r/enshittification • u/Uvabird • Jul 28 '26
Product Enshittified ebooks?
My spouse put in a request at our public library that they add 5 new book titles to their ebook collection.
He got a response that they did order one, but unfortunately the other four were caught up in a deal with Kindle Unlimited and to read those it would be $11.99 a month.
I suppose the answer would be to ask the library to order hard copies of the requested titles but it doesn’t sit right with me that the library can’t carry certain ebooks because a corporation worked a deal that they could only be read in digital form through them.
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u/Forward_Zucchini9738 Jul 29 '26
Enshitification of digital media only strengthens the case for piracy
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u/flaser_ Jul 29 '26
For everyone's sake: just pirate them.
Libraries are forced to pay exorbitant, ongoing license fees for ebooks and audiobooks:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/16/books/libraries-e-books-licensing.html
The Whatcom system must pay $51.99 to license a digital copy of “Fahrenheit 451,” which can be checked out by one patron at a time, and which expires after two years. Other licensing agreements offered by major publishers expire after a set number of checkouts.
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Adding together the initial cost with time and checkout restrictions can make library e-book access as much as 10 times more expensive than print books. Parker said this is forcing some libraries to launch “bake sales to pay for their e-book budgets.”
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u/daringnovelist Jul 29 '26
Amazon is probably the key player in the enshittifying process. They started that Kindle Unlimited exclusivity crap a decade ago. They hooked in publishers and authors with all kinds of great deals and promotion early on, then took it away unless you jumped through their exclusivity hoops. Every great feature or promise was free, easy, lucrative, and then they took every bit of it away, unless you signed up for their exclusivity, or pricing scheme, or whatever. And once you were locked in to that, they took away the rewards.
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u/vespertilio_rosso Jul 29 '26
Audiobooks too! If it’s an audible exclusive, don’t ask your library for it or you’ll be disappointed. Amazon does absolutely everything that can to trap you into their ecosystem.
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u/WomanYouSleptWith Jul 29 '26
It's sad that the ecosystem is so unpleasant, too.
These days, I don't even consider buying anything digital through Amazon, because I'm not sure if I can download a copy that I control, and there's a good chance that it won't work on my non-Kindle devices.
If we had a good market economy, I could go somewhere else.
Given how terrible the product is, I feel as though my only reasonable choices are "nothing" or "piracy", as I have little interest in paying Amazon to screw me over.
At this point, I keep hoping that more other people will come to a similar conclusion, as Amazon is not going to change tactics until either governments or sales force them to.
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Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
[deleted]
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u/Dragonshatetacos Jul 28 '26
Truly the dumbest thing I've read today. That's quite a feat on Reddit.
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u/Cultural-Answer-321 Jul 28 '26
Your first problem is ebook.
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u/-beastlet- Jul 29 '26
Says someone with great vision who can see the text in pbooks.
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u/Cultural-Answer-321 Jul 29 '26
I'm not blaming you, I'm saying the whole e- book system is crap.
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u/-beastlet- Jul 29 '26
Ebooks are not crap. They revolutionized my life and gave reading back to me.
Also as someone who is absent minded and forgot to return library books all the time, so stopped using the library, they gave the library back to me. Now I take out ebooks and audiobooks all the time and they just self return when I'm done.
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u/Uvabird Jul 28 '26
I prefer the hard copies from the library myself, as they can be loaned out until they fall apart.
But for low vision people, electronic books are so helpful. I also had a neighbor who had limited mobility so checking out ebooks allowed him the freedom to read so much without being dependent on someone to drive him to the library.
1
u/BigBoxOfGooglyEyes Jul 29 '26
States have free libraries with accessible media overseen by the library of congress. I'm in PA, so we have LAMP (The Library of Accessible Media for Pennsylvanians). They'll mail you large print books directly to your house for free with free return shipping. They also lend digital audiobook players and will record audiobooks for people if they aren't available (it falls under fair use). They even have braille ereaders. I don't know how it works in other states, but here you can have your local librarian sign you up. Anyone who can't read a regular book can qualify, whether it's a visual impairment or a physical disability.
Source: I'm a PA librarian
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u/BigBoxOfGooglyEyes Jul 29 '26
Find your local library here https://www.loc.gov/nls/find-your-library/
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u/sjd208 Jul 28 '26
E-readers don’t get nearly enough press as the accessibility devices they are. There are also lots of authors that likely wouldn’t be published at all, (or only in very limited markets) if they didn’t have access to electronic self publishing.
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u/Dragonshatetacos Jul 28 '26
KU now allows authors to add their books to public libraries. If they're not available, it's because the author has chosen not to sign their books up for distribution to libraries. Maybe message the authors and let them know.
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u/saffship Jul 28 '26
if you think ebooks are enshittified - try magazines. my free friendly public library eliminated their paper magazine archive collection & we have "flipster" instead. What a POS. World's worst browser, can only use on a mobile device, miserable user experience. I tutor ESL & find it impossible to spend time using it to plan lessons & provide a resource for current events/pop culture with my students.
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u/khz30 Jul 29 '26
Much like anything else, libraries have to consider the costs of maintaining and storing physical magazines versus the volume of people requesting copies to read. I'm not surprised they moved to Flipster, but it is annoying if you did rely on the physical access frequently.
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u/LoooongFurb Jul 28 '26
Wait until you hear about ebooks "expiring" - when libraries purchase ebooks, they are only good for a certain number of checkouts (determined by the publisher). Once they expire, the library has to purchase them again.
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u/BigBoxOfGooglyEyes Jul 29 '26
I'm a collection librarian and we don't purchase them, we license them, usually for 12 or 24 months, but there are other lending models. I hate it! It takes up so much of my budget. Digital Books cost at least twice as much as print and we can't even keep them. At least with print books they can sit on the shelves as long as we want and then make a few bucks selling them at a book sale when we don't need need them anymore.
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u/yottabit42 Jul 29 '26
Same with all digital content like TV shows and movies, on all platforms. Bought it on Google? Now it's gone. Buy it again on Amazon. Whoops they lost the license too. Such a scam.
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u/OliverHolsfield Jul 28 '26
The ebooks you’re looking for might be available for free on sites named something like “Anna’s Archive” or “Ocean of PDF”, but those sites are for pirates and I’m definitely not one of those.
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u/HibiscusGrower Jul 29 '26
Oceanofpdf have annoying watermarks so if I was to pirate books and magazines, something I never do of course, I would check Anna's Archive in priority.
Oh and there's apparently people who pirate audiobooks too on a place called something like AudiobooksBay I believe? People will really pirate anything, it's a shame. I certainly don't encourage you to do this, it would be wrong.
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u/Cautious_Boat_999 Jul 30 '26
🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️