4 ms·

I don't see anything about libby/overdrive support which isn't surprising but is unfortunate. Integration with libraries is the killer feature of ereaders IMO

by ac29 10mo ago

ethagnawl 10mo ago
I love the idea of OverDrive but I've yet to have success with it. Either the book I'm interested in isn't available or it's unavailable for weeks. I don't have a ton of time to read or to drop what I am reading when something becomes available, so I usually just wind up buying the book if I'm really excited about it. Granted, my library is not part of a major city's system but it's also not what I'd call a small one. I'd be curious to know how NYC or Chicago compare, as those are where people I know have had very positive experiences with these options.
- aardvarkr 10mo ago
  If you read one book a quarter then yeah it’s not for you. If you read one book a week you can queue up fifty good books and wait for that one to come available at some point in the year.
  - komali2 10mo ago
    I used to do that but then like 10 books would come available at the same time and I'd feel all this pressure to read them as fast as possible. In the end I gave up and just download now.
- y1n0 10mo ago
  What works for me with overdrive is using holds and then when it comes available, if I'm not ready to read I let someone skip ahead of me. That way I'm still next in line but it gives me a few days until someone else finishes the book and then it pings me again.
- IlikeKitties 10mo ago
  Just Pirate stuff on Annas Archive. Jumping through these ridiculous hoops for less than a floppy disk of data is just a humiliation ritual.
  - kelnos 10mo ago
    Authors should get paid for their work, though. Publishers, too, to be honest (they also do a lot of work and usually run on thin margins). Waiting in line in a library app is annoying, but the waiting signals demand, which drives the library to buy more copies to circulate.
    - IlikeKitties 10mo ago
      > Waiting in line in a library app is annoying, but the waiting signals demand, which drives the library to buy more copies to circulate. This is not true for digital libraries. They do not "buy more copies" to circulate. They don't physically send you an USB Stick with a copy of the book and you send that back without making a copy. They can send everyone "in line" as many copies as they want. Whats the size of an ebook these days? 1MB? How many trillion copies could you make in a day? You have to wait in line to hopefully someday maybe be allowed to read a copy of a book while meta torrents a petabyte of books for their AI usage. This is nothing but a humiliation ritual.
      - Marsymars 10mo ago
        > They do not "buy more copies" to circulate. That is exactly how ebook licenses for libraries work.
        IlikeKitties 10mo ago
        No, that is not how ebook licenses work. They buy more LICENSES not more COPIES.
    - komali2 10mo ago
      If you care about the author, navigate to their website and buy a book directly from them, or a tshirt or something. Then they'll actually get paid, unlike from a library loan, or the scraps that Amazon gives them (unless the author depends on Amazon's print on demand for all prints of their books in which case, I guess buy it from Amazon).
47282847 10mo ago
Is it? Calibre with deDRM is a must for me. I love Overdrive but cannot imagine to stick to the forced regime of lending periods and random waiting times. I also typically read multiple (sometimes dozens of) non-fiction books in parallel, plus one or two fiction. That just wouldn’t work at all with digital lending.
- Marsymars 10mo ago
  It's the only way that works with digital lending! If you want to always have something available to read you need to be steadily queuing up books, but then they come in at a semi-random time so you have to jump between books depending on lending periods / length / interest to get through everything you have checked out before they get returned.
- ForHackernews 10mo ago
  This is really sad. You're just pirating books. At least go use a pirate website and don't ruin libraries for the rest of us. We will no longer have public goods if the public abuses them.
  - 47282847 10mo ago
    I honestly don’t see the harm about removing the lending period for my personal reading. It will only make me check out and read more books. Can you detail the harm I am causing? It’s like making photocopies of books for my own use, which is still legal.
    - ForHackernews 10mo ago
      The chain of causality is about one link long: If libraries become common vectors for privacy, the powers that be will end libraries. https://time.com/6266147/internet-archive-copyright-infringement-books-lawsuit/ https://time.com/6266147/internet-archive-copyright-infringe... Photocopying an entire book is, in fact, against the law in most cases: https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/academic-and-educational-permissions/library-photocopying/ https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/academic-and-education... Selfish people like yourself are why we can't have nice things. Either pay for your books or pirate them outright from bittorrent.
wkat4242 10mo ago
Huh cool, we don't have any such large online libraries in Europe. Some countries or regions have some small online repos but it's a real PITA to get working as they all use Adobe drm. I used to buy on kindle but since they made it much harder to break drm I just pirate now. I'm not paying for content I don't get to own.
- 47282847 10mo ago
  I have an account with Berlin libraries and they offer both Libby and Overdrive (and some others) with a fairly large catalog. There is deDRM for calibre, and a command line tool called Knock which does not require Adobe software to remove the DRM.
  - wkat4242 10mo ago
    Ah nice we don't have anything like that here. But I don't think I will go back from what I'm doing now. It took a lot to get me to leave Amazon, but the DRM thing and also lately the larger amount of books "not available in your country or region" has just made me give up on the industry. I will buy books now only if they are available to buy without DRM, and if they are not I will just pirate them.

