Posted on 11/22/2011 2:58:42 PM PST by Racehorse
Penguin's security issue was not specified, although it likely refers to piracy concerns. But analyst Avi Greengart said he wondered how much of Penguin's objections have to do with security and how much with the business model of lending titles, especially new titles, through libraries.
The growing availability of e-book titles for borrowing through public libraries has hit a bump. On Tuesday, Penguin Group USA announced it would no longer allow digital editions in any e-format of new titles to become available for library lending -- and it is disabling availability of all titles for lending in Amazon's Kindle format.
SNIP
The availability of e-books on a lending basis to libraries has been rapidly evolving. Several major publishers, including Macmillan and Simon & Schuster, do not license to public libraries, while others have put limits on e-book borrowing through libraries. Only Random House allows e-book lending through libraries without conditions on the number of times a book may be borrowed, or limits on which titles are available.
(Excerpt) Read more at sci-tech-today.com ...
I believe they are talking about libraries specifically, not you lending out things you have purchased.
Did they arrest the penguin?
Oh, I knew that.
I just wasn’t clear in expanding the issue to include individual users. Kinda bothers me I cannot sell, trade or lend books I’ve purchased, simply because they are in an electronic format.
Thanks.
The system used is called Overdrive.com. It operates in conjunction with your local library. I found it’s use unsatisfactory. The waits are long and the checkout times are ofter too short for me.
When it began it offered Kindle compatible material then after a while switched to Nook/Sony only. I gave up on it then.
Kindle does now allow lending of the books you purchase for your reader.
Strange. I guess I’ll stick to books with with binding and paper pages.
I have a Kobo and it has eliminated travelling to the library to borrow and return, late fees, misplaced copies, copies eaten by the dogs and torn apart by the cats, etc. We live far from cities and towns, so it’s a great blessing for us. I listen to borrowed audiobooks on my iPod. It doesn’t get any better for us.
The publishers are doing their best to hinder and attempt to kill the E-Book Market. Their excuse that the reason for the higher price of the books due to materials and printing is being proven to be hollow. Especially when the e-books are just as expensive as the hard backs or a couple of dollars less.
For popular fiction all I buy now is E-books. The limited space I have left is for reference books and “prepping”.
All they will end up doing is driving new authors to self-publish. The prices will go down and there will be more titles available. And with the ability to ‘sample’ the first couple of chapters of a book you can weed out the bad stuff pretty fast and the reading public’s reviews are very helpful too.
There are few things that I need to run out and buy Right Now.
Meanwhile, at Stately Wayne Manor.....
Gee, sounds like they really need those e-books.
“there is an app for that”
seriously, they can’t stop this. These publishers thought they could avoid the same fate as the music industry? they are clueless.
I have not yet purchased an e-reader. Not so interested for myself, as I’m in forums most of the time, but could use a couple for the kids as an extra reading incentive. Can anyone tell me the situation there both with respect to the hardware and childrens’ titles? Library borrowing would be great but I guess it depends on the publisher. Thanks.
Penguin USA seems to agree with you, somewhat. They're offering e-book self-publishing options to writers. Take a look at this article: Penguin moves into self-publishing
"A growing number of authors simply want to go directly to readers with their books. We respect that new reality and the changed landscape that technology has brought to book publishing," said Molly Barton, president of Book Country and Penguin's global digital director. "Self publishing is a trend that isn't going away." Penguin's announcement follows the news last week that Amanda Hocking had become the second self-published writer to sell over 1m ebooks on the Amazon Kindle, after John Locke.
Costing between $99 and $549, depending on whether the writer wants to format their ebook themselves or plump for a "professional print and ebook" option, the Book Country self-publishing option will give writers 70% of the sale price of a book priced above $2.99, and 30% of a book priced between 99c and $2.95.
Yeah, it all starts with a few free ebooks, then you start buying paperbacks and/or hardbacks when the new books come out. All told, these evil capitalists have robbed me of more of my hard-earned money than I care to think about, and of course in return feed my apparently insatiable reading habit.
Additionally, some of the hardbacks we've purchased come with a CD that contains the entire series on the disk.
Disclaimer: I don't have anything to do with these evil capitalist bastards. I'm just a very satisfied customer who has rewarded them for treating me like a customer, not a thief.
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