Maximum PC

nice bit in the feb 2012 issue on the kindle stuff.

nooks also can do that. not as easy maybe though. youll need Adobe Digtal Editions software on your PC, a nook device or the free nook readers (available for PC or Andriod). and of course a library card.

now check your local library to see what they offer. in central/western mass, its C/W MARS (Central/Western Massachusetts Automated Resource Sharing), a website with ebooks you can borrow. other locals have similar offerings.

sign up, search and download the ebook to ADE. then sideload to the nook via USB. presto, you have borrowed an ebook. you can load the book to up to 5 nooks.. real nooks or software ones, and it syncs reading between them all. great for reading a bit at lunch on the phone, then resuming where you left off on the e-ink nook at home. be sure to "return" it as soon as youre done for the next person.

Im sure there are many other variations of this.

I tried this exact C/W MARS service for ebooks for my PC last summer. While it did work, I could not understand why I had to wait for a patron who'd "borrowed" an ebook to "return" it (=let their time run out) so before I myself could read it.

In any case, here's the page for that library system: http://digitalbooks.cwmars.org/1283A7B6 ... efault.htm

yeah I hated that too lol.

they need a big label on the cover image, something like "be kind! click "return" when your done instead of letting it expire on its own days or a week later."

I emailed my local library about returning my ebook early and they said the software they use does not have that option.

As a librarian, I'm really glad you guys wrote that piece. It's surprising how many people don't know about library lending, or seem to think that the existence of the internet means no content will ever need to be paid for by anyone ever again. So, thanks.