by Gary Price
September 26, 2013
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That was fast.
If you’re spending time brushing up on your Kindle side-loading skills so you’ll be able to teach library users about how to get Penguin ebooks onto their Kindle devices YOU CAN STOP and relax.
Whatever the reason or reasons for OverDrive announcing yesterday that Penguin titles wouldn’t be available for wireless download to Kindle devices and side-loading was required the past 36 hours since the announcement was first made have brought about a change of plans that is a win for OD’s partners and most importantly, library users. Of course, transparency issues for all ebooks delivered via Amazon.com remain, but that’s another issue—one that needs to be addressed.***
OverDrive Yesterday
OverDrive’s VP of Marketing David Burleigh told Library Journal yesterday:
”“Permissions, terms, and usage are really in the publisher’s court,” Burleigh said. “We’re playing the role of facilitator and distributor…which is an important role, but some of these decisions are out of our control.
OverDrive Today: Things Change
Late this afternoon, OverDrive announced in this blog post that wireless download (aka “Get for Kindle) IS NOW AVAILABLE for the more than 17,000 Penguin eBooks available (U.S. only) on the OD platform.
The USB side-loading requirement has been lifted and Penguin eBooks will have the same great ease of use as all other publishers’ eBooks. You can expect to see the change in your library’s collection soon.