
Ask HN: What about an online library of e-books? - gautam1168
I was wondering if such a library will be desirable. There is a lot of piracy in ebooks. But what if there was a library with a fixed number of digital copies (with DRM) and anybody could checkout a copy while they are free. The app could also put adds in the book and send the proceeds directly to the authors (might add up to more than the royalty?). And one could imagine discussion thread and cross references anchored to specific parts of the book making it both more informative and more searchable. So what do you think? Is this something that could work?
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FroshKiller
Please don't add more DRM, more ads, and more artificial scarcity to the
world.

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twobyfour
This already sort of exists. Check out Overdrive.

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gautam1168
I see. This is awesome!

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twobyfour
Yeah! That said, Overdrive has its pain points and could do with some savvy
competition. I imagine that licensing and marketing would be the biggest
hurdles.

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coinerone
In Germany we have the "Onleihe" and its an online Library for e-book. It
existing for nearly 10 Years ithink...
[http://www.onleihe.net/](http://www.onleihe.net/) its german so heres a
translated link
[https://translate.google.de/translate?hl=de&sl=de&tl=en&u=ht...](https://translate.google.de/translate?hl=de&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.onleihe.net%2F)

