The Kindle will be getting library book support in 2011. Amazon hasn’t specified a date but has said that it is working with Overdrive, and that Kindle library book support will become a reality in 2011 itself.
All Kindles and all Kindle reading devices will get support for library books. You’ll be able to add notes and highlights and bookmarks to library books and those will be saved for later. The point of that is lost to me - Except that it adds an incentive to buy the book from Amazon.
Kindle Library Book Support – the Good
- It’s really good that all Kindles get this. It would be terrible if any Kindles were left out.
- It’s impressive that even Kindle reading apps will get this.
- By working with OverDrive Amazon gets Kindle library book support for a very large number of libraries. There are over 11,000 public and educational libraries covered in the US.
- Notes and highlights will be available later. If you check out the same library book again – you get all your notes back. If you buy the book from Amazon – you get all your notes back.
- [Assumption] You’ll be able to read library books across your Kindle and your Kindle reading apps.
If this were Apple Steve Jobs would be talking about how it might be 2 years late but the feature is done right. Have to admit that it is done pretty well – not perfect, but close.
Kindle Library Book Support – the Bad
- No Date is given. It might be October or November before the feature is available.
- No ePub support. It’s pretty clear that ePub might never get added to the Kindle.
- Notes are only accessible if you buy the book from Amazon, or if you check out the book again.
- You are limited by - the range of ebooks your library has, how many people want the same ebook.
Kindle library book support is arriving 2 years too late. However, at least it’s arriving and it’s definitely well thought out.
Filed under: kindle
About time!
Are we able to get audio books from the library also and have the author read the books instead of the kindle computer voice. It is very frustrating to hear the words jumbled together, it looses the flavor of the books.
No idea.
You already can get the MP3 audiobooks off of Overdrive and play them on the kindle. You just have to connect the kindle to your computer and transfer it.
Yaaaaaaay! I never really thought I’d see the day!
Awesome! I hope there is text-to-speech support!
This is a bit surprising. The question that needs asking is which books? Will it include the Big 6 or will these only be smaller publishers/selfpublishers? If the latter it is rather less interesting.
If libraries need to buy each book in two formats now then the financial implication for them is dire.
[...] Kindle Library Book support in 2011 – Overdrive powered Kindle Library Books [...]
A week or two ago Switch argued that Amazon was facing the loss of millions of potential customers due to not having a tablet/reader like the Color Nook to counter B&N’s incursion. I think this can be viewed as a response to that threat. I think it will be very effective. (I’ve just this hour converted my sister & niece from their plans to buy a Nook as a result of this announcement. And I suspect some Nook owners are having cases of buyer’s remorse.)
However, as both Switch and I have contended in the past, buyers who are focused on freebies aren’t the desirable slice of the market for future book sales. And “Free” is a threat to Amazon’s book sales — and ultimately to everyone — if Amazon and professional authors can’t make money selling books.
Regarding #2 no epub support under “the bad” — doesn’t this development make epub support even less of an issue now?
And we don’t really know that there’s no epub support. Nothing’s been mentioned about it in Amazon’s press release.
Amazon may be going any number of routes with regard to epub: (1) continuing to ignore epub as they’ve always done, (2) eventually allowing epub on the Kindle, or (3) secretly converting all their books in mobi format to epub even right now.
Who knows, but I think epub is becoming less and less of an issue.
ePub is less of an issue – definitely. Library book supports removes the #1 reason to add ePub and 75% of the benefit (or to be more precise it satisfies 75% or more of customers).
Amazon might add ePub but adding ePub turns Kindles intro dumb machines. And shifts the money to other stores. No reason at all to add it.
Even adding library support is a strange choice. It suggests that Amazon is very wary of Nook Color.
I don’t think adding library support is strange, but strategic. I’ve known folks who decided on nooks instead of Kindles strictly because of the library issue.
This also affects schools wanting to adopt an ereader device. If the school librarian lobbies for the nook because books can be checked out to it, Amazon loses. While Amazon has a significant lead in the ebook market now, that could change if libraries and and academic institutions begin adopting a different platform.
