrive wins, Amazon wins, libraries win, the customer wins. Sorry, Sony.

Like we say in my neck of the woods, "what more do you want, rice and chicken?"

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Zarich

Plus this will get more people to buy a book. Read a book you love and make notes all over from the library you gonna wanna own it. Now you will buy it from amazon so as not to lose your notes.

I agree.. this can only sell more books. To both libraries and to customers.

BOb

[ProfCrash]

Originally Posted by Zarich

Plus this will get more people to buy a book. Read a book you love and make notes all over from the library you gonna wanna own it. Now you will buy it from amazon so as not to lose your notes.

There is a website that you can go to that lets you seeall of your notes and bookmarks. So you should be able to check your notes from a library book without the book being on your device.

I think.

If not, and you think the notes are important, you can copy them into a word document and save them that way, before the book goes away.

[Shack70]

Wow! I'm very excited, out library just got eBooks this month and I was disappointed that my Kindle could not use them.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

For a Kindle to work with this system, the Kindles will need a small new software patch to receive these books and ensure they expire appropriately.

It's not big deal if it does, but I really don't think any software patch is even necessary. Amazon has already moved to a per book PID for it's DRM... and after twiddling the PID key, time-sensitive DRM always did function on the Kindle. Just have to give Overdrive access to Whispernet and the DRM server. Overdrive library mobi's on Kindles is not a new concept. They're just removing the last remaining hurdle that readers faced when trying to read library mobi's in the past. Plus integrating seamlessly with existing library catalogs. No fiddling necessary--everyone can play.

Everything's already in place, they just have to build a few back-end on-ramps. It's almost as if they planned it this way.

[tomsem]

I was concerned that they would need to license the different formats separately, thereby generating contention for scarce resources, but that appears not to be the case. This is really great!

I hope Overdrive will have a suitable web interface so that Kindle owners (K2 on) can access the library portal efficiently and download directly to their Kindles using the (still experimental) browser. I doubt Amazon is going to add a 'borrow this book for free' button to the Kindle Store pages. '

In answer to a previous question, Adobe does make money from fulfilling ebook transactions with Adobe Content Server (the backend of all Adobe DRM ebook storefronts and of Overdrive ePub/PDF borrowing). Not sure if the same rate schedules apply to both. I assume Amazon makes money on Mobipocket library borrowing (since they'd need to supply the device authorization from their servers) and assume the same will be true of Kindle format borrowing.

So: Overdrive pays the publisher for royalties on sales; they pay Adobe and Amazon for licensing their DRM.

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Okay, going from the Overdrive blog post, they are following the logic that the libraries are buying licenses, not files (Baen takes the same position) so the book can be delivered in any format. Simple, straightforward and religion-free.
Epub, mobi, whatever, is irrelevant; what matters is the book, not the format.

That has to make JSWolf very happy.

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by Ken Stuart

This can only mean one of two things:

1 - All Kindles and Kindle apps will be updated to read Epub files.

I doubt seriously that they will upgrade the G1 Kindles in any significant way. This is making use of capabilities that those devices already have...

[MrsJoseph]

This really makes me want a kindle now...

...I'm still concerned about privacy issues with Kindle, but this makes me a lot of happy.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by tomsem

I hope Overdrive will have a suitable web interface so that Kindle owners (K2 on) can access the library portal efficiently and download directly to their Kindles using the (still experimental) browser. I doubt Amazon is going to add a 'borrow this book for free' button to the Kindle Store pages. '

This is what I'm hoping for as well - a direct portal via the Kindle. But even if that's not the case, I'm very happy about this latest development.

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

This really makes me want a kindle now...

...I'm still concerned about privacy issues with Kindle, but this makes me a lot of happy.

You're concerned about Kindle's privacy issue but not about privacy while browsing?

You'll be amazed about the amount of information that companies are collecting from us via Internet, even while using your cellphone. I do have an Apache Web Server at home with my own webpage and there are a lot information that "legally", is left there after each user's visit.

Overall, the Kindle is a safe device, in terms of privacy. And besides collecting my book preferences or credit card information, I don't think they can sneak anything else. I don't care too much if they read or can know the non Amazon books I have on my Kindle. I paid for those anyway on Oreilly and other bookstores so that's not a big deal to me.