Renting ebooks is cheaper than buying them. So everyone says. But how does the whole thing actually work? If you are renting a digital file, what's to stop anyone from taking screenshots of the pages they are reading and once they're done reading the book, they'll still have the book. Just curious, how does it all work? Is it cheaper than buying a used copy of the book you want [as you can resell the book and get back some of your money]?
I don't know if it's the same thing, but I borrow eBooks via the Amazon Kindle Unlimited service, and as far as I can tell it's not possible to copy the book over. Unless there are ways I'm not familiar with. But even if I did know how to, I personally don't think it'd be worth it because that's not part of the 'agreement'. The idea is that you borrow the books for up to a month and return them when you're done with them, and that suits me just fine. I just wouldn't want to risk getting in hot water with Amazon, or worse still, being banned. But I wouldn't be surprised if some people try their luck.
It doesn't stop people from printing a copy out at all. That's why some books are priced cheaply because it can cost more to photocopy a book than to buy it. E-books are harder to police as people can load them to friends, but that means only one person can read it at a given time.
I guess that a bunch of screenshot does not provide the same reading experience as an actual e-book. e-books sold "normally" are pirated all the time, so perhaps the publishers are simply counting on our honesty as readers? (I never read pirated books, for that matter). My local library is now experimenting with lending e-books. I haven't tried it yet, but it seems the idea is that you will be able to download the book in a special file format that will expire after a month.
Most of the time when i get an e-book, I do buy it; but I have also checked out ebooks from the library online, and I use the Kindle lending library as well. I imagine that a person could take screenshots of the book if they wanted to put that much effort into having the book, or maybe even printing it page by page as @Theo mentioned. I have never even considered doing either one of these things. If I borrow the book and read it, that is usually fine with me, and then if it turns out to be something that I want to have a copy of then i jusst either buy the book or the ebook.
Last year there was an amazing service called "Oyster" books that was $9.99/month and you could real unlimited books out of their library. It was a great deal and I read so many things, unfortunately they went out of business, I think the cost of royalties was too much. I buy Kindle books once in awhile, and I also love BookBub which I made a post about. I did a trial for Amazon Unlimited, but I'm not sure about it for now. I am checking out ebooks from my local library also!
I'm not even aware renting ebooks is a thing. Is the price between buying it and renting it a big difference? If not, then I'd rather just purchase it, that way there's no time limit or anything.
I just came across "borrowing eBook" feature from an online library lately, and I wondered how it works. I did not know there is also renting eBook service out there too. Does that mean we can rent or borrow the eBook, then we have access to the eBook for a certain period? As for taking screen shots of the whole book, I think it really depends on one's ethic. It might just be the same as we borrow books from the library and photocopy the whole book.
I have never given taking screenshots of an entire ebook much thought. I mean, why? Ebooks are so cheap and well made. It beats the whole point of making them don't you think? It would be better to purchase an ebook for about $3 or read on kindle for $0.99 than screenshot the entire thing. As coalie has put it, the experience is just not the same. Ebooks are so well laid out and structured in a friendly and fun way whereas reading from screenshots is so rough and unexciting.
I have never heard of Oyster; but I have heard of Kindle Unlimited, which seems like about the same thing. It is just too much money for me personally just to be able to read books. Now that Amazon has started their Prime Reading feature, it is similar to the Kindle Unlimited, but is included in the Prime membership along with the Prime Movies and free 2-day shipping on most items. For just recreational novel reading, using this and the online library (Overdrive) works great for me, and I just look at buying the book when it is something I am studying and need a copy of permanently.
I wonder if you are a speed reader then that would be a really good idea. It makes sense if you like to try out a lot of different books before buying as well, I guess, but this might not be for me.
