Publishers WPG and Lannoo are allowed to create something like a ‘Spotify-concept’ to let people read E-books. It will be able to read E-books online if you have a subscription on this ‘concept’. This will work exactly the same as Spotify. On Spotify you can listen to songs if you have a subscription (free on laptop/pc).
This concept is already invented and used by Yindo and a lot of foreign companies. But there was no real company who got it going in the Netherlands. This is because there mostly a few books to read and there is not a big demand. WPG and Lannoo are trying to make it happen in the Netherlands and try to add more as a thousand books extra online.
The question is, will this work out? What you do guys think? Here is a movie about Google eBooks:
The way Google is doing it is different from the ‘Spotify-way’. Google eBooks still wants to sell you the books and let you read them everywhere. Will this be able with the ‘Spotify-concept’? I guess this will be hard to tell, because how long can you borrow these books from the ‘Spotify-concept’?
Can this new way of borrowing books compete with the way Google thinks it will work? What is your opinion about this?
If I understand the concept correctly, WPG and Lannoo are trying to set up a type of digital library. In my opinion, this would be a worthy competitor for Google eBooks. I am an avid reader myself, while first being an opponent of e-books, I have now discovered their convenience when travelling around last summer. However, I still prefer to have a paper copy of a book in my hands when I am reading it, but what is more important in this particular case is that I like to collect them on my bookshelves. A lot of people also like to collect books (in their paper copy), for various reasons, but mostly you see them displayed on shelves or bookcases in one’s home. So if we then look at the competition between a digital library and a digital store for ebooks, I think that a library would appeal to more readers. Once you have bought an ebook, you read it, and then it just exists on your computer, or smartphone even. It is not possible to display in your house, or lend to other people. So if instead you can borrow a book from a digital library, would that not make more sense? I assume that it would cost less, and obtaining ownership of the ebook does not have more value then temporarily owning the book.
Am I the only one who sees it this way, or do you agree?
I like the concept. I myself own a e-reader from Amazon and I got unbeliavebly use to that. To be honest I always try to find pirate copies of the books and download them for free but sometimes it is very difficuilt to find the book you want or just there is no pirate copy.
I was telling myself in the past why the hell is there no e-library where can I simply borrow the book. The subcription model is very compelling to me and I can imagine myself using it. I also think very good point from the comment is that once you buy and e-book copy you can’t actually borrow it to anyone. The last think I want to say is that spotify model for book would make sence to me but it will depend on from how many book you can choose from.