Feb 03

Mobipocket or Amazon?

We’re all going to have to learn about Mobipocket sooner or later, and since I’ve referenced them a couple times, I’ll provide a link to the whole backstory here.

eBooks and Mobipocket Reader

Visit Mobipocket.com

Amazon bought Mobipocket in March 2005. The company produces a catchall reader for PDA’s called Mobipocket Reader software. The package is free and provides digital publishing and reading tools for a wide range of devices: PDA, Smartphones, cellular phones. Also supports e-Book Readers: Symbian, Windows Mobile, Palm OS, Java ME, BlackBerry, Psion, Kindle and iLiad. Oh, there’s also a version of the reader for your PC.

As mentioned before iPhone (& iPod) is still waiting for its official Mobipocket Reader for the very suspicious reasons mentioned here.

Also, Mobipocket.com offers a huge selection of eBooks for download. Their main pages lists eBooks in Mobipocket format from the getting there price of $7.20 to the unrealistic $24.99. I’m not even going to name that book. What’s the point? $24.99 for an eBook is too much.

However, they do offer a huge selection, and are primed to give Amazon a run for their money. What’s that? Amazon owns them? Of course it does. Oh, well there’s one reason the prices are high. No fair competition to drive them down. Come on people, this technology is ours! There’s no justification for these prices. We have to be careful we don’t buy into this mindset, yah?

If it’s too much don’t buy it. Google around. It will be out there at a reasonable price somewhere.


Feb 02

Printing Costs Driving the Move to Digital

Read this story from the Silicon Alley Insider. They’re claiming that it would be more cost effective for the New York Times to just send everyone a new Kindle.

It wouldn’t surprise me. Haven’t traditional print media been printing their own money for years?

This story is something else. You can read the discussion over at Gizmodo.

Big business has never been against boosting profits. Imagine what they could do with all the money they save on paper and ink. Unless they pass the savings on to the consumer! Yah, right!


Feb 01

Feedbooks.com for Free Books

Wow. This is a cool site. Interesting for readers and writers alike.

Feedbooks.com allows you to select free eBooks in various formats for download. Of course that means you’re getting public domain material, but there’s a growing list of Author Direct eBooks.

It also offers free online publishing for writers. The process takes a few minutes to figure out, and it’s a bit painstaking until  you get going, but it allows you to upload your own books and download them immediately after in various formats for eBook reading. Mobipocket, pdf’s for Adobe Editions, sized for iLiad, etc. Really cool if you’ve ever tried to format something for use on an eReader.

And it allows the multiformat too. I can dig this, yah. If word gets around this could be the Mecca for Author Direct file conversion and distribution.


Jan 31

Baen Free Library

The people in charge at Baen Publishing know what they’re doing, yah? And they know their audience. You can already hear the pocket protectors rustling… Just kidding. I saw some of my favorite authors there too: Larry Niven, Fred Saberhagen, etc. My point is, could there be a more receptive group of readers for free eBooks than scifi and fantasy fans?

The Baen Library

The Baen Library

Baen Free Library is offering free eBooks to everybody with a internet connection. They’ve got a call out to their authors to upload any of the work they’ve published with Baen. You’ll see the list is growing. It’s an excellent use of the technology to increase product, author and title awareness, oh and sales.

That’s my whittled down version of the mandate. The whole thing’s right here. The author, Eric Flint, likens online piracy to getting access to free books through libraries and friends. I agree… but that isn’t suggesting we blindly accept the high prices that promote piracy.

The books they offer aren’t necessarily new, but they’re an engaging list of titles and authors. They’re offering them free, but you’re welcome to pay for them with a $4.00 donation. I’d say that’s a wasted step. Are they free or aren’t they? (Though it’s ironic that they slap a fairly reasonable price on something that they’re giving away…)

I’ve discovered by digging around their site that they’re offering that $4.00 price for a lot of their older titles, so cudos from eBook Rumors. That’s the way we have to proceed, eBook fans. When developing a market, one cannot presume to know what price point that market will bear.


Jan 30

And the Fight is On!

So the fancy footwork before they get up in each other’s grills…

In May 2008 Mobipocket president and CEO Martin Gorner said Mobipocket would release updated readers for the various platforms, as well as release a new reader for the Apple iPhone by the end of the year. iPhone and iPod Touch owners cannot read DRM-locked Mobipocket books without bypassing the encryption and breaking the law.

