If you are in the market for an e-book, do not have the disposable income and/or desire to purchase all your e-books and are an avid library user, I strongly advice against purchasing any version of Amazon’s Kindle. Although I am not a technology aficionado or an expert on e-books, I am librarian who frequently disappoints enthusiastic new Kindle owners when I tell them that they cannot download our library’s e-books. The general assumption from patrons both in-person and on message boards is that somehow library technology is behind the times and needs to catch up to modern day conveniences.
This is simply not the case: Libraries are not lagging. Amazon just does not play well with others. There are two reasons why e-books from major e-content distributors for libraries will not work with the Kindle.
1. Library loaned e-books are available as EPUB books, which are not compatible with the Kindle, but can be used on Sony Reader and the Barnes & Noble Nook.
2. The Kindle does not support the Digital Rights Management software that is produced by Overdrive (one of the most commonly used e-book distributors for libraries).
Both of these issues could be resolved if Amazon was willing to corporate with outside vendors, but at this point, Amazon has no plans to fix either issue. However, Amazon has made an announcement that they will not sue libraries for purchasing Kindles and Kindle books in order to lend them to their patrons. Amazon states that this violates their Terms of Service Agreement, but they will cut libraries a break. How generous of Amazon to not sue non-profit libraries that are paying full retail price for their products because they won’t allow library e-books to work on their products. Even Apple, the most proprietary company on the planet, allows some Overdrive and NetLibrary products to operate on their devices.
When it comes down to it, consumers have many choices and there plenty of e-book gurus out there that will happily break down every make and model of every eBook reader on market. A plethora of reviews and comparisons exist to tell you about design, content, screen size, resolution, product weight, battery life and memory. If you are in the market for eBook reader, check out those reviews to find the product that best serves your needs. But if are a library user who believes that you should be able to use your tax dollars to access both print and electronic resources, please select any of the fine e-book readers out there, other than Amazon’s Kindle.
