"Fraught" - You don't hear that word very often...

As in, "fraught with uncertainty".  I have found myself using the word and that phrase a lot lately despite fraught's general dust and neglect.  "Fraught" is a word straight out of the 14th century meaning, essentially, "load" or "loaded".  It works for the times though, I think.  The economic outlook, the flu season, and even less weighty subjects such as library services or the alarming rarity of posts to this blog seem to be fraught with uncertainty.

Since I normally confine my ramblings, an oxymoron I know, to library related topics, I thought I would once again write a bit about ebooks and readers.  It seems Sony is actively working the library angle by announcing a partnership with NYPL to circulate ebooks on Sony Readers.  Libraries subscribing to a service from a company called OverDrive will also be able to circulate ebooks for a 21 day "checkout" period to the Sony Reader Daily Edition over the 3G cell network.  What's so uncertain about this?  For me it is that I still can not see who has the upper hand in the ebook war.  Will Sony's open format defeat Amazon's DRM scheme?  In June, I spent some time wondering about Amazon vs. Apple in the ebook market.  Apple does not seem to be forthcoming with a reader device at the moment, but Sony's device and approach fills in the competitive spot.  I like Sony's approach to content, so I hope they do well.  HPL already offers downloadable audio books through Overdrive along with a few ebooks.  Still, there is a lot of uncertainty on this topic, though maybe this is the digital reader for us...

[UPDATE 10/31/2011]

Hard to believe it has been 2 years.  The Sony / Overdrive partnership is in full swing with Sony offering a reader with a "public library" button on the main screen, Amazon's Kindle down to $79, and Apple's iPad dominating the tablet market and doubling as an ebook reader.

So...

HPL will begin an experiment in the next couple of weeks by filling holds for high-demand (read "long hold list") items by downloading them onto a Kindle and then loaning the Kindle to the next patron on the list.