Plus, Amazon only stands to win. Who’s going to buy a Kindle and ONLY check out free books from the library. Very few. As most of us who would read this blog know–it’s simply too easy to buy a new book on the Kindle. I know for certain that I spend more on books now than I ever did before (and I always bought a lot of books even before the Kindle).
Under “the Bad,” you wrote: “Notes are only accessible if you buy the book from Amazon, or if you check out the book again.”
I did not get that understanding from anything yet that I have read, from various sources. You should still be able to view your notes online at Amazon, since they are saving them for you. I can’t imagine Amazon holding your own notes hostage until you acquire the book again (by either borrowing or buying). Your notes are your copyright-protected material and are not Amazon’s to control. You may not be able to see your note in context of the book text (the link to “Read more at location x”), but I would think you could still read and edit your notes.
“You should still be able to view your notes online at Amazon, since they are saving them for you.”
But you can’t read the notes you’ve made to books not purchased from Amazon online, so why should it be different for library book notes, which are also non-Amazon items? (Notes would probably be available only in the My Clippings file, as is current practice with non-Amazon items.)
Bev, the lock-in is that those notes won’t be transferable to a book you buy from any other store. So if you want to continue reading the book, and also have access to your notes in the book, you would need to buy the Kindle.
Yay! As a librarian (and library patron), I can tell you that the future of public libraries is in serious jeopardy. IMHO, this development is a win-win situation. It is a constructive avenue for both libraries and Kindle. It will allow libraries the use of the most popular ereader on the market and it will be a great additional feature for the Kindle.
I don’t think it will impact Kindle book sales at all. People who buy books are going to continue to buy books regardless of this feature. But now Kindle will be open to a new market, people who don’t buy books! That coupled with the current low priced Kindle could be marketing gold. Sometimes you have to give a little to get a whole lot more.
I agree in part. Now that the Kindeal will be used to push Amazon’s W00T of the day, etc. to buyers, it makes sense to get it into everybody’s hands.
But I still see “Free” as a threat to the book business, long-term. I think that the publishers will ultimately recognize this and stop offering their eBooks via libraries. (Or start charging a quarter to borrowers.) I think they originally offered them to libraries in the hopes of derailing or delaying Amazon’s eBook profitability. Now that eBook sales have risen so fast that they represent a large slice of overall book sales, it’s they who are taking the hit. (Or at least Amazon’s resolution is forcing them to share the pain.)
“Free” can’t be a threat to the book business any more now than it was before there were ebooks.
Libraries, which purchase books from publishers, have been allowing patrons to read them for free since the dawn of printing. The transition to ebooks is not going to change that.
Now whether or not ebooks harm libraries is a different subject. That remains an unknown.
““Free” can’t be a threat to the book business any more now than it was before there were ebooks.”
It can, IMO, because there’s less “friction” involved when borrowing an eBook; i.e., there’s no need to physically pick it up and return it, no need to remember the library’s hours, and no worry about letting a book get overdue, or about damaging or losing it. This increased ease is going to dramatically boost the ratio of borrowed books to bought books.
Something will have to “give” as a result. Perhaps publishers will start asking for a quarter (or more) per borrowed book. That should be worth it to borrowers in exchange for reduced “friction.”
Roger, there’s still only a limited number of copies a library will be allowed to sign out, based on how many copies purchased. Libraries will still budget constraints whether they are buying ebooks or physical books. If a patron can’t get a book quick enough, it’s easier than ever to buy on a Kindle that’s in hand. I think the publishers win here.
Also, I’ve never checked out an ebook from a library, but do libraries allow someone to simply call in or log on to a website and check it out?
If so, I think the threat is not going to be to the publishers, but rather to the libraries themselves. If it doesn’t matter anymore that my -local- library is local, and I can just as easily check out a book from any library elsewhere, the local libraries will be in trouble.
Some publishers are wanting to put a 26 checkout limit on a book and then the library will have to purchase a new copy of the ebook. No one has pushed that through yet, but it is being discussed.
Yes, you check out a book from overdrive on your computer, no trip to library required.
