Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Beyond Method # 6

I may be starting to sound like a Luddite, but I've yet to join the ebook revolution.  I do like having a physical book in my hands.  Also, I a late adopter to most technologies, as I usually deem them non-essential and want them cheap cheap cheap.  That being said, i see their value and understand their popularity.  our library currently uses Overdrive for downloading books.  I won't detail what i think about their specific service, because I want to be professional.

I will say I see the publishing industry making a lot of the same mistakes as the music industry did with downloadable music.  Loads of DRM and not letting people use what they buy as freely as they'd like.

So I grabbed Gulliver's Travels by Swift on Gutenberg.  It was easy to find and super easy to spot the kindle edition (it was the one that said kindle!)  I do think patrons may like gutenberg's public domain books, but i don't think they will like the site.  Amazon is easier to use and flashier and has less options and clicks between you and your download.  But free always costs something, so extra time and effort may be worth it for people looking for classics.  I know I can use Gutenberg and help patrons use Gutenberg.  Hopefully they'll want to!

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