Kindle News: All Harry Potter eBooks coming to Kindle Owners' Lending Library; E-Ink Color Kindle E-Readers may launch 2nd Half of 2012; Wi-Drive gets web-browser update; 3 Solitaire programs in one set, by 7 Dragons, for Kindle Fire

Kindle Owner's Lending Library will carry all 7 Harry Potter eBooks.

  The Potter eBooks had already been part of an exclusive worldwide e-book and digital audiobook distribution agreement with Overdrive for public and school libraries.

  However, waiting lists at libraries are notoriously long, and books are due within 2 weeks in some.  So, the PRIME Kindle Lending Library will be a boon for many.
  There are no waiting lists and no due dates.

  Remember that you can borrow only one Kindle book per calendar month though.  For more info on the PRIME lending program, which now includes 145,000 books, "including over 100 current and former New York Times Best Sellers," see:

  Prime's Lending Library:
    Rules;
    Borrowing;
    How to Browse List

  Remember that you can borrow an e-book ONLY on a Kindle Device and NOT via a web page on a computer.

 Amazon purchased an exclusive license from Pottermore to make these titles available on the Kindle Owners Lending program.

  PRIME was originally created to offer Free Shipping of Amazon products in two days, for $79/yr, or essentially, $6.58/mo.

  It now includes unlimited free streaming of over 17,000 movies and TV episodes.   Jeff Bezos, Amazon's CEO, pointed out that "Over a year, borrowing the Harry Potter books, plus a handful of additional titles, can alone be worth more than the $79 cost of Prime or a Kindle. "

As with Kindle books, your annotations and bookmarks will be saved for you (unless you don't want them backed up) in case you want to borrow the book again or buy it later.


Color E-Ink Kindles due in 2nd Half of 2012?
Forbes points to Digitimes' article today that Amazon is 'likely' to launch these sometime during the 2nd half of this year.
  However, this is very SOFT info, since with E Ink Holdings's plans to unveil "color EPD products" soon, according to company chairman Scott Liu, "sources" describe the products as "likely" to be adopted by Amazon.  NOT exactly firm rumors.

  They mention "makers in the supply chain to begin shipping related parts and components in May" -- to whom?  They don't say and it would probably be to E Ink holdings, whose first quarter was below expectations.

  Digitimes highlights two item, which I forgot to insert while linking to their article:

' Amazon's new color e-book readers will be built with multi-touch capacitive touch panels instead of infrared touch panels used in the previous mono-color e-book readers, the sources noted.
...
Touch panel maker TPK Holding reportedly has landed touch module orders for Amazon's color e-book readers, the sources added. '

Wi-Drive Update
The Wi-Drive is a small flash drive that stores files and allows streaming of media (video, text) to up to three devices at one time and I've used one with the Kindle Fire since January.   See the article from January 24.  I have two, and one is always in my purse, as it's smaller than a cell phone.  The Wi-Drive app update announced today enables web browser support for the WiDrive.

  While they've been available in 16 GB and 32 GB versions, Kingston is now adding a 64 GB model though I don't see it shown at Amazon yet.

  The Wi-Drive app update is available at Google Play's app store.  The Kindle Fire Wi-Drive app doesn't show an update ready yet though, but it shouldn't be long.  I received an update for my Samsung devices, but Amazon's vetting processes for its Android apps always take longer.


New Solitaire, Mahjong Solitaire, Spider Solitaire app for Kindle Fire
7 Dragons, the popular creator of Kindle E-Reader and Kindle Fire apps has just released a new app for Kindle Fire -- a combination of several Solitaire games released in just one app, for $1 as a launch sale, as the permanent price will be $3 later.

  This won't work on other Android tablets, and is available only for the Kindle Fire.   It was released May 8, and there are two reviews so far, both verified Amazon purchases, with 5 stars each.

Optimized for the 7" tablet, it's very customizable, has Autosave, unlimited Undo, and hints plus optional background music.  There are 19 levels from "easy" to "very challenging."

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Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

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More on Kindle Lending Library - How it would work. Reactions & Analyses

QUESTIONS AND SOME ANSWERS ABOUT THE COMING KINDLE LENDING PROGRAM

For basic details of the library lending program, see the original announcement, with the more important portions (in my mind) bold-faced.