I think that it may not kill libraries because there will still have to be a library in order to check something out, but it may change it. It may be that libraries change their physical open hours or that larger system actually close branches because what at least some patrons are using is a data center (that is off-sourced).
“Roger, there’s still only a limited number of copies a library will be allowed to sign out, based on how many copies purchased.”
Strawman. I didn’t claim there would be NO friction involved in borrowing an eBooks, but that there would be significantly less.
“If a patron can’t get a book quick enough, it’s easier than ever to buy on a Kindle that’s in hand.”
Irrelevant. Before libraries lent eBooks, an impatient reader had more motivation than now to buy a Kindle book. After they began lending eBooks, the motivation was lessened, because the hassle-factor (or friction) involved in borrowing and returning an eBook is less. That’s the relevant comparison: before vs. after. Publishers will see fewer pBook sales now (after), as a result of e-book-borrowing being easier than pBook borrowing. It’s already happening, with adult hardback sales for Feb. 2011 down 25% from a year ago, according to their trade organization.
In addition, there’s the minor point that the waiting period for pBooks is longer, because there’s “overhead” in the delay of shipping the copies around among branches and in scanning returned books into the library’s computer. Again, this reduces the friction in borrowing an e-book.
“I think the publishers win here.”
We’ll know by next year. I suspect what they may eventually do (some of them) is to institute for-pay electronic libraries and cut off sales to physical libraries entirely.
“Also, I’ve never checked out an ebook from a library, but do libraries allow someone to simply call in or log on to a website and check it out?”
You have to have a library card, which usually involves being a local resident and physically filling out an application. (But I believe there are a few libraries that outsiders who are willing to fib have managed to join over the internet.)
“If so, I think the threat is not going to be to the publishers, but rather to the libraries themselves.”
I think they’re both threatened.
Ebooks are acquired and lent by libraries in a similar manner as print books, albeit electronically. While the electronic process might involve less “friction,” the borrower is still bound by many of the same limitations (in some cases maybe even more) than checking out a print equivalent.
Libraries’ ebook catalogs are still very small but I think they must continue to grow for libraries to stay in “business.” With diminishing budgets and patronage, if libraries can stay the course (electronically) and survive, the Kindle lending feature can only have a positive impact.
And without reiterating previous arguments, Kindle book sales will not be affected negatively. I think there’s potential for a boost in sales.
How publishers handle growth in ebook lending and sales is another matter. If they’re smart, they’ll learn how to embrace the inevitable electronic future the same way the music industry was forced to.
BTW, subscription (for profit) ebook lending libraries already exist. I’ve never used one myself but they must offer some value above public libraries to attract customers, right?
Roger, my statements are neither straw men, nor irrelevant simply because you disagree and label them such. I would hope we could have discussion of a subject without resorting to such rhetoric.
My main point is simply that I don’t think ebooks in libraries are going to take away from publishers’ profits any more than physical books did.
And my other point is simply that if anyone is harmed by ebooks, it may be the local libraries, or perhaps, more specifically, the local library branches. We may have fewer of these eventually if ebooks are a hit.
But libraries really don’t have any choice do they? They must adapt to new mediums, while at the same time holding on to the previous methods.
Of course, none of this is going to happen overnight. Libraries are threatened more by tightening budgets and continued competition for people’s attention in the entertainment-driven society in which we live.
The library of today, other than the added presence of computers, is not that different from libraries of generations past. However, my hunch is that the library of fifty years from now will look very different from the libraries of today.
I can tell you that I very much look forward to the day when inter-library loan becomes instantaneous as a book simply appears on my Kindle and then disappears when its due. And from that standpoint, I’m certain that libraries would much rather spend their budget dollars on procuring new books rather than sending books in the mail.
Knicknknack wrote:
“Ebooks are acquired and lent by libraries in a similar manner as print books, albeit electronically. While the electronic process might involve less “friction,” the borrower is still bound by many of the same limitations (in some cases maybe even more) than checking out a print equivalent.”
For example, he can’t lend an eBook to a friend. OTOH, other members of his family can (I’m assuming) read the book simultaneously on their devices, so it’s a wash.
