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from the today's-borrowers-are-tomorrow's-buyers dept.
In July, Macmillan CEO John Sargent outlined the changes in response to "growing fears that library lending was cannibalizing sales." On September 11, the American Library Association (ALA) started circulating a petition in hopes of pressuring Macmillan to not go through with its plan, which is scheduled to go into effect in November. "To treat libraries as an inferior consumer to the general population, it's the wrong thing to do," said Alan Inouye, director of the Office for Information Technology Policy at the ALA. "Libraries are generally held as amongst the highest esteemed institutions in the community."
"Allowing a library like the Los Angeles Public Library (which serves 18 million people) the same number of initial e-book copies as a rural Vermont library serving 1,200 people smacks of punishment, not support," librarian Jessamyn West wrote on CNN. She also points out that Sargent's claim that apps let people check out books in states and countries where they don't live "betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of how public libraries work." There are a few that let you pay for a library card regardless of where you live, but not many. Digital Trends reached out to Macmillan for comment but did not receive a response.
Source: https://www.digitaltrends.com/news/macmillan-e-books-library-waiting-period/
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Snotnose on Monday September 16 2019, @10:35PM (6 children)
Dad died 18 months ago, I snagged his Kindle. I thought I would hate ereaders, boy was I wrong. I love this thing. But, when it comes to getting stuff from the library there are issues:
1) Most ebooks I want to read have a waiting list.
2) When my ebook is available I have 2 weeks to read it, not the 3 for a normal book.
3) That 2 weeks starts when the ebook is available, not when I "check it out"
4) I can't renew an ebook.
I still read ebooks, I just don't get them from the library anymore.
We won't even get into the assholiness of Kindles won't read epub files natively.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2, Informative) by zoward on Monday September 16 2019, @10:55PM
I sideloaded FBReader on my Kindle Fire. Problem solved.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 17 2019, @12:12AM
My attitude to e-media has evolved into:
"I appreciate that there are production costs, but your marginal costs are zero. You can set it up to be easy, cheap, convenient, and a better experience than piracy OR you can whine about me pirating it."
I still spend well above average on books and music but I will not buy anything with DRM.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday September 17 2019, @02:33PM (2 children)
I'd recommend something like a Nook Simple Touch, if you can get your hands on one. I got mine used and it's worked great for a long time. Reading an e-ink screen is much easier on your eyes than your computer screen's LCD/LED screen. I love the ability to easily load a bunch of ebooks onto my Nook just by plugging it into my computer by USB. Much simpler and less invasive than the Kindle, just e-mail it system. I get why Kindle became king, I just don't like it. Also, there's the Kobo line of E-readers as well, but I've not had any personal experience with them. I'd much sooner get a new Kobo than a Kindle.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 17 2019, @03:44PM
I have a Kobo. I did my research before I bought an e-book and simply bought the best available regardless of price. Two years ago that was the Kobo Aura One. I haven't really checked them lately, they have a new model - the Forma - which looks interesting. Very slightly bigger screen, 8" vs 7.8", but it has the ability to read in landscape mode, which would be good for PDF's.
The Kobos are also waterproof and the only thing they can't read is Amazon's proprietary formats (but calibre can convert them).
(Score: 1) by ncc74656 on Thursday September 19 2019, @07:23PM
I have a Kobo Glo HD...nice, clear hi-res screen, and I can load books into it through Calibre or I can point its web browser at the COPS instance that serves up my Calibre library.
(FWIW, I also picked up a used Kindle Touch dirt-cheap at one point when Amazon changed its DRM scheme, so that I'd continue to have access to purchases. Its serial number is plugged into a Calibre DRM-removal plugin; ebooks can be downloaded to your computer in the older format the Kindle Touch expects, which can still be cracked and converted for the Kobo or other readers. The Kindle doesn't get used nearly as much as a reader.)
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday September 17 2019, @05:55PM
Apparently you need a network connection to manage the rights to the book. I've heard that if you put the kindle into airplane mode it won't disable access until you connect to a network.
(haven't tried it myself)