Kindle to allow library loans

["James J. O'Donnell" <jod@georgetown.edu>]

Full article in the New York Times 4/21/11.  Important to 
remember that "Kindle Books" are not device-dependent.  The 
salesperson at the Apple store last weekend, when I made my 
umpteenth unsuccessful attempt to persuade myself that the iPad 
was a viable device for me, responded to my aspersions on the 
quite limited array of books in Apple's e-store by reminding me 
quite firmly that there was a Kindle app for the iPad -- I take 
that as first sign that Apple will abandon that line, which 
they've done as poorly as they've done movies, for all that they 
mastered music.

Selection from NYTimes article below.

Jim O'Donnell
Georgetown

Kindle Users to Be Able to Borrow Library E-Books
By JULIE BOSMAN

Library books are finally going to be compatible with the Kindle.

Amazon said on Wednesday that it would allow Kindle users to read
e-books from more than 11,000 public libraries on the devices
beginning later this year, a reversal of the company's previous
policy.

"We're excited that millions of Kindle customers will be able to
borrow Kindle books from their local libraries," Jay Marine, director
of Kindle atAmazon, said in a statement.

Until now, library users who borrowed e-books could read them on
Barnes & Noble's Nook, the Sony Reader, the Kobo reader, and on
laptops and smartphones.

Librarians, who have grown accustomed to telling disappointed Kindle
owners that they cannot be used for free library e-books, said they
were relieved that Amazon was opening its device and its Kindle app to
libraries.

...

Amazon said it would work with OverDrive, a large provider of e-books
to public libraries and schools.

Barnes & Noble introduced its first e-reader, the Nook, in 2009 and
opened it up to library e-books.

<snip>