ZDNet - Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
ZDNet's Adrian Kingsley-Hughes had a larger reaction than seen in most columns, most of which just reported details of the announcement with mild surprise. It begins with  "This is big. Huge. Massive."
Kingsley points out (emphases mine):

' Amazon has built up a massive digital ecosystem, ranging from books and music and audiobooks to streaming movies and Android software, and this move adds another feature to that ever-growing machine.  And best of all for the end user, it’s something that they can take advantage of without having to buy a specific reader since it works with the Kindle app or desktop software.  Amazon is using this to further cement the Amazon brand into people’s minds (and what better way to win over the love of readers than to make it easier to get books from a library?), and establish the Amazon Kindle ebook format as a dominant format, while at the same time showing the competition who’s boss. '

New York Post - Garett Sloane
Garett Sloane at the New York Post reports:

'[For example]...at the New York Public Library, if a member orders an e-book, others wait on a list until that digital version is free again.

That list can get awfully long.  Yesterday, the most popular title at the NYPL was Harlan Coben's mystery novel "Caught," with more than 275 people on the waiting list. '

New York Times - Julie Bosman
Julie Bosman reports that "...the New York Public Library said last month that e-book use in its system was 36 percent higher than it was one year ago."

  As so many have reminded us, Simon & Schuster and Macmillan still don't allow their e-books to be available in libraries, and HarperCollins (Murdoch) would allow use of an e-book only 26 times before it would have to be re-purchased by the libraries.  That hasn't gone over well with librarians.


From the Comments area of the blog entry on Amazon's announcement
  - a statement by an Overdrive manager
Commenters to this blog have pointed us to interesting articles, one of them a post by Overdrive's' manager for content sales, Karen Estrovich (this link often gives a database connection error). On her Overdrive blog, she clarifies for the company's partners how this would work for them. (Emphases mine.)

' The Kindle Library Lending program will integrate into your existing OverDrive-powered ‘Virtual Branch’ website.

Your existing collection of downloadable eBooks will be available to Kindle customers.

[AB here; Within the context of her statement to Overdrive's partners, this would actually mean "downloadable titles" rather than ebooks in specific format. ]

  As you add new eBooks to your collection, those titles will also be available in Kindle format for lending to Kindle and Kindle reading apps. Your library will not need to purchase any additional units to have Kindle compatibility.  This will work for your existing copies and units.

A user will be able to browse for titles on any desktop or mobile operating system, check out a title with a library card, and then select Kindle as the delivery destination. The borrowed title will then be able to be enjoyed using any Kindle device and all of Amazon’s free Kindle Reading Apps.

The Kindle eBook titles borrowed from a library will carry the same rules and policies as all our other eBooks.

The Kindle Library Lending program will support publishers’ existing lending models.

Your users’ confidential information will be protected.

The Kindle Library Lending program is only available for libraries, schools, and colleges in the United States. '

MY INTERPRETATION of this varies from others' I've seen
Caveat: It's only my interpretation and nothing more, but I think it has a good basis.

' Estrovich is writing to partners who have OverDrive-powered ‘Virtual Branch’ websites for the Overdrive library e-books program.  This is important to an understanding of what she's describing.

The existing collection of a partner's downloadable titles will be available to Kindle customers.

  When the partners add new ebooks to their collections available for loan, those titles will be available in Kindle- and ePUB formats for lending.  No one will have to, to my mind, convert from ePUB to Amazon's mobi format, as some have written -- for the reasons given below.

  This indicates strongly that the titles in Amazon Kindle/mobi format will be available from Amazon's servers directly once the requirements are met for the loan of a title to a Kindle customer.

  It's the only way Amazon would be able to (1) synchronize between the various Kindle/compatible devices and (2) back up annotations for a customer.  This would be done via matching the server's usual Amazon-formatted e-book and the copy on the customer's Kindle.

  The partners' libraries will not need to purchase any additional units as the partners are purchasing TITLES from a publisher via Overdrive, and the partners can decide which format a customer will get, depending on the customer selection of "destination" device.  Again, no conversion would be needed.  Amazon wouldn't be using ePUB-formatted books that are transformed, nor would ePUB books be affected.

  Most important, this would mean the partners' existing copies and units would continue to work, as-is, totally unaffected.

