Free e-Books Are A Click Away
MIAMI (CBS4) - Nooks, Kindles, iPads.
Book lovers everywhere have turned a page when it comes to the way they read. Just last month Amazon.com sold more electronic books than hard covers and paperbacks combined.
In fact, some e-book lovers have created their own high-tech book club.
"We all loved reading, we're all very into technology and it just seemed like a natural fit," said Elizabeth Dawson.
But Dawson found one drawback to e-reading.
"You know books can be expensive," she said.
It's also not as easy to pass around your old books. Although Amazon lets you borrow e-books from friends who use Kindle for two weeks.
"You just have to have their e-mail address and you can only lend the book once," said Dawson.
Nook users have a similar system. So unless your friends have extensive e-libraries, your choices are limited unless you use sites like Lendle.me which allows users to share e-books with strangers for free.
"I went and checked it out, I thought it was the greatest thing in the world," says Lisa May. "You have a much bigger pool from which to choose material when it's not just your small group of friends."
There is a catch, however, in order to borrow books, you have to have books available to lend. And just like sharing between friends, books can only be lent one at a time, so if you want to keep borrowing, you need to have a steady supply of books you're able to lend out.
"Right now I've borrowed two books and I've lent one book out," says Dawson.
There's another way to get your hands on free e-books, no strings attached, at your local library.
Miami-Dade and Broward's public library systems are just two of 13,000 libraries nationwide which make their digital collections available to members through a free application called Overdrive.
Reference librarian Tierney Miller said checking out an e-book is just as easy as borrowing a traditional one, maybe even easier. You just need to visit your library's website.
"You don't have to physically go to the library and you don't have to worry about paying fines if you don't remember to return your items on time," said Miller.
That's because books are automatically removed from your device the minute the loan period is up, which can range from seven to 21 days.
Currently you need a Nook, iPad or Sony e-reader to borrow from your local library using Overdrive. However, Amazon has announced that later this year, Kindle users will also be able to take advantage of the free service.
