Lesson learned - library lending

[khintul]

OK, so I'm new to this library lending of ebooks. I got a Sony pocket reader strictly for the purpose of checking out books from my library.

I had checked out 3 books; finished one well before the 14 days had run, returned it to the library when I finished. I didn't delete the book from my reader, and since it still had some time, it was still there.

The remaining two books still had 10 days left on their time but I hadn't finished reading them yet. I went ahead and sent them on back to the library thinking I was doing a good thing. Continued reading, no problem. OK, fine, I think I've got this thing figured out.

Today I got a notice from the library that one of my requests is now ready - I still had 7 days left on the books on my reader that I'd returned. I went ahead and checked out the new book, and after I transferred it to my reader from ADE, then sure enough I wasn't able to read the books with 7 days still left on their time.

I'd thought about this when I went to check out the new book, and since neither of the 2 books I had was terribly thrilling to me I figured this would be my trial to see just how it was going to go; if I lost them the sky wouldn't fall.

So I guess the lesson learned here is, don't return books early unless you've finished, or almost finished, reading them. Also, once you've sent something back early, don't connect the reader to the computer until you're ready to have whatever you've put on there no longer available.

[laughingdragons]

Best thing to do if you do return them early is don't connect your reader to your pc until you do read them. Once you do connect it updates your reader that you returned them.

[SeaBookGuy]

This is not true for audiobooks, by the way. They can be listened-to after expiration.

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

This is not true for audiobooks, by the way. They can be listened-to after expiration.

It is true with Overdrive library audiobooks. It stays on your iPod for weeks or months if you do not plug into your computer. (Use wall chargers)

[CandyDane]

I havent tried it yet, but I THINK if I set Sony's Reader Library not to automatically sync my reader to my computer the library book will be OK until I delete it or manually sync my reader.

That way I can connect my reader to my computer to recharge it without the Reader Library automatically syncing & deleting the library books I haven't finished reading yet.

I can manually add books from my computer to my reader as long as it's only a couple at a time.

Anyone know if I'm right?

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by CandyDane

I havent tried it yet, but I THINK if I set Sony's Reader Library not to automatically sync my reader to my computer the library book will be OK until I delete it or manually sync my reader.

That way I can connect my reader to my computer to recharge it without the Reader Library automatically syncing & deleting the library books I haven't finished reading yet.

I can manually add books from my computer to my reader as long as it's only a couple at a time.

Anyone know if I'm right?

It will be a glorious experiment!

[The Terminator]

I did something like that with the confession by John Grisham, I was number 2 on the list got it after a few days, and then deleted a copy in ade (hadn't plugged my ereader in yet, welllll that was two months ago i just got it now, i was mad

[Doogman]

You can charge your Sony with a wall-wart. No worries about computer sync with this approach.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99760

[tselling]

The whole idea of returning the ebook early is that you are done with it. Like a physical book from the library, you wouldn't return it before you were done reading it (unless you didn't want to finish it). If you lose an ebook from your reader that you didn't return (and didn't expire) then that sounds like a bug with the system.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by khintul

So I guess the lesson learned here is, don't return books early unless you've finished

That's a good lesson for paper books too

[Anthem]

Originally Posted by khintul

So I guess the lesson learned here is, don't return books early unless you've finished, or almost finished, reading them.

The amount of sense this makes is mind-boggling. Truly.

[GraceKrispy]

Originally Posted by CandyDane

I havent tried it yet, but I THINK if I set Sony's Reader Library not to automatically sync my reader to my computer the library book will be OK until I delete it or manually sync my reader.

That way I can connect my reader to my computer to recharge it without the Reader Library automatically syncing & deleting the library books I haven't finished reading yet.

I can manually add books from my computer to my reader as long as it's only a couple at a time.

Anyone know if I'm right?

Didn't work that way for me. I discovered this "trick" of returning but still reading soon after I started checking out library books, but when I hooked up to my computer again, the book became unreadable (protected page). I only use manual sync. It just "knows"

One other trick is that if your time is up and you are close to finishing the book, you can continue reading it on you reader as long as you don't "exit" the book. If you put it into sleep mode with the book still opened, you can continue reading it until you back out of the book, even after the expiration date. That came in very handy when the return date came and I was just pages away from finishing.

I did a lot of experimenting early on

[khintul]

Originally Posted by GraceKrispy

Didn't work that way for me. I discovered this "trick" of returning but still reading soon after I started checking out library books, but when I hooked up to my computer again, the book became unreadable (protected page). I only use manual sync. It just "knows"

One other trick is that if your time is up and you are close to finishing the book, you can continue reading it on you reader as long as you don't "exit" the book. If you put it into sleep mode with the book still opened, you can continue reading it until you back out of the book, even after the expiration date. That came in very handy when the return date came and I was just pages away from finishing.

I did a lot of experimenting early on

I'm experimenting here too - I also only use manual sync; don't use the Sony Library at all, just ADE.

My thought process in returning early was that once I had the book on my reader it would stay active for the allowed time, and by going ahead and returning I could free up a copy for the next person in line, while still being able to finish reading the book.

I've used Overdrive audio books for several years, and once I've downloaded the audiobook to the mp3 player it stays there until I delete it, but the audiobooks have no option for early return.

Experimenting will continue.

[khintul]

Originally Posted by CandyDane

I havent tried it yet, but I THINK if I set Sony's Reader Library not to automatically sync my reader to my computer the library book will be OK until I delete it or manually sync my reader.

That way I can connect my reader to my computer to recharge it without the Reader Library automatically syncing & deleting the library books I haven't finished reading yet.

I can manually add books from my computer to my reader as long as it's only a couple at a time.

Anyone know if I'm right?

I don't think you are - I'm not using the Sony Reader library at all, and only manually drag the book from ADE to my reader. I think connecting your reader to your computer at all will cause the book to be unreadable.

It's a simple matter to charge the reader without any use of the computer, but you wouldn't be able to add any books without rendering the previous books unreadable if their time had expired.