  The reason is that the Kindle ebooks would be handled (and sync'd and backed up) by Amazon servers.  The delivery of the Kindle format books to Kindle customers would not affect the ePub books in the overall collection one iota.  The e-books that Overdrive partners offer will be available in both formats.

 There would still be DRM involved in the library loan but probably Amazon's DRM rather than Adobe's.  I think that Amazon resisted partially because they don't want to pay Adobe for their DRM process when they have their own (and apparently they don't want to switch to ePub).

  This would be a better solution than most had expected. '

An analysis by Mike Cane
Peter Brantley, of Internet Archive --
in his "Reading 2.0" at posterus.com ("Musings on the publishing revolution" -- reposts most of a typically colorful and on-point analysis of the Kindle vs ePub battle by Mike Cane.

Brantley's alert asks "Does kindle library lending obviate the market need for epub as a format?"
and Mike Cane's title is the more provocative: "Kindle Library Lending: ePub Is Dead"



Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   K3 Special, $114   DX Graphite

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Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

11, 000 Local Libraries in Kindle Lending Library - Amazon did it quietly.

AMAZON TO LAUNCH LIBRARY LENDING FOR KINDLE BOOKS

How did the libraries keep it quiet?

I had wondered if they would do this but how could they keep it secret?

From their press release today, the whole thing:

'   Customers will be able to borrow Kindle books from over 11,000 local libraries to read on Kindle and free Kindle reading apps.
  Whispersyncing of notes, highlights and last page read to work for Kindle library books

SEATTLE, Apr 20, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) --

(NASDAQ: AMZN)-- Amazon today announced Kindle Library Lending, a new feature launching later this year that will allow Kindle customers to borrow Kindle books from over 11,000 libraries in the United States. Kindle Library Lending will be available for all generations of Kindle devices and free Kindle reading apps.

"We're excited that millions of Kindle customers will be able to borrow Kindle books from their local libraries," said Jay Marine, Director, Amazon Kindle. "Customers tell us they love Kindle for its Pearl e-ink display that is easy to read even in bright sunlight, up to a month of battery life, and Whispersync technology that synchronizes notes, highlights and last page read between their Kindle and free Kindle apps."

Customers will be able to check out a Kindle book from their local library and start reading on any Kindle device or free Kindle app for Android, iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, PC, Mac, BlackBerry, or Windows Phone. If a Kindle book is checked out again or that book is purchased from Amazon, all of a customer's annotations and bookmarks will be preserved.

[ No, they would not let anyone else see our annotations and bookmarks, as it would be handled just as it is now, with annotation records kept in our own Amazon area.  That takes a lot of programming beyond the norm in the ereader world.]

"We're doing a little something extra here," Marine continued. "Normally, making margin notes in library books is a big no-no. But we're extending our Whispersync technology so that you can highlight and add margin notes to Kindle books you check out from your local library. Your notes will not show up when the next patron checks out the book.  But if you check out the book again, or subsequently buy it, your notes will be there just as you left them, perfectly Whispersynced."

With Kindle Library Lending, customers can take advantage of all of the unique features of Kindle and Kindle books, including:

. Paper-like Pearl electronic-ink display
. No glare even in bright sunlight
. Lighter than a paperback - weighs just 8.5 ounces and holds up to 3,500 books
. Up to one month of battery life with wireless off
. Read everywhere with free Kindle apps for Android, iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, PC, Mac, BlackBerry and Windows Phone
. Whispersync technology wirelessly sync your books, notes, highlights, and last page read across Kindle and free Kindle reading apps
. Real Page Numbers - easily reference passages with page numbers that correspond to actual print editions

Amazon is working with OverDrive, the leading provider of digital content solutions for over 11,000 public and educational libraries in the United States, to bring a seamless library borrowing experience to Kindle customers. "We are excited to be working with Amazon to offer Kindle Library Lending to the millions of customers who read on Kindle and Kindle apps," said Steve Potash, CEO, OverDrive. "We hear librarians and patrons rave about Kindle, so we are thrilled that we can be part of bringing library books to the unparalleled experience of reading on Kindle."

Kindle Library Lending will be available later this year for Kindle and free Kindle app users.  To learn more about Kindle go to www.amazon.com/kindle. '

Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   K3 Special, $114   DX Graphite

---

Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!