Jackpot! Now you can borrow kindle books, for free, from your local library. For all of you Kindlers out there, you definitely wan’t to check this out. As someone who doesn’t use a Kindle, this has definitely sparked my interest, especially with Amazon’s new Kindle announcement today. (In case you haven’t heard, Amazon is releasing a new Kindle $79, Kindle Touch $99 and Touch 3G $149. The $199 Kindle Fire, which is more of a true tablet, will be released in November.)
As someone who loves to read and hopes that more people get into the habit, I think it’s great that e-readers are becoming smaller and cheaper and now you can use them to borrow library books. One of the drawbacks of e-readers for me has been the price of books. Even though an e-book is usually cheaper than a regular book, being the traditionalist that I am, I prefer something that I can hold and write in. Thus, the cheaper price, reflects the inferior quality of the product, based on my personal preference.
Now that I don’t have to commit to buying all of my e-books, I’m more inclined to try them out through my local library and see if I can deal with the trade offs of the e-format.
You’ll never forget to return your books again. Credit: Nick Siekierski
Before I get too philosophical about print vs. e-books, here is how you can start borrowing kindle books from your local library.
How it works:
– Go to the Overdrive website, the distributor of e-books and audio books for libraries.– Click on “Search Titles or Libraries” under the “Explore” menu
– Over the search box, click the middle “library search” tab and search by city or zip code to find libraries near you that carry kindle books.
– Click on your library from the list of results and you’ll be taken to their e-borrowing page. Here is what the page looks like for the Redwood City Public Library.
– You’ll need to sign up for a library card if you don’t have one (you might have to do this in person) but once you have a library card number you can borrow Kindle books from the comfort of home!
The cool thing that I discovered is that not only are Kindle books available at libraries, but there are books in other electronic formats that you can download to your computer and there are audio books to download to your iPhone or MP3 player.
I think we’re just scratching the surface with making books available to people in a variety of new formats. I think the future looks bright for reading.
Do you prefer to read a real book or would you rather read one on a Kindle or iPad?
I prefer a real book rather than Kindle or iPad as I need to make notes while reading. Moreover, I am one of those old fashioned researchers, who need to touch, fell and sometimes throw a book while in the peak of working process :))) Although I am open to everything new in technologies and sometimes they are really helpful, I hope that in one hundred years new devices will not become a substitute for a paper book.
I agree, I don’t like the idea of having to charge a device to be able to read a book. If worst comes to worst I can read a book by candlelight (very old fashioned). I don’t think a Kindle or iPad would survive being thrown against a wall either. 😉 Nonetheless, technology gives us new opportunities as well. Hopefully “regular” books can co-exist with e-books. Thanks for your thoughts!
I prefer a real book rather than Kindle or iPad as I need to make notes while reading. Moreover, I am one of those old fashioned researchers, who need to touch, fell and sometimes throw a book while in the peak of working process :))) Although I am open to everything new in technologies and sometimes they are really helpful, I hope that in one hundred years new devices will not become a substitute for a paper book.
I agree, I don’t like the idea of having to charge a device to be able to read a book. If worst comes to worst I can read a book by candlelight (very old fashioned). I don’t think a Kindle or iPad would survive being thrown against a wall either. 😉 Nonetheless, technology gives us new opportunities as well. Hopefully “regular” books can co-exist with e-books. Thanks for your thoughts!