Jan 20
Our friend Jorgen stopped by with a link to a post by Mary Rakoczy for the Triblocal (Bolingbroke) featuring the Plainfield Public Library in Illinois. The article details many of the challenges facing bricks and mortar libraries in this eBook reading age.
Lots of information, but well worth a read. I like the idea of renting eBook readers to the curious, or for those who do not own one. Reminds me of the early days of renting video tape players along with your movie.
Jan 19
We’ve been recommending lower prices for eBooks for years now. Here’s a detailed EvilGeniusChronicles post that provides some sensible numbers. I have to say that the market will indeed have its say on the graphs and figures cited, but a price range of $2.99-5.99 is what we’ve been thinking for a full year now.
Despite what the publishers say, eBook profits come from quality AND quantity.
Jan 18
The second-largest bricks and mortar bookseller in the U.S. is struggling to remain viable and competitive in the digital age. TheDetroitNews.com offers comprehensive coverage of Border’s ironic fight to survive in an era when people are reading more than ever.
We’ve followed its efforts to remain relevant including its attempt to buy rival Barnes and Noble. We hope the best for this big competitor whose continued existence will keep the other book giants from dominating the market.
Jan 17
Third largest U.S. book retailer Books-A-Million, Inc. has joined forces with Bluefire Productions to offer their growing eBook catalog to a wide range of mobile devices. The Books-A-Million (BAM) Reader is based on the Bluefire Reader App. The Bluefire Reader was the touchstone App for reading eBooks on iPod Touches, iPhones and iPads.
GoodeReader has more on the story.
Jan 16
New to the eBook Revolution? Here are some web sites with Free eBooks. You’ll find a wide selection of classics, contemporary and non-fiction titles. An excellent weekend browse. Bookmark these pages.
Manybooks.net. This has become my favorite with thousands of free titles in a wide variety of trouble-free formats.
GetFreeeBooks.com. Just what it says. A huge selection.
Project Gutenberg – Their mission statement: to encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks. Too many titles to count…
G. Wells Taylor has several FREE and/or affordable titles/sequels that are receiving great reviews at GWellsTaylor.com, SkinEaters.com and DraculaoftheApes.com. Multiple formats available.
Smashwords offers a long list of FREE eBook titles in formats to suit your new eBook reader.
Jan 15
Galleycat offers an interesting post on eBook pricing. Apparently, the $5.00 eBook is starting to show up in special offers and on back-listed titles.
We’ve been waiting for prices to drop since the eBook Revolution began. A $5.00 price tag will move a lot of E Ink.
Jan 14
ChipChicks offer us their Top Picks from the Consumer Electronics Show 2011. It’s of vital interest to eBook Rumors because you can read eBooks on three of the five gadgets listed. Also nice to see the Hanvon Color E Ink eBook Reader among them. I think that device will give full-color tablets a run for the money.
Jan 13
Remember not that long ago when Google finally launched its massive online catalogue of eBooks, Google Editions and then changed it to a store and called it Google Books? Well, Google launched this massive online eBook store to compete directly with eBook (and book) giant Amazon.com and others… and then things got really quiet.
Until now. Mashable has a post on Google’s recent acquisition of eBook Technologies, a company that specializes in the distribution of eBooks and eBook Readers. Read the Mashable article. You’ll see that further investigation shows Google appears to be in the process of creating its own intelligent reading devices based on eBook Technologies’ prototype ETI-1 eBook Reader first seen in the late 1990s.
Very interesting development…
Jan 12
As the eBook Revolution settles into its first year in the mainstream, it makes sense that we’d find the focus shifting back to those nasty eBook Pirates again. Here we’ve got a couple of posts that indicate a subtle shift away from outright panic to something more reasonable where the powers that be may be starting to recognize that simple file-sharing is more likely to encourage sales than kill them.
Here’s a post at Myce.com where publishers are still trying their hand at digitally locking eBooks (DRM) despite the fact that they do not know if it’s effective.
And here’s a story at O’ReillyRadar that underlines the truth that publishers are uncomfortable with: eBook Piracy seems to increase sales…
