I checked out an e-book for the first time last week from the library for my Kindle. It was really easy to do and I didn’t have to fiddle with downloading any software or anything. It is kind of weird that the book gets downloaded from Amazon but other than that, pretty spiffy! Now, I only get the book for 15 days and it’s been six days and I am only about 20% of the way through the book. The book, because I know you are wondering, is Bill Bryson’s At Home, and since I am only reading it on my public transit commute, I very likely will not be done with it in the 15 days. Whose bright idea was it to not allow renewals on e-books? Well, here’s a tip for all you library Kindle e-book readers from Librarian By Day. Apparently, if you don’t have the wireless connection turned on when the book expires you can “extend” the due date because the book can’t be removed from your Kindle. I generally don’t have the wireless connection turned on because it drains the battery faster, but now I am definitely not going to turn it on when my book expires until I finish reading it. Does anyone know if this works for Nooks and Sony readers too?
Since we are on the topic of e-books, check this out:
Newly Hired Librarian Completely Unaware that Books Exist.
And while we are on the topic of librarians, The Food Librarian is hosting a event for National Bundt Day on November 15th. Bake a bundt, take a photo of it and submit the photo and your address to her and she will send you a button in the mail that says “I like big bundts.” I told Bookman about it and he thought it was funny, so I asked him nicely if he would bake a bundt on November 15th. He said he would if he can find the bundt pan. If he can’t find the pan, I believe we will be making a trip to Target. Bookman is going to try his hand at food blogging at Vegan Wizard and will post the bundt recipe on or around November 15th. Currently he has his vegan “cheese” recipe posted and in the next day or two will be posting his recipe for perfect chocolate chip cookies.
That’s interesting about Kindle books not expiring if the wifi is off. My library uses Adobe DRM (which is a pita) and I think they expire on their own, but I will have to experiment to be sure.
I definitely recommend power-reading At Home if you can. I found it very enjoyable.
You’d think an ebook would be the easiest thing in the world to renew. The blog post was pretty funny, in a gallow’s humour sort of way! And yay to the Bookman having a blog – I will definitely visit.
That is very good info about the expiration of Library eBooks with Kindle. Thanks for sharing as our loan period is just 14 days.
Sylvia, I thought it interesting too. You’ll have to say if it works with the Adobe DRM. I’m enjoying At Home so far in short bursts. I’ll try and fit in a longer read this weekend. Currently I am learning all about servants which is really fascinating.
Litlove, I know, it shouldn’t be hard to renew and e-book. Wasn’t that a pretty funny post? Hopefully something like that happening is far, far in the future.
Diane, you bet! Always glad to share stuff like that!
I haven’t used the library for e books yet. Must explore!
The Crosby’s Kitchen has a lot of good vegetarian and vegan recipes.
http://www.thecrosbykitchen.com
I’m not either, really, but often use the recipes. Now, off to check the Vegan Wizard!
That link really made me laugh
I don’t have an e-read yet, but handy tip about extending the deadline!
How is “At Home”? I recently read “A Walk In The Woods” and it was freaking hilarious.
They can’t be “perfect” chocolate chip cookies without the semi-sweet or milk chocolate morsels!
Good on Bookman … I hope he enjoys blogging.
Love the librarian who was surprised to find books in the library. It almost sounds like an urban myth. And then librarians telling you HOW to not return books on time! What is the world coming to! LOL.
Jenclair, if you have a Kindle borrowing an e-book from the library is super easy. the hard part is finding one that isn’t checked out! Thanks for the link to Crosby’s Kitchen! Looks delish and will be exploring more this weekend.
Nymeth, glad that made you laugh! When you do get an e-reader you will be prepared with all the tips and tricks
Justin, At Home is pretty good. Of course it is about a lot more than houses which makes it all the more fascinating.
Cindy my sister, but I disagree, organic dark chocolate chips rock!
whisperinggums, I hope he likes blogging too since I kept pushing him to try it! That librarian story does sound like an urban myth now that you mention it. And a librarian telling you how to not return books on time is so subversive, isn’t it? I like that
Excited to hear you are baking a Bundt for Bundt day!
– mary the food librarian
As you know I have a Nook and it uses Overdrive to load ebooks from the library. I like the wifi trick, but alas it doesn’t work on Nooks. I usually have my wifi turned off as the battery already runs out quickly (not a good selling point sadly), but even if it is turned off and you try and access the library ebook it will simply say expired. Ouch. No turning in books late when it comes to ebooks. Good for the library but bad for people like me who often need that extra day or two. And no renewals for us either! Cool about Bookman–I’m already looking forward to his Bundt recipe–hope he shares photos, too!
On my Sony Reader (which doesn’t have any form of internet connection), library eBooks just expire. They just stop working after the given amount of days. It’s actually amazingly simple. I don’t know what it’s like for the Kindle, but if there’s a loophole, take advantage and enjoy it!
Mary the food librarian, we are very much looking forward to making the bundt!
Danielle, too bad the wifi trick doesn’t work with Nooks! Whoever decided that e-books could only be checked out for two weeks and not renewed should be forced to read a really fat book on their e-reader in two weeks. It’s kind of stressful and makes me not want to check out e-books regularly.
Bibliobio, doesn’t work on the Sony either? That’s too bad. I’ll be at my Kindle due date at the end of this week so I’ll be testing if the loophole really works or not and will be sure to provide and update.
That librarian had better be an urban myth!! I feel faint.
I didn’t know you could hire books from Amazon for the kindle, I’ll go and check that out now. It could save me a lot of money in the long run, especially given the cost of some e-books.
As a librarian, how do you think e-books should be priced? Here are my thoughts: http://garybell.co.uk/tech/what-should-e-books-cost