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Amazon to add "lending" feature to Kindle

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Re: Amazon to add "lending" feature to Kindle

#31

Post by jonhendry »

ecaron wrote: post #12

As long as the publishers have a say, this feature doesn't matter. Don't believe me? Look at the Nook. I've bought over 30 books on it, 2 of them have the LendMe feature. For books I expect to share and re-read, I'm back to the physical copy. The only new ebooks I'm getting are the disposable fiction stories; which is probably the business model Amazon/BN have in mind and why we're still years away from a reasonable…

It's a feature list checkbox. Now Amazon can say they also have a lending feature, and the Nook loses that advantage.

The more important news, to me, is that they're now going to let you get subscribed magazines and newspapers in the kindle apps. Right now those only work with kindle hardware.

Re: Amazon to add "lending" feature to Kindle

#32

Post by jamesbritt »

michaelchisari wrote: post #6

I recognize that I'm posting an article by Cracked here, but anybody who's a regular reader knows that Cracked hits the nail on the head at least 2% of the time. They recently had an article about the future and artificial scarcity (using a colorful acronym), and this is a perfect example. You don't have to "lend" books, you can just make a digital copy and give it to your friend. Anything less than that is software…

"A. Why can't the library just buy as many digital copies as are needed for the customers, and keep them forever, if they don't naturally degrade?"

My local library offers assorted e-books. Every so often, when I've tried to request one, I was told I had to wait until someone else "returned" their copy.

Re: Amazon to add "lending" feature to Kindle

#33

Post by rwhitman »

sliverstorm wrote: post #30
rwhitman wrote: post #28

Most of my personal library is comprised of books I was given free or bought used in the $.50 - $6.00 range. On average I've read about 20% of each. What I can't get around with the Kindle is the idea of paying $10 for a digital copy of something I could find either for free or really cheap, that I probably won't even read anyway. Not to mention you can't give away or sell a copy of a kindle book to someone else afte…

One wonders then why you do not resent the iTunes store. After all, you can get vinyls and cassette tapes for next to nothing at thrift stores these days.

I do, kinda. Lets just say that I haven't paid for music in quite some time.. and when I did it was always CDs, I've bought maybe one album digitally.

Its not the idea of paying that bothers me so much as the price point. I know damn well there's nowhere near the overhead costs to digital distribution that there are to printing, publishing and retail, why am I only getting a $5.00 discount? Popular digital books and MP3 albums could cost $2 and still be profitable...

Not to mention that I can't resell or exchange the digital copies like I could physical media, so there's no longterm value. If you consume as much media as I do you'll quickly go broke if you were to pay what they wanted, and not be able to at least recoup some of the value in tradeins.

$9.00+ for digital DRMed media is a total ripoff.

Re: Amazon to add "lending" feature to Kindle

#34

Post by netcan »

patio11 wrote: post #23

Lending ebooks is a feature demanded mostly by people who don't pay money for ebooks (and don't pay money for movies, music, or videogames if they can possibly avoid it) and will not be induced to pay money by the feature.

Sounds right to me. Do you have any evidence that this is true or does it just sound right?

Re: Amazon to add "lending" feature to Kindle

#35

Post by emmett »

patio11 wrote: post #23

Lending ebooks is a feature demanded mostly by people who don't pay money for ebooks (and don't pay money for movies, music, or videogames if they can possibly avoid it) and will not be induced to pay money by the feature.

This is patently false. My girlfriend owns a Kindle, she buys books at a very good rate (among other media), and she wants to be able to lend her ebooks.

Lending books is part of book culture! I don't own a Kindle yet specifically because half the reason I buy books is to lend or give them to friends. Sharing books is one of the greatest joys of reading. Everyone who shares is not a pirate.

I generally agree with you that people who complain about media costing money are not useful as customers. But there is a world of difference between not wanting to pay and wanting to be able to lend and give what you buy.

