Sunday, October 25, 2009

So much angst!

Posted by Unknown at 10:02 AM
So I've spent much of my weekend playing on the BN site and following the discussion about the nook. I'm flabbergasted by the number of people who are "up in arms" over BN restrictions on lending. Some people are saying they are going to cancel their "nook" order. What?! What other ereader will you purchase....because no one else allows you to share at all. (And I don't count Amazon's sharing policy since it restricts you to devices on your account.)

The Barnes and Noble nook ebook FAQ says "Yes. With our new LendMe™ technology, you can now share from nook to nook. But it doesn’t stop there. Starting Nov. 30th, you can lend to and from any device with the Barnes & Noble eReader app, including PC, Mac OS®, BlackBerry®, iPhone™ and iPod® touch. All you need to know is your friend’s email address. You can lend many of your eBooks one time for a maximum of 14 days. When you use our LendMe™ technology, you will not be able to read your eBook while it is on loan, but you always get it back."

  1. The duration (14 days) restriction ensures that you get the book back. How many of us have lent a book only to have it never return. 14 days seems like a reasonable initial duration to pass a book on. The limit is probably driven by both BN and publishers.
  2. AT THIS TIME, BN is limiting the number of times a book can be passed on to ONCE. Okay, this is a bit disappointing but ONE time is one more time than I can pass on the 195 Amazon Kindle ebooks that I own.
    Yes, I know I can share books on Amazon with others on my account. But I refuse to share my account with DH and he wouldn't read the books I read anyway.
    Come on people!!! This is a GREAT first step! Maybe I'm just an eternal optomist but I think this is just the start! Let's face it! Publishers are as much a part of the problem as book sellers...maybe more. I expect that other ebook providers will start offering the ability to lend books and that the limit on the number of times a book can be passed on will be raised. I expect there will be a limit but I think somewhere in the 5-10 range will be more likely.
I'm still a huge fan of what BN is doing!! You can find me in the BN ebook communities via my email address!

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