Perhaps the lending period for an eBook is shorter than for a pBook, but that’s not really a net negative for the borrower, because borrowers of pBooks need to be given some slack time between their finishing the book and their returning it. They can’t just drop it in a pneumatic tube in their house when they’re done. With an eBook the cutoff is automatic–the book just disappears at the end of a set period. But that’s not a bug but a feature, because it eliminates the possibility of incurring a late fee.
On balance, there is much less friction-plus-limitations in borrowing an eBook
“Libraries’ ebook catalogs are still very small but I think they must continue to grow for libraries to stay in “business.” “With diminishing budgets and patronage, if libraries can stay the course (electronically) and survive, the Kindle lending feature can only have a positive impact.”
Library lending of eBooks will enlarge the budgets of central libraries, but it will speed the demise of the branches. On balance, libraries will decline.
“And without reiterating previous arguments, Kindle book sales will not be affected negatively. I think there’s potential for a boost in sales.”
I think there will certainly be a boost in Kindle sales, and consequently in eBook sales, for the next year. But I believe that, after two or two and a half years, eBook sales will be lower in proportion to the number of EBR devices out there than they are now, and than they would have been in the absence of this deal.
“How publishers handle growth in ebook lending and sales is another matter. If they’re smart, they’ll learn how to embrace the inevitable electronic future the same way the music industry was forced to.”
If they’re smart, they’ll do what audiobook vendors are doing, and which a couple of the Big 6 have done, and forbid wireless lending of eBooks.
Here’s one way I suggest that publishers could “embrace the inevitable electronic future”: Provide a way (in cooperation with Amazon) for readers to download a large bundle of book samples in various categories. For example, a bundle of 50 (say) samples of the publishers’ most recent “thrillers,” or biographies, or whatever. Amazon would publicize these offers (amplified by Kindle bloggers) and provide a central web page where they could all be found.
If I got such a bundle I’d surely buy at least one item from it that I wouldn’t have otherwise. This is the only way publishers can effectively (though partially) appeal to bargain-hunting buyers—with a “first chapter is free” strategy that is supplemented with a way to get those first chapters into their hands.
Another suggestion, which I’ve made previously here, is for publishers to sell supplementary material with each book, such as extra illustrations, a collection of a dozen mainstream book reviews, discounted audiobooks, and various ancillary doodads and knickknacks—like maybe a bobble-headed doll of the author. (Just kidding.)
R Mansfield wrote:
“My main point is simply that I don’t think ebooks in libraries are going to take away from publishers’ profits any more than physical books did.”
But that point’s implicit claim that virtual and physical book-lending are equivalent because they’re both about book lending doesn’t stand up to analysis (because there’s much less ‘friction” involved in virtual lending, making it more attractive). And it doesn’t stand up to the test of experience. Here’s one example of such a test of the superficial equivalence of the physical and virtual worlds. The quote is from “Amazonia,” by James Marcus, Ch. 17, location 2394:
“When the project launched … we had nearly three times as many registered customers as eBay. According to conventional wisdom, they would deflect all their auction dollars into our coffers, simply because we were there. That theory worked, at least to some degree, in a physical store…. but in a virtual setting, where the competition was literally at the customer’s fingertips, the theory collapsed. Our so-called loyalists took their business elsewhere.”
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“Roger, my statements are neither straw men, nor irrelevant simply because you disagree and label them such.”
I didn’t simply label them as such. Each label was followed by a (non-rhetorical) justification.
You missed out a fairly big Bad: US only.
Not that it matters too much to me, as none of the my local libraries do ebook lending anyway.
Re the notes being kept and readable if you re-borrow the book:
There’s a time limit for each loan, so if you don’t finish within that time limit, you can borrow the book again, even if you have to go to the back of the line.
When you continue, during the 2nd library loan, your annotations will still be there.
I do like that. It even half-encourages borrowing.
I think this is more about publicity and countering the Nook than anything else. People clammored for borrowing too. So I set up a second on my blog for people to find lendable books and borrow them from me. It has been there for a couple months and has lots of hits, but the only people that borrowed are a couple of personal friends.