California law affects Amazon Kindle purchasing rights

Borrowing books from the library is one free alternative to purchasing books on Kindle. Lesly Ruelas | Lariat

The Amazon Kindle ebook store has changed the way books are purchased due to a new California law.  

 When purchasing a book, the terms now states that, “by placing your order, you’re purchasing a license to the content and agree to the Kindle Store terms of service.” This means that e-books will no longer be owned by the customer and  will instead be borrowed from the store.  

California law AB 2426 states, “It shall be unlawful for a seller of a digital good to advertise or offer for sale a digital good to a purchaser with the terms ‘buy,’ ‘purchase,’ or any other term which a reasonable person would understand to confer an unrestricted ownership interest in the digital good.” 

Amazon has also removed transferring books from Kindle to computer as a way to backup purchases, so books will only be available on Kindle or Kindle app on devices.  

Here are some free, alternative options to Amazon:

Libby is an app that works with a public library card that allows cardholders to be able to check out digital books for an amount of time compatible with Kindle devices.  

Hoopla is an app that has ebooks, audiobooks, and movies for free with a library card. There is a limit on how many books can be checked out but it resets at midnight every day. Books can be downloaded on mobile devices or computers. 

Overdrive is a website that can be accessed with a library card that has ebooks that can be read on Kindle, magazines, and audio books.  

Signing up for a library card and checking out books from the public library is free and can be done in person or online.  

If the county library doesn’t have the book library patrons would like to check out, they can always sign up for a different county’s library system in their state. Patrons are able to sign up in person or online and have access to more book titles by adding the card to the apps listed above. 

For information from the Orange County Public Library use the following website: https://www.ocpl.org/. 

For information from the Mission Viejo Public Library use the following website: https://www.cityofmissionviejo.org/departments/library

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