4 ms·
I love Libby and the fact that I can get free ebooks through my local public library. But the model is just kind of broken and never made any sense. Even the i
by andrewla 2y ago
I love Libby and the fact that I can get free ebooks through my local public library.
But the model is just kind of broken and never made any sense. Even the idea of "loaning" ebooks never really made any sense. The operation of "lending" an asset has two parts; once where it is given, and one where it is returned. Given a medium where perfect copies are essentially free, it is easy to "give" an ebook, but incredibly difficult to "take it back".
And the fact that it's associated with a local library is just kind of a silly fiction to keep friction artificially high.
- jandrese 2y agoIt's incredible how much work went into porting the concept of scarcity over to the digital realm. Its pretty annoying if you want to read your book because you are offline, but can't open it because the app can't phone home.
- leotravis10 2y agoFor sure. This piece says it all really: https://buttondown.email/ninelives/archive/the-coming-enshittification-of-public-libraries/ https://buttondown.email/ninelives/archive/the-coming-enshit...
- voxl 2y agoDRM has been the modus operandi of OverDrive's ebook offering since Day 1. It's not even really a them thing or a private equity thing. It makes the publishers happy and makes the whole system work at all. Deleting DRM doesn't mean we enter a utopia where ebooks are freely shared, it means public libraries lose ebooks from big publishers completely.
- dehrmann 2y agoThe e-book library model doesn't work without high-ish prices because the barrier to use is incredibly low and access is universal. There'd be no reason to buy books. Before e-books, books wore out, so the library had to buy replacements. Books were also more expensive, and libraries might have increased demand.