by Alisha Scott
One of the prevailing concerns about e-books (and other digital technology) during its early phases of consumer adoption has been the limited ability to share purchased works with other people. The ease of lending a friend a copy of a beloved book or passing along a movie has not been an easily replicable one, owing in significant part to continued dialogue about media permissions and rights related to the individual consumer.
Late last week, Amazon and Apple have each taken a further few steps in the direction of increased media sharing among personal social circles, introducing new features named Family Library and Family Sharing, respectively. Both were introduced relatively quietly as part of new device and operating system releases—Amazon, last Wednesday, unveiled its upcoming line of Kindle hardware, and the same day saw the wide release of Apple’s iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite ahead of a Friday iPhone release.
Amazon’s Family Lending enables the sharing of books, audiobooks, games, apps, and more among users with a shared billing address. Limited specifically to sharing among two adults and four children, its usability is rather specifically defined. This might perhaps be considered an extension of the retailer’s already existent but limited lending feature (allowing, for a very select crop of titles, one-time-only lending for two-week periods). Apple’s Family Sharing option lets up to six people share various media—including books, music, and movies—across up to ten different devices.
Will these new features make strides in drawing in new e-reader adopters, and for encouraging a greater degree of sharing among circles? More generally, will it be a step toward more open access avenues for e-books and other digital media? Currently there are a number of developing sources for both sharing purchased reading materials and managing data with more transferability. Newer platforms like Ownshelf have a social discoverability element, allowing users to display some of their DRM-free books in a private bookshelf for friends to peruse and borrow. Elsewhere, a few publishing companies are providing widened DRM-free offerings altogether. Dominant e-comics platform Comixology has followed a sea change toward increased adoption of DRM-free e-comics publications, influenced by major independent comics publishers Image and Top Shelf.
Limitations still exist with respect to the degree of shareability for digital books and other media—as well as the current nonexistence of options for the sale of “used” or secondhand digital media. It perhaps even highlights the depths of the ongoing dialogue about copyright and ownership in the digital context. But as reading habits continue to change with the influence of e-reading, perhaps these latest developments will represent small movement toward both increased discoverability of products and broadened possibilities for community interactivity.
One of the prevailing concerns about e-books (and other digital technology) during its early phases of consumer adoption has been the limited ability to share purchased works with other people. The ease of lending a friend a copy of a beloved book or passing along a movie has not been an easily replicable one, owing in significant part to continued dialogue about media permissions and rights related to the individual consumer.
Late last week, Amazon and Apple have each taken a further few steps in the direction of increased media sharing among personal social circles, introducing new features named Family Library and Family Sharing, respectively. Both were introduced relatively quietly as part of new device and operating system releases—Amazon, last Wednesday, unveiled its upcoming line of Kindle hardware, and the same day saw the wide release of Apple’s iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite ahead of a Friday iPhone release.
Amazon’s Family Lending enables the sharing of books, audiobooks, games, apps, and more among users with a shared billing address. Limited specifically to sharing among two adults and four children, its usability is rather specifically defined. This might perhaps be considered an extension of the retailer’s already existent but limited lending feature (allowing, for a very select crop of titles, one-time-only lending for two-week periods). Apple’s Family Sharing option lets up to six people share various media—including books, music, and movies—across up to ten different devices.
Will these new features make strides in drawing in new e-reader adopters, and for encouraging a greater degree of sharing among circles? More generally, will it be a step toward more open access avenues for e-books and other digital media? Currently there are a number of developing sources for both sharing purchased reading materials and managing data with more transferability. Newer platforms like Ownshelf have a social discoverability element, allowing users to display some of their DRM-free books in a private bookshelf for friends to peruse and borrow. Elsewhere, a few publishing companies are providing widened DRM-free offerings altogether. Dominant e-comics platform Comixology has followed a sea change toward increased adoption of DRM-free e-comics publications, influenced by major independent comics publishers Image and Top Shelf.
Limitations still exist with respect to the degree of shareability for digital books and other media—as well as the current nonexistence of options for the sale of “used” or secondhand digital media. It perhaps even highlights the depths of the ongoing dialogue about copyright and ownership in the digital context. But as reading habits continue to change with the influence of e-reading, perhaps these latest developments will represent small movement toward both increased discoverability of products and broadened possibilities for community interactivity.
- “Apple and Amazon Take Baby Steps Toward Digital Sharing” (link)
- Article: “Amazon Fixes the Biggest Problem with Kindle” (link)
- Article: “Amazon Allows Family Sharing for Purchases” (link)
- Article: “Amazon Fire OS 4 adds ASAP loading, user profiles, family media sharing, and more” (link)
- Article: “Ownshelf Helps Readers Share Their Digital Libraries With Friends” (link)
- Article: “Surveying Digital Comics After Amazon-Comixology” (link)
- Article: “Amazon, Apple updates let families share apps and media across devices” (link)
- Article: “E-Books are Changing Reading Habits” (link)