Ron's Log

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December 6, 2011

When I borrow an ebook from our Riverside County digital library, I have two weeks to read it. Like a physical book, I can extend the book loan beyond two weeks, if no one else has requested a copy. The question in my mind was how they enforced the "return" date. One way they could do it (option 1) would be to add a tiny bit of code to my copy of the book that tells it to erase itself from my Kindle when the due date passes. Another way (option 2) would be for Amazon to do it via Wi-Fi when it syncs my Kindle with what I've bought and with what I may have read in my Mac Kindle app.

There are two ways I can get a book onto my Kindle (it doesn't have 3G). If Wi-Fi is turned on and I'm connected, then any new Kindle purchases at Amazon will automatically download into my Kindle without any further action on my part. Or, using a browser on my Mac, I can have the Kindle book downloaded to my Mac's hard drive. Each book is just one file. Then I can connect the Kindle to the Mac via USB. I can then copy the Kindle book from my Mac's hard drive to the "documents" folder on the Kindle. Turn on the Kindle (by ejecting it from the Mac) and, voila, the book appears like magic in the library on the Kindle.

A couple of days before my copy of The Warmth Of Other Suns was due, I got an email from Amazon reminding me that the loan would soon expire. I kept my Kindle's Wi-Fi turned off and was a little surprised to see that the book did not disappear from my Kindle when the due date came and went. This ruled out option 1 above. I had really thought option 1 was the way they did it. But there is no little code in my copy of the book that makes it self-erase on the due date.

Now today, I turned the Kindle's Wi-Fi on. A couple of recent purchases downloaded themselves, and The Warm Of Other Suns disappeared from my device. So that's how it works. The erase happens during syncing when connected via Wi-Fi.

The next experiment was to turn the Kindle's Wi-Fi off again and reconnect it to my Mac via USB, because I still have a copy of the book sitting there. I copied it to the Kindle and then booted up the Kindle. There it was, The Warmth Of Other Suns all readable again. However, when I try to view my notes and bookmarks for the book via the Kindle's menu, it says I have none. Those notes and bookmarks are maintained in a plain text file called "MyClippings.txt" and another file called "MyClippings.mbp". I'm able to use my text editor to open MyClippings.txt and see that all my notes from The Warmth Of Other Suns are still there. I think if I re-borrowed the ebook from the library legitimately those notes and bookmarks would be re-synced with the new copy of the ebook and I could access them via the Kindle's menu.

What I did by holding onto the book past its due date was to potentially put the library in the position of violating copyright. They have agreements with publishers that they will loan out no more than X copies of any particular ebook. If the library loaned out its max number of copies while I had my hidden copy, then some kind of copyright violation occurred. A sin which I shall not repeat.

But on to the next sinful experiment: what would happen if I tried to copy one of my downloaded ebook copies onto someone else's Kindle? Would it work? If it did, I'm sure it would be removed the next time their Kindle connected via Wi-Fi. But would there be worse consequences? Would one or both of our Kindle accounts be disabled for theft?

Filed under Books | permalink | December 6, 2011 at 03:02 PM

Comments

Interesting. I too borrowed a book a couple of weeks ago only to have it disappear. I am curious about the copying of the file.

Posted by: Ray at Dec 6, 2011 6:58:41 PM

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