Oh Amazon

[alanajoli]

When Amazon first said that the Kindle was going to work with Overdrive back in April, I was excited. As a former library staffer, I thought this could only be a win for library users and libraries in general. Good for libraries how, you say? Circulation statistics help libraries get funding, whether those circs are from print books or e-books.

Comments

[green_knight]

Amazon is trying to get a monopoly, which I'm always sceptical of. They've shown time and time again that they're not playing nice - from pulling books from the Kindle without warning, suppressing LGBT books in their rankings, to blocking sales associated with publishers they were in dispute with. And now they're trying even harder to lock people into the Kindle hardware by offering a lending programme that is on contractually very dodgy grounds and impossible to police.

So that's the completely unemotional picture. Whether you like Amazon or not, you have to acknowledge these things (as well as the reports of working conditions, the price wars etc.) Personally, I don't shop at Amazon, but I would not tell an author not to use them, simply _because_ they hold such a big chunk of the market :-(

[alanajoli]

Oh, I'm glad you summed that up so succinctly. I always feel like I can't put it all out there without sounding like there's some bias on my part -- but you're right, those are just the facts.

Do I think the big publishing houses could handle things better in some situations, too? I do. But the word "dodgy" really does sum up a lot of Amazon's business practices to me. And I agree they're a necessary part of the market for authors who are self-publishing, even with all the hijinks, exactly because of their marketshare.

Overdrive usage

[ext_910186]

I've checked out some Kindle books through the library. I don't read them on a Kindle, but on my Kindle for iPad app. I'm not really sure how security could be a concern, given how it's set up. Here's how I've had it work