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Amazon Kindle book lending quietly goes live

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Re: Amazon Kindle book lending quietly goes live

#11

Post by allwein »

allwein wrote: post #7

I think that it's ridiculous that the lent book is unavailable to the original purchaser while it's loaned out. That completely defeats the purpose of an e-book. Edit: Do the downvoters disagree on the benefits of having a book in electronic form? Or do they think that the restrictions are not unreasonable/ridiculous?

I've already confirmed that there is a "work-around" for this. Load the book up on your Kindle (or other device). Disable wireless (or other networking). Then perform the loan from your computer.

This way the book will be available on your device (since it doesn't know it's been lent out) and on your friend's device. Just don't re-enable wireless until you're done with the book or the loan has expired.

This way, at least, I was able to share a book with a friend and we could both read it at the same time to discuss it.

Re: Amazon Kindle book lending quietly goes live

#12

Post by anamax »

allwein wrote: post #7

I think that it's ridiculous that the lent book is unavailable to the original purchaser while it's loaned out. That completely defeats the purpose of an e-book. Edit: Do the downvoters disagree on the benefits of having a book in electronic form? Or do they think that the restrictions are not unreasonable/ridiculous?

How would you suggest that book sellers handle lending.

Note the word "sellers" - they don't make any money from lending, just from selling.

They're really scared that they'll sell one copy and everyone will read that copy (or copies of it).

Note - "they should make less money" isn't an answer.

Re: Amazon Kindle book lending quietly goes live

#13

Post by rit »

allwein wrote: post #7

I think that it's ridiculous that the lent book is unavailable to the original purchaser while it's loaned out. That completely defeats the purpose of an e-book. Edit: Do the downvoters disagree on the benefits of having a book in electronic form? Or do they think that the restrictions are not unreasonable/ridiculous?

Why? Otherwise it's piracy. I can't read my copy of the physical book while my friend is borrowing it.

It is a reasonable compromise between amazon and the publishers that will hopefully become better as time goes by. As the publishers become more and more comfortable with it and less concerned that it will destroy their business (e.g. they'll need to adapt) the restrictions will get lighter, much like they did with iTunes.

Re: Amazon Kindle book lending quietly goes live

#14

Post by allwein »

bbatsell wrote: post #10
allwein wrote: post #7

I think that it's ridiculous that the lent book is unavailable to the original purchaser while it's loaned out. That completely defeats the purpose of an e-book. Edit: Do the downvoters disagree on the benefits of having a book in electronic form? Or do they think that the restrictions are not unreasonable/ridiculous?

The whole point of this feature is to make e-books behave slightly more like real books. As it stands normally, you can't share your purchased e-book with anyone — it's prohibited by the terms of use you signed and enforced by DRM. This allows you to share your e-book like you would share a real book (well, once), wherein you can't read the book after you've loaned it out because...you don't have the book.

I realize the point of the feature, but it really is an anti-feature.

It's like if you weren't allowed to skip tracks on a CD, but had to fast-forward through each individual song so that it would be more like a cassette tape.

Re: Amazon Kindle book lending quietly goes live

#15

Post by rit »

dave1619 wrote: post #9

Can you really loan out a book just once in its lifetime? Or just once every 14 days?

It looks like it depends on the book. The publishers get to set that restriction. If I recall, the same obnoxious restriction was enabled on Nook lending as well.

Hopefully this will lighten as time goes by and the publishers stop being so short sighted. I think they're worried about the loopholes involved such as the turning off wireless with another poster already confirmed works.

Re: Amazon Kindle book lending quietly goes live

#16

Post by rit »

A lot of people are speculating if Amazon came up with these terms or not.

From everything I can find (esp. this article - http://gizmodo.com/5388168/dont-get-too-excited-about-the-no...) the restrictions on Kindle lending are identical to the ones the Nook has (at least when it rolled out).

The B&N site for Nook currently states:

Exclusive LendMe™ Technology NOOK's exclusive LendMe™ technology lets you share favorite books with friends. LendMe™ books can be lent for up to 14 days. Just choose the book you want to share and send it to your friend's NOOK, computer, or handheld device enabled with NOOK software.

It sounds like the publishers are the ones setting the terms.

Re: Amazon Kindle book lending quietly goes live

#17

Post by JunkDNA »

I have recently observed that buying and using ebooks is like being put into a time machine and being forced to re-live the early days of digital music downloads. Do we seriously have to re-learn all those lessons in every single industry that starts to shift to digital content?

Re: Amazon Kindle book lending quietly goes live

#18

Post by allwein »

rit wrote: post #13
allwein wrote: post #7

I think that it's ridiculous that the lent book is unavailable to the original purchaser while it's loaned out. That completely defeats the purpose of an e-book. Edit: Do the downvoters disagree on the benefits of having a book in electronic form? Or do they think that the restrictions are not unreasonable/ridiculous?

Why? Otherwise it's piracy. I can't read my copy of the physical book while my friend is borrowing it. It is a reasonable compromise between amazon and the publishers that will hopefully become better as time goes by. As the publishers become more and more comfortable with it and less concerned that it will destroy their business (e.g. they'll need to adapt) the restrictions will get lighter, much like they did with…

How is it piracy? They would still have the restriction of a single lending for a single 14-day period.

Right now, my girlfriend and I are reading the same physical book. I read it at work over my lunch break and she reads it at night before going to bed. Is this piracy too?

Re: Amazon Kindle book lending quietly goes live

#19

Post by rit »

The sad part of the only lend once restriction that seems to be prevalent is that the most likely side effect of the 14 day loan is using it to get your friends or family hooked on a series.

I just sent my sister a trial loan for the first book in a series I enjoyed and think she will, and I don't really forsee her calling or emailing me to ask for the second book. If she likes it she'll just buy it herself and keep reading.

Being able to loan the book out repeatedly for a good series is likely to generate a LOT of sales for the publishers. But most of them likely don't or won't see that.

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