Amazon is trying hard to reinvent the library for the digital age, by offering e-book lending through the Kindle via a “Netflix for books” monthly subscription, as well as by offering Kindle e-books through a public-library lending program it launched earlier this year. But it can’t seem to get anyone to play ball with it on either score. None of the major publishers are taking part in the monthly lending program — which the Authors Guild is also protesting — and Penguin just recently pulled its e-books from the public-library lending service, saying it’s concerned about piracy. Going electronic should make books easier to lend rather than harder, but it doesn’t seem to be working out that way for Amazon.

The public library service was launched in September, fulfilling a promise Amazon made in the spring of this year to rollout an e-book program for 11,000 libraries across the United States. The feature allows Kindle owners to borrow books from those libraries with a single click, and even transfers their notes, highlights and other additions from the borrowed version to their own copy if they decide to buy the book. The Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, meanwhile, (the Netflix-style service) was announced earlier this month as part of Amazon’s Prime subscription service, and allows users to borrow one book a month from a pool of about 5,000 books — but none of the big six publishers has agreed to allow its books into the program.

Publishers would rather sell than lend

Earlier this week, book-industry observers noted that Penguin had pulled its e-books from the public-library program over what it said were concerns about piracy (although it didn’t provide any details about what those concerns were). On Tuesday, it restored access to its older titles through the libraries who have signed up for the Amazon service, but said it would not be providing any of its new e-books to the program. As PaidContent has noted, this leaves just two of the larger publishers participating in the service — HarperCollins  and Random House — and one of those (HarperCollins) puts significant restrictions on its books, including a requirement that libraries must buy a new copy if they lend an e-book more than 25 times.

While Amazon is getting the cold shoulder from publishers — which perhaps isn’t surprising, given the book retailer has been stepping up competition with its former partners by signing authors to its own in-house publishing imprints — it’s also apparently reaching out to a group it has helped develop: namely, self-published authors. According to one industry report, Amazon is offering self-published writers a share of a pool of 0,000 as well as the promotional value of having their books in the Kindle Lending Library, provided they agree to sign an exclusive deal with Amazon to represent their books.

Authors who have gone the traditional publishing route, meanwhile, are apparently incensed that Amazon is offering some of their e-books through its Kindle Lending Library without notifying and/or compensating them directly. In fact, the Authors Guild posted a statement earlier this month saying it believes that Amazon is actually in breach of contract with some of the publishers whose books it’s offering to lend — since the Guild says buying books in bulk (as Amazon has done in some cases, so it can offer them for free to subscribers) doesn’t allow the buyer to lend those books in the way Amazon intends.

The Authors Guild says Amazon is not playing fair

The Guild also argues that some of the publishers who have signed up for Amazon’s Lending Library might themselves be in breach of contract by offering their books to be lent — according to the authors’ organization, lending rights are supposed to be negotiated separately, and authors should be getting compensation for participating in those programs. While some writers seem happy for the exposure they would get via the program (which could theoretically lead to future sales) the Guild seems more concerned about getting more cash from Amazon and/or publishers up front.

The bottom line is that everyone seems to agree that electronic books are a boon — to readers, authors and publishers — but no one can figure out how to allow them to be loaned the way traditional physical books can. In some cases (as with Penguin’s refusal to join the public-library program), this seems to be in part a result of a fear of losing control over the content, and in part a fear of being disintermediated by Amazon. And in the case of the Authors’ Guild and the big six publishers, neither seems to deal with Amazon because they see it as a threat to the existing power structure in the industry.

Only Amazon seems to be interested in what users want, which is easy (and cheap) access to electronic books — and in the end, that could be the biggest weapon the retailer has when it comes to getting authors and publishers to play ball.

Post and thumbnail photos courtesy of Flickr users Marcus Hansson and Frederic Della Faille

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A couple of interesting messages just appeared from the Hulu Support Twitter account. In several recent responses to subscribers complaining about ads that Hulu plays as part of its premium subscription service, the account tweeted:

“We’re currently an ad-supported service but looking into the option of a higher price ad-free version.”

Hulu has never entirely ruled out an ad-free model, but the tweets come as a bit of a surprise, since Hulu has long maintained its reliance on ads, even for its Hulu Plus service. Rather than going ad-free, like Netflix has done, Hulu Plus has a slightly lighter ad load but also gives subscribers access to a wider library of content.

In an February blog post, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar talked up the value that Hulu provides to content owners in terms of ad revenues, comparing Hulu’s effective ad rates versus those from broadcast DVR and cable DVR. In a more recent blog post, however, Kilar was more bullish on the company’s Hulu Plus subscription service, saying that the company would soon have a million paying subscribers.

The consideration of an ad-free service comes as Hulu has been put up for sale by its owners, which include Fox, Disney and NBC Universal. The message was also tweeted after Fox announced plans to put up a pay wall which would restrict access to shows for eight days unless a viewer has proven he or she is a cable subscriber.

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Earlier this week, Pandora announced that it would finally be dropping its longtime support for Flash in favor of HTML5. The move is one piece of a big redesign for the site, one which will begin rolling out to Pandora One (the / year premium version) subscribers in pieces, as part of a limited testing period before being made available to the service’s entire massive user base.

The timing could have been more ideal, of course. A day after the announcement, Spotify quickly grabbed the attention of those following the online music industry by formally launching in the US. It’s important to note right off the bat, however, that these two services are not really direct competitors, in spite of how some might spin it. Spotify is an all-you-can eat subscription service, making it more akin to the likes of a Rhapsody and Napster. Pandora, on the other hand, is built largely around passive music discovery. You log-in, you enter an artist, and you let the music come to you. This redesign takes that ease of use to a whole new level. Check out our impressions below.

Continue reading Pandora Radio’s HTML5 redesign hands-on

Pandora Radio’s HTML5 redesign hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 16 Jul 2011 12:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s not often that we get the opportunity to mention the Financial Times and Playboy Magazine in the same sentence, but the two publications do have at least one thing in common: App Store aversion. Today, the FT launched a new, entirely web-based app, designed to circumvent iTunes (and Apple’s 30 percent revenue cut) altogether. The paper says its single, cross-platform app will allow it to issue updates with more frequency, while reaching an audience that extends far beyond the iOS realm. Though the subscription service is only available for iPhone and iPad users at the moment, versions catered for Galaxy Tab, Xoom and PlayBook users are coming soon. Perhaps more important, however, is what this move could mean for other publishers — many of whom haven’t taken too kindly to Apple’s subscription revenue and data-sharing practices. FT Managing editor Rob Grimshaw says his paper has “no plans to pull out of any apps store,” but if the system proves viable, it could open the door for others to pursue their own, similarly HTML5-based ventures, in the hopes of retaining full revenues and access to subscriber information. We’ll have to wait and see whether this iTunes exodus ever materializes, but in the meantime, iOS users can hit the source link to enjoy the new app, available for free until July 14th. Others, meanwhile, can head past the break to see a demo video, narrated in appropriately dulcet, British tones.

Continue reading Financial Times web app debuts for iOS, more tablets to come (video)

Financial Times web app debuts for iOS, more tablets to come (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Jun 2011 02:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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