Why we chose a Kindle…and about free content.
I had a couple of comments on my last post, 22 things I am going to do now that the library Kindle has arrived. , that I’m addressing here. I didn’t cover those points in my other post as it was getting too long.
Jim asked “why get the Kindle and not another ebook reader?”.
My main reason is that many ebooks are not available to Australians, but Amazon has advertised that they will have a larger range.
I presumed the lack of ebook range was to do with Australia’s restrictions on parallel imports, so no other publisher can sell any version of a work if an Australian publisher is already selling a version of it in our market. If the Australian rights holder did not publish an ebook version, then we could not buy one produced elsewhere. However ebooks are implied not to be covered by parallel importation regulations in the Minister’s press release a fortnight ago announcing that they were not changing the parallel importation provisions,( Regulatory regime for books to remain unchanged).
I found it impossible to find many good, recent fiction ebooks available to Australians when I tried to buy some in July. I tried to buy from several sites Sarah Waters’ The Little Stranger as an ebook to read on my iPhone. Although I used Paypal – and at one shop I used store-specific vouchers bought with my Paypal account – I was unable to complete my purchase and download. For all stores I received a message that the credit card was Australian and I was prevented by law from downloading that work. Fellow Australian librarian, Kate Davis, reports that she has only had success with downloading some items for her Sony ebook reader if she uses vouchers that a friend has purchased in the US then sent to her.
I have discovered that many of the most requested items in our libraries are still not available to Australia from Amazon’s Kindle store, but the range is better than what was previously available.
In my ebook session for the public, I aim to point them toward the Mobileread E-book reader matrix that compares all the ebook readers on the market. I want to tell them that the Kindle is not the only alternative, and particularly compare using the Kindle to getting ebooks on the iPhone and straight to the computer.
An unexpected discovery since I’ve been using the Kindle is how easy it is to add works to it from the Kindle store. I think this would be an advantage for people who were unsure about technology but through disability, for example, wanted some of the features of an ebook reader. To get books onto my iPhone, I download them to my computer, open them in the Stanza computer ap and then transfer them to my iPhone – many steps that require more tech knowledge than needed to buy for the Kindle from Amazon. For the Kindle I find the title by searching the store, click on it and it is delivered via wireless. Looking at the E-book reader matrix, it seems that most ebook readers sold in Australia need their contents transferred via computer.
I agree that the Nook looks great – but again it’s not planned to be marketed in Australia any time soon. We are not buying the Kindle because we think it is the best ebook reader possible, but to help our community learn how to connect to content available to them via ebooks – and it’s a tool that is easily available now.
missioncreep, in what is possibly an automated spam promotion for one of the sites mentioned in the comments, suggests several useful sites to get free content.
Again, free content for ebook readers is something I want to promote in my session about ebooks for the public. I only realised a couple of months ago that Kindles allowed content from outside Amazon. My cynicism about Digital Rights Management made me presume that it would only read Amazon’s proprietary .azw formats. This is partly true, as other file formats need conversion via email, but it will read DOC, HTML, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP and PDF . It will also read non-DRM files in other formats.
I want to let users know about sites like Project Gutenburg, which has been going since 1971 and has audiobooks as well as ebooks. I want to point them to sites like AddALL ebooks that allow you to search 30 different sites for ebook titles. If I have time, I am going to get hold of as many different versions of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice that I can find and use that as an example of how the same content can be repackaged in as many places as possible.
I always just download ebooks straight onto my iPod Touch (very painless) – don’t bother with going through the PC first and then transferring. Is there a reason one would use the computer first?
I think this will be a great session for your lucky library users. Those of us who have been using computers for decades often forget that “intuitive” is not true until you have had some experience using a computer. Been helping people who have had very limited experience on a computer lately, and everything needs to be explained/demonstrated. I think there will be an increasing role for public libraries in helping people use technology for access to information. Interesting times ahead! Look forward to hearing how the ebook session (and others you will no doubt run
) goes.
Sounds reasonable to me! Not being “down under” myself, and forgetting that I *know* that companies market different products in different areas of the world, I had no clue that Sony was not sending the Nook there. I would have figured –wrongly– that they would market in the APAC area, which is usually inclusive of Australia, in the first place as that’s where most of Japan’s toys start life. But one has to take into account the laws such as you describe above that would limit the usefulness of this product in the first place.
Well said as usual, Kathryn!
Yeah, we all want devices other than Kindles but there ain’t much we can actually get. Sony is supposed to be releasing one of their ereaders here soon but I’ve not heard when.
missioncreep is not a spammer. missioncreep is a librarian at An Important Library known for its print collections. the sites she has suggested are for *free* material that is in the public domain. not for pricey widgets or fake viagra.
hm. that was supposed to be jokey, but instead sounds snarky. sorry!
Ah – after a few emails back and forth, CW showed me exactly how she was doing this. There is an option to go to “Online Catalogue” under “Library”. It links through to sites like Books on Board and Fictionwise, plus a number of free sites. Nice.
Hi missioncreep. Love it that you cared enough to come back and clarify the lack of snarky intent. Apologies for presuming you were spammy. I followed on of the links on the freekindlebooks site and somehow the Magic Catalogue of Gutenburg books ended up somewhere where I had to pay something – but I can’t replicate that today as the page has changed. Must have been having a fuzzy morning.