VOA慢速英语:Amazon Launches E-Book Lending for Libraries

Amazon.com launched its Kindle library-lending service in the United States last week. Millions of users of the Kindle reader and app can now borrow Kindle books from their local public library.
上周，亚马逊(Amazon.com)在美国推出了Kindle电子书图书馆借阅服务。数百万Kindle读者和应用的用户可以从当地公共图书馆借阅Kindle电子书。

The company is working with OverDrive, a leading supplier of e-books and other digital content to libraries. The service will be available through the websites of more than eleven thousand local libraries across the country.
该公司与向图书馆提供电子书和其它数字内容的领先供应商OverDrive公司合作。这项服务将在全国各地1.1万家当地图书馆的网络上普及。

Users of other devices including the Barnes and Noble Nook and Sony Reader have already been able to borrow library books. Experts say Amazon's entry is likely to reopen a debate between publishers and libraries over e-book lending.
包括Barnes，Noble Nook和索尼阅读器等其他设备的用户也可以在图书馆借阅电子书。专家们称，亚马逊的介入可能重新掀起出版商与图书馆之间关于电子书借阅的争论。

Bill Rosenblatt is president of Giant Steps Media Technology Strategies, a consulting company.
Bill Rosenblatt是咨询公司Giant Steps Media Technology Strategies的总裁。

BILL ROSENBLATT: “Publishers and libraries are enemies that occur in nature like snakes and monkeys. Libraries would like to be able to make books available to everyone, all the time, with no limitations. And publishers, of course, would like to sell more books to the public.”
Bill Rosenblatt：“出版商和图书馆天生就是敌人，就好像自然界中的蛇和猴子一样。图书馆希望能够在任何时间，无任何限制地把书籍提供给所有人。而出版商当然希望向公众出售更多书籍。”

Mr. Rosenblatt says the debate in the United States centers on what is known as the law of first sale.
Rosenblatt先生称，美国正在进行的争论主要集中在首次销售条款。

BILL ROSENBLATT: “Once you buy any kind of media product such as a book or a CD or a DVD or anything like that, you can do whatever you want with it. You can read it, you can give it away, you can lend it, you can resell it, you can burn it, you can use it as a Frisbee -- whatever you want. This law is referred to as 'first sale.'"
Bill Rosenblatt：“一旦你购买任何一种媒体产品，如书籍或CD或DVD之类的东西，你可以做任何你想做的事情。你可以阅读，可以扔掉，可以租借，可以再次销售，可以烧掉，可以当作飞盘来玩——怎么样都可以。这种原则就叫做首次销售原则。”

This law is what permits libraries to lend books over and over again without having to pay publishers each time. But Bill Rosenblatt points out that it does not include digital products. Technology known as digital rights management can make e-books unreadable once they have reached a certain time or user limit.
这种原则使得图书馆购买了这种书籍之后可以多次借出，而不需要每次都向出版商支付一定的费用。但是Bill Rosenblatt指出，这不包括数码产品。数字版权管理技术可以使电子图书在达到一定期限或使用限制后失效。

BILL ROSENBLATT: “Several months ago, one of the major publishers, Harper Collins, which is a division of News Corp, announced that they were only going to allow e-books to be lent out twenty-six times, and then they would have to be purchased by the libraries again. Apart from HarperCollins, publishers are allowing libraries to purchase e-books for lending in perpetuity, meaning as many times as anyone wants to borrow them.”
Bill Rosenblatt：“几个月前，一家主要的出版商Harper Collins，也是新闻集团的一个分支，宣布他们只允许电子书借阅26次，之后图书馆必须再次出钱购买。除了Harper Collins之外，其它出版商允许图书馆购买电子书永久性出借，也就是对借阅不做限制。”

HarperCollins says it took the action to protect the growing e-book industry and its own book sales. But Bill Rosenblatt says critics did not see it that way.
Harper Collins称，他们采取这一行动是为了保护日益增长的电子书产业和自身的图书销售。但是Bill Rosenblatt表示，批评家并不这么看。

BILL ROSENBLATT: “Because a digital book lasts forever, as long as it’s stored somewhere in digital form, that it should be lendable forever, and that this business of restricting e-book lending to twenty-six times is sort of an unfair, artificial limitation that shouldn’t apply because it’s a digital product.”
Bill Rosenblatt：“因为电子书只要以数字化的方式保存就可以永久性地保存下去，可以永久性地借阅，而限制电子书只能出借26次是一种不公平的人为限制。”