The ever inovative San
Francisco Public Library is starting a 6 month long
Experiment involving E-Books. Folks in SF can
browse, search, borrow, read and return 1,500
electronic books from their home or office. Salon has a very
interesting Story about this big
move.
\”this simple little notice may have blasted
a big, fat hole in the business model of the electronic
book companies that plan to sell digital versions of
bestsellers for download over the Web. If you can
\”borrow\” an e-book for free, why would you ever bother
to buy one? \”
They aren\’t calling for the death of
the library, for a change, just the death of the publishing
industry.
The ever inovative San
Francisco Public Library is starting a 6 month long
Experiment involving E-Books. Folks in SF can
browse, search, borrow, read and return 1,500
electronic books from their home or office. Salon has a very
interesting Story about this big
move.
\”this simple little notice may have blasted
a big, fat hole in the business model of the electronic
book companies that plan to sell digital versions of
bestsellers for download over the Web. If you can
\”borrow\” an e-book for free, why would you ever bother
to buy one? \”
They aren\’t calling for the death of
the library, for a change, just the death of the publishing
industry.
But imagine if your public library eventually became a
kind of Napster for the literary set — offering free,
downloadable versions of all the hottest book releases,
which you could trade with your friends, and carry
around on your PDA. It\’s a readers dream: \”I\’ll give you
Zadie Smith if you share your Stephen King collection
with me …\”
Well, one can always dream.
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