I don't see anything about libby/overdrive support which isn't surprising but is unfortunate. Integration with libraries is the killer feature of ereaders IMO

by ac29 10mo ago

I don't see anything about libby/overdrive support which isn't surprising but is unfortunate. Integration with libraries is the killer feature of ereaders IMO

ethagnawl 10mo ago

I love the idea of OverDrive but I've yet to have success with it. Either the book I'm interested in isn't available or it's unavailable for weeks. I don't have a ton of time to read or to drop what I am reading when something becomes available, so I usually just wind up buying the book if I'm really excited about it. Granted, my library is not part of a major city's system but it's also not what I'd call a small one. I'd be curious to know how NYC or Chicago compare, as those are where people I know have had very positive experiences with these options.

aardvarkr 10mo ago
If you read one book a quarter then yeah it’s not for you. If you read one book a week you can queue up fifty good books and wait for that one to come available at some point in the year.
- komali2 10mo ago
  I used to do that but then like 10 books would come available at the same time and I'd feel all this pressure to read them as fast as possible. In the end I gave up and just download now.
y1n0 10mo ago
What works for me with overdrive is using holds and then when it comes available, if I'm not ready to read I let someone skip ahead of me. That way I'm still next in line but it gives me a few days until someone else finishes the book and then it pings me again.
IlikeKitties 10mo ago
Just Pirate stuff on Annas Archive. Jumping through these ridiculous hoops for less than a floppy disk of data is just a humiliation ritual.
- kelnos 10mo ago
  Authors should get paid for their work, though. Publishers, too, to be honest (they also do a lot of work and usually run on thin margins). Waiting in line in a library app is annoying, but the waiting signals demand, which drives the library to buy more copies to circulate.
  - IlikeKitties 10mo ago
    > Waiting in line in a library app is annoying, but the waiting signals demand, which drives the library to buy more copies to circulate. This is not true for digital libraries. They do not "buy more copies" to circulate. They don't physically send you an USB Stick with a copy of the book and you send that back without making a copy. They can send everyone "in line" as many copies as they want. Whats the size of an ebook these days? 1MB? How many trillion copies could you make in a day? You have to wait in line to hopefully someday maybe be allowed to read a copy of a book while meta torrents a petabyte of books for their AI usage. This is nothing but a humiliation ritual.
    - Marsymars 10mo ago
      > They do not "buy more copies" to circulate. That is exactly how ebook licenses for libraries work.
      - IlikeKitties 10mo ago
        No, that is not how ebook licenses work. They buy more LICENSES not more COPIES.
  - komali2 10mo ago
    If you care about the author, navigate to their website and buy a book directly from them, or a tshirt or something. Then they'll actually get paid, unlike from a library loan, or the scraps that Amazon gives them (unless the author depends on Amazon's print on demand for all prints of their books in which case, I guess buy it from Amazon).

47282847 10mo ago

Is it? Calibre with deDRM is a must for me. I love Overdrive but cannot imagine to stick to the forced regime of lending periods and random waiting times. I also typically read multiple (sometimes dozens of) non-fiction books in parallel, plus one or two fiction. That just wouldn’t work at all with digital lending.

Marsymars 10mo ago
It's the only way that works with digital lending! If you want to always have something available to read you need to be steadily queuing up books, but then they come in at a semi-random time so you have to jump between books depending on lending periods / length / interest to get through everything you have checked out before they get returned.
ForHackernews 10mo ago
This is really sad. You're just pirating books. At least go use a pirate website and don't ruin libraries for the rest of us. We will no longer have public goods if the public abuses them.
- 47282847 10mo ago
  I honestly don’t see the harm about removing the lending period for my personal reading. It will only make me check out and read more books. Can you detail the harm I am causing? It’s like making photocopies of books for my own use, which is still legal.
  - ForHackernews 10mo ago
    The chain of causality is about one link long: If libraries become common vectors for privacy, the powers that be will end libraries. https://time.com/6266147/internet-archive-copyright-infringement-books-lawsuit/ https://time.com/6266147/internet-archive-copyright-infringe... Photocopying an entire book is, in fact, against the law in most cases: https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/academic-and-educational-permissions/library-photocopying/ https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/academic-and-education... Selfish people like yourself are why we can't have nice things. Either pay for your books or pirate them outright from bittorrent.

wkat4242 10mo ago

Huh cool, we don't have any such large online libraries in Europe. Some countries or regions have some small online repos but it's a real PITA to get working as they all use Adobe drm. I used to buy on kindle but since they made it much harder to break drm I just pirate now. I'm not paying for content I don't get to own.

47282847 10mo ago
I have an account with Berlin libraries and they offer both Libby and Overdrive (and some others) with a fairly large catalog. There is deDRM for calibre, and a command line tool called Knock which does not require Adobe software to remove the DRM.
- wkat4242 10mo ago
  Ah nice we don't have anything like that here. But I don't think I will go back from what I'm doing now. It took a lot to get me to leave Amazon, but the DRM thing and also lately the larger amount of books "not available in your country or region" has just made me give up on the industry. I will buy books now only if they are available to buy without DRM, and if they are not I will just pirate them.