11-03-2002, 05:00 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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eBooks You Can Borrow and Lend
http://www.libwise.com/knowbetter/
There is no question about it, the number one usage of my Pocket PC in terms of time is reading, burning a few hours of battery life each day. That can get expensive given the price of some ebooks. KnowBetter.com may have a better way for you to get more ebooks. Just like paper books, you borrow them. For the service to work, you must have MobiPocket reader installed and your MobiPocket personal ID registered with KnowBetter. Their site has full instructions on setting this up.
Now go browse the library and find a book. Select "Borrow" and if the ebook is available, meaning no one else has borrowed it, you will be able to download it. The borrow period is typically 7-14 days, after which the ebook "expires" and is now available for someone else to borrow. You can have 2 books check out at any given time. An added benefit is the ebooks are rated by the patrons of the site which helps you determine if it is one you want to check out or not.
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11-03-2002, 05:23 PM
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Theorist
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 298
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I couldn't be happier.
I was thrilled when I got the email a few weeks ago telling me about the opening of this library. Like Ed, one of the main uses of my PPC is reading (what a joy to know that if I'm going away from home for a week or two, all I need is my PPC instead of a shopping bag full of books)! The cost of new ebooks has been disappointingly expensive though--especially for someone like me used to buying shopping bags full of books at garage sales, library sales, used book stores, or anywhere I could find them.
So of course I immediately joined the library, even though at that point the number of ebooks/stories available was pretty small; I hoped that as the people running the library indicated, if enough others like me were willing to take a chance and join, they would apply the membership fees toward increasing their inventory of ebooks available to loan.
I'm writing to tell you all that my faith in them was not misplaced--the number of ebooks in the library has steadily increased! I am in ebook heaven. 
The only downside at all is that I have to wait the two weeks before I can borrow again if I've taken out my alotted two ebooks. Maybe in the future, they will offer different levels of membership, so voracious readers like me can borrow more often, or more at a time.
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11-03-2002, 06:10 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 1,023
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Sounds cool, I'm willing to give it a shot. I've been hoping something like this would come along.
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11-03-2002, 06:12 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 541
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Sounds cool, but why can only 1 person borrow a book at a time? I would think that is one of the benefit of e-books, no need to make copies.
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11-03-2002, 06:38 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 495
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i second sponge's comments... and add some more
it does sound like a great idea, but limiting the number of borrowers for each book seems like it would be a big problem, especially for new titles.
i also just want to take a moment to vent about how some companies use technology as an opportunity to rip off customs:
1. book publishers -- ebook creation and distribution seems like it would be much simpler and cheaper than traditional books. Yet publishers just whine about copy write protection and at the same time, what little they do publish in ebook form, they triple the costs. WHY????
this is especially true for medical texts which are a perfect match more handhelds -- they are to large to carry around except in electronic form -- they need to be searched -- and yet they charge an easy 50 bucks more for it. LAME :!:
this also reminds me of when music CD's came out and record companies decided this was the opportunity to double the cost of music, while production costs per CD was much less (like pennies per disc)... JERKS
2. banks -- now many banks offer online statements -- but they often CHARGE FOR IT??? (my bank charges $7 per month). it lets them fire the people who answer the phones, gives them the option to stop their monthly statement printing and mailings and yet they use it as one more opportunity to rip off customers. GRRRRRR :evil:
ok, sorry for ranting. but in the case of ebooks it is clear that book publishers arent excited about handhelds -- they occassionally test the waters with a morsal here or there and they rip people off in the process.
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11-03-2002, 06:40 PM
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Theorist
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 298
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by sponge
Sounds cool, but why can only 1 person borrow a book at a time? I would think that is one of the benefit of e-books, no need to make copies.
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DRM/Copyright issues!
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11-03-2002, 07:55 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by sponge
Sounds cool, but why can only 1 person borrow a book at a time? I would think that is one of the benefit of e-books, no need to make copies.
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No different than a DVD, VHS tape or a book at the library. The place can own X copies, whatever they buy. Then only that amount can be checked out. If they just let everyone and their grandmother borrow at the same time, it isn't at all like a paper book that can only be used by one person at a time.
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11-03-2002, 08:48 PM
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Magi
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,341
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As to why ebooks are as expensive as they are.... I did an interview with Peter Fry, and Lee Fyock of Palm Digital Media, better known as Peanut Press a while back. I asked them this question. Their response was that they pay the publishers the same price as a bricks and mortar bookstore does. They don't have the cost of running a store, but they do have to run multiple servers, format all the books, sell them, collect money, pay the utility bills, staff, lawyers, accountants....and so on.
If you now compare the sales of Peanut Press to the average single book store, the single book store probably sales many more books in a year then Peanut Press does. So, economies of scale really come into play. The number of profit dollars from someone like Peanut Press are still very small.
I do agree though, that ebooks really do need to have some price adjustment if they are going to really be accepted by many more people. I realize there is an argument to be made for narrower profit margins, hence higher gross sales, and perhaps higher net profit.
They also made the point of telling everyone to let the publishers know that we want more ebooks. It starts with the publishers embracing ebooks and making them available.
As for Digital Rights Management Peanut Press has never had a problem with a publisher that is willing to sell ebooks not embracing their method of authentication. Anyone who has used it knows that it is HUGELY BETTER than Microsoft Reader. So, DRM doesn't seem to cause quite the paranoia with some book publishers as it does with other media. Although it does exist. Many publishers simply won't sell ebooks because of the fear of piracy.
A book library such as this one that Ed has pointed us to looks like a great concept. Lets hope it takes off.
Dave
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11-03-2002, 09:06 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 541
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That should be one of the advantages of going digital, not being restricted to one copy, and that's a disadvantage of dead-tree libraries, only one person can take out a book at a time. It's not like the file isn't moved from their computer to yours, and you have to send it back after 14 or so days.
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11-03-2002, 09:45 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by sponge
That should be one of the advantages of going digital, not being restricted to one copy.
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Read the copyright notices in any copyrighted ebook. It is for one user to view one at a time. Period. The advantage isn't that they are easily replicated which can violate the copyright and the one-at-a-time-usage-per-copy concept. The advantage of ebooks is they are ultimately portable and never "out of publication."
Letting 2 million people borrow one copy simultaneously even though they only get to keep it two weeks violates so many laws it isn't funny.
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Linear Mode