Re: Amazon to add "lending" feature to Kindle

#36

Post by htsh »

jules wrote: post #8
michaelchisari wrote: post #6

I recognize that I'm posting an article by Cracked here, but anybody who's a regular reader knows that Cracked hits the nail on the head at least 2% of the time. They recently had an article about the future and artificial scarcity (using a colorful acronym), and this is a perfect example. You don't have to "lend" books, you can just make a digital copy and give it to your friend. Anything less than that is software…

F. Waaaaaaaaait a second. Why would the author write a book of which he can only sell 1 copy? There is no book.

1. Speaking tours make money. Conferences make money, etc.

2. Fame, recognition, i.e. non-monetary benefits to being a good writer.

3. At least some people write because they believe what they have to say is important and/or helpful.

4. People will always want to own physical books. This is different than music or a dvd as a book can be passed-on/gifted much easier than a DVD or a CD, which will be obsolete.

I can see both arguments, but I'm definitely not worried about the possibility that people will stop writing books.

Re: Amazon to add "lending" feature to Kindle

#37

Post by yellowbkpk »

dlsspy wrote: post #3

Why can't we model it like a real book? Even if they limit it to owner -> borrower -> owner, it'd be great to just not have time limits. A market will be created in any case.

Because the current model makes them more money? If you can't sell your eBook to your neighbor then your neighbor will (probably) buy it for full eBook price. Boom two sales.

(Hey I don't believe it'll work, it's only what I think the publisher execs are thinking.)

Re: Amazon to add "lending" feature to Kindle

#38

Post by potatolicious »

emmett wrote: post #35
patio11 wrote: post #23

Lending ebooks is a feature demanded mostly by people who don't pay money for ebooks (and don't pay money for movies, music, or videogames if they can possibly avoid it) and will not be induced to pay money by the feature.

This is patently false. My girlfriend owns a Kindle, she buys books at a very good rate (among other media), and she wants to be able to lend her ebooks. Lending books is part of book culture! I don't own a Kindle yet specifically because half the reason I buy books is to lend or give them to friends. Sharing books is one of the greatest joys of reading. Everyone who shares is not a pirate. I generally agree with you…

I agree with patio11 but with a caveat: lending, in the way it is to be implemented on the Kindle, and is already implemented on the Nook, is a feature demanded by pirates more than customers.

Why? Because books can only be lent once. Ever.

This makes the feature almost useless for legitimate consumers, but for non-DRMed files (on the Nook anyways) the lending feature is non-crippled, and (rightly) can occur as many times as the user pleases.

Personally I think it's a load of crap that the lending feature is crippled in such a way, but the fact of the matter is, the only people happy with the existing way lending works are the people who aren't encumbered by it - i.e., the people who never actually deal in purchased/DRMed ebook material.

Re: Amazon to add "lending" feature to Kindle

#39

Post by jedberg »

glhaynes wrote: post #13
secretasiandan wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

G. Waaaaaaaaaaaait a second. People currently write books and software and distribute them free.

Out of the books I've read in the last 5 years, I believe the only ones that were free were those whose copyright had expired. Yes, there's lots of good free software, but that's most often because the software, once written, scratched an itch for someone. The same phenomenon doesn't really exist with books: nearly nobody writes books for themselves; we write books to share our knowledge, stories, and opinions with o…

I'm sure if you ask Jessica why she wrote founders at work, it was more about sharing knowledge than making money.

Re: Amazon to add "lending" feature to Kindle

#40

Post by glhaynes »

jedberg wrote: post #39
glhaynes wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of the books I've read in the last 5 years, I believe the only ones that were free were those whose copyright had expired. Yes, there's lots of good free software, but that's most often because the software, once written, scratched an itch for someone. The same phenomenon doesn't really exist with books: nearly nobody writes books for themselves; we write books to share our knowledge, stories, and opinions with o…

I'm sure if you ask Jessica why she wrote founders at work, it was more about sharing knowledge than making money.

Yes, but that doesn't mean it's not at all about money or that she could have even feasibly done it if she didn't get paid at all.

For many people, while writing may not be their only job, they still need that part of their income.

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