# Have libraries started loaning out e-books **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 29, 2010, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-libraries-started-loaning-out-e-books/558829 "2010-10-29T22:50:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-libraries-started-loaning-out-e-books/558829/1 "2010-10-29T22:50:39Z")
Have any libraries started loaning out electronic books for ipod/ipad/nook/etc? Or would something like that affect new book sales too much to really be something publishers and authors are interested in doing? I know there are programs like project gutenberg, but I’m more interested in the idea of loaning a pdf file for 30 days or so over the internet. Has any library successfully implemented that program? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-libraries-started-loaning-out-e-books/558829/2 "2010-10-29T22:55:02Z")
I don’t know about e-books, but the public library here has self-contained audiobooks available. And then there’s Baen Books’ [free library](http://www.baen.com/library/), where you can download no-strings-attached (no DRM, keep it as long as you’d like) copies of almost anything they publish. It doesn’t seem to have hurt their sales any. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-libraries-started-loaning-out-e-books/558829/3 "2010-10-29T22:56:29Z")
Yes some libraries loan out ebooks. The San Diego public library does. You can download a book for 21 days then it expires and the reader software will not let you read the book. The files are encrypted epub books. I use the acrobat reader software to read them on my computer. I believe that nook will be able to read that format. Kindle does not. The books always seem to have a waiting list. So they are limiting the number of copies outstanding. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-libraries-started-loaning-out-e-books/558829/4 "2010-10-29T22:57:10Z")
Yes. My brother runs one of the libraries. They loan e-books just like regular books. Not sure if they are available for any one specific technology or not. It doesn’t affect new sales any more than regular books do, as the licensing is still locked down to a specifc number they can loan at any given time (in fact, much more strict, but I got a sense from my brother that that was more due to how the technology is implemented rather than a licensing issue.) Plus the price for a loanable e-book is around as much as a hardcopy. ETA: w/r/t Chronos’ post, my brother’s library also loans out e-audiobooks. I’d actually be interested in those, because electronic copies of audiobooks are exactly the same as the hard copy. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-libraries-started-loaning-out-e-books/558829/5 "2010-10-29T23:05:14Z")
I forgot to add that you need a San Diego public library card to check out ebooks from them. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-libraries-started-loaning-out-e-books/558829/6 "2010-10-29T23:05:23Z")
[Chicago Public Libary](http://overdrive.chipublib.org) loans out eBooks, download audiobooks, download movies, download well a lot. Like other public libraries they do it in partnership with Overdrive ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-libraries-started-loaning-out-e-books/558829/7 "2010-10-29T23:08:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I don’t know about e-books, but the public library here has self-contained audiobooks available. > > And then there’s Baen Books’ [free library](http://www.baen.com/library/), where you can download no-strings-attached (no DRM, keep it as long as you’d like) copies of almost anything they publish. It doesn’t seem to have hurt their sales any. Have they greatly expanded the free library? When I was looking into it. It was not anywhere close to all the publish. It was a few books from some authors leaning heavily to the first book in a series. Still a good deal from the readers point of view. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-libraries-started-loaning-out-e-books/558829/8 "2010-10-29T23:14:09Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > [Chicago Public Libary](http://overdrive.chipublib.org) loans out eBooks, download audiobooks, download movies, download well a lot. > > Like other public libraries they do it in partnership with Overdrive As far as I can tell, the Nook is the only mobile device that will work with Overdrive. I am currently thinking about which e-reader to get, and am leaning heavily towards Nook instead of the Kindle solely because of this. Is there any word on whether Overdrive will ever become compatible with Kindle? ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-libraries-started-loaning-out-e-books/558829/9 "2010-10-29T23:20:01Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > As far as I can tell, the Nook is the only mobile device that will work with Overdrive. I am currently thinking about which e-reader to get, and am leaning heavily towards Nook instead of the Kindle solely because of this. Is there any word on whether Overdrive will ever become compatible with Kindle? The Sony devices work fine with Overdrive. And I can get the Overdrive books to work with my iPad, although the scope of that is probably not cool to discuss here. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-libraries-started-loaning-out-e-books/558829/10 "2010-10-30T00:03:52Z")
> [@](#): > > Have they greatly expanded the free library? When I was looking into it. It was not anywhere close to all the publish. It was a few books from some authors leaning heavily to the first book in a series. Still a good deal from the readers point of view. I haven’t actually paid much attention to what they have online, but they also do things like including a CD with the entire series thus far bundled with the hardcopy books they sell. At least, I think that’s what’s on it: I definitely got a CD with one of the later Honor Harrington books; I’ll have to double-check it when I get home. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-libraries-started-loaning-out-e-books/558829/11 "2010-10-30T00:26:53Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > As far as I can tell, the Nook is the only mobile device that will work with Overdrive. I am currently thinking about which e-reader to get, and am leaning heavily towards Nook instead of the Kindle solely because of this. Is there any word on whether Overdrive will ever become compatible with Kindle? > **[Redirecting](https://help.overdrive.com/#devices)** Lists the Sony readers, nook, Kobo and Pandigital readers. Given the current apple adobe spat I doubt the ipad will support Overdrive. People have wanted epub support on kindle since it was released. Amazon does not seem to be interested in supporting it. I suspect because once they do you can buy ebooks from a large number of places instead of just Amazon. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-libraries-started-loaning-out-e-books/558829/12 "2010-11-01T02:59:04Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > [Redirecting](http://www.overdrive.com/resources/drc/compatibleebookdevices.aspx) > Lists the Sony readers, nook, Kobo and Pandigital readers. Given the current apple adobe spat I doubt the ipad will support Overdrive. People have wanted epub support on kindle since it was released. Amazon does not seem to be interested in supporting it. I suspect because once they do you can buy ebooks from a large number of places instead of just Amazon. The Overdrive people claim that an iPad app is not far off, at least last I heard.