Amazon’s new Kindle 2 uses Mobipocket file format. (I know, Kindle 2 won’t be available until 4-6 weeks after Feb. 9 when it’s released.)

Amazon owns Kindle 2 and Mobipocket.

So far the updated Mobipocket Reader for iPhone and iPod Touch has not appeared. Is Amazon holding it back until after the release of their Kindle 2? Or are they holding back their competition for the sake of, well, competition. All’s fair in love and war, type of thing, yah?

You’d think these companies would understand the rules of the free market economy as it applies to the Internet. Competition is good for everyone. If you don’t play fair the Internet Consumer will punish you by Googling your competition or by pirating your digital goods and making them available for free.

For Amazon to overlook this reality is unbelievable when considering the competition is one in which they will win both ways.  That means they can’t lose.

They can’t lose by giving iPhone users a Mobipocket Reader capable of unlocking DRM eBooks because that will encourage the happy iPhone users to buy said eBooks from Mobipocket instead of sharing cracked versions illegally. (I repeat, Amazon owns Mobipocket.) And reading eBooks on the smaller iPhone screen will not be for everyone. Since, iPhone users are comfortable buying expensive handheld gadgets doesn’t it stand to reason that iPhone users who are interested in reading eBooks on bigger viewing screens would be more likely to put out the cash for an item like Kindle 2?


Jan 29

Amazon’s Kindle 2 February 9!

I almost feel like a newspaper reporter. I mean, did anybody see that, I mentioned this two days ago!

Anyway, Kindle 2 is coming. The complete New York Times article is here.

And Amazon’s got the lowdown here.

As mentioned in the New York Times story, the Boy Genius Report has spy photos of it here.

Ugh! There’s still a 4-6 weeks wait to ship… What is it with the wait times?

Anyway, enjoy this new Kindle2  fans, and steam quietly, those of you who just bought the original Kindle.


Jan 28

Is Foxit eSlick Reader the CHOSEN ONE?

A Real Contender

A Real Contender

Ok… why aren’t we hearing more about this little gem?
The Foxit eSlick Reader is calling itself: “this generation’s way of reading textbooks, favorite novels, magazines and pretty much any…etc.”

 With an introductory price of $229.99 (MSRP) $259.99 they might be right.

Like I said, why  haven’t we heard more about this? While it’s still a good hop, skip and stagger away from my $100 line in the sand, it is a giant leap ahead of the competing eBook readers that are pushing and passing the $400 mark. And it’s doing everything the other guys are doing.

It is 0.4″ thick, 6.4 ounces, and is said to fit the hand like a palm desktop. With a 128MB internal memory and coming equipped with a 2 GB SD card (supporting up to 4 GB) this thing is ready to rock your eLibrary.

eSlick uses the electronic paper we’re coming to know and love, and boasts industry leading low-power consumption.

Check here for the Foxit eSlick Reader overview.

For the business person, lawyer or writer, eSlick also claims to give the best PDF reflow capability on the market. Dig this, it doesn’t just read these formats: TXT, PPT, DOC, XLS, and HTML, it will convert them to PDF files for printing. WOW!

If that isn’t enough, it arrives equipped with built-in MP3 player, free Foxit Reader Pro Pack, Foxit PDF Creator and earphones.

Click here to see video of this super-reader in action. I think the gloves are coming off, yah?

*This just in: An upgrade to higher quality screen will make the eSlick available in early March now. Pre-order with a $50 deposit and lock in the introductory price of $229.99 plus shipping and applicable taxes.


Jan 27

Watch out Kindle!

A five to seven week wait for Amazon’s Kindle eBook Reader might be hurting the leader of the pack. Resupply and availability issues have opened the door to Kindle’s competitors.

And after they went to the trouble of creating such a buzz about eBooks. Yah? The frontrunner in late 2007, Amazon claims they’re gearing up for the next generation Kindle due for release early this year.

In the meantime competitors like Sony’s eBook Reader and Apple’s iPhone are rushing to fill the gap. Another cause for concern is the recent increase in the number of eBooks available at iTunes.

It’s dangerous enough going toe-to-to with the iPhone–you definitely do not want them getting ahead of you. Be careful Kindle!


Jan 26

Planetpdf.com

Free eBooks

Free eBooks

Having gone to such lengths to spread my love for Adobe Digital Editions, I thought it might be helpful to point you to some free PDF’s to try on it.

Planetpdf.com, brought to you by Nitro PDF Software, offers free eBooks, PDF software trial downloads and tips to visitors. Sweet of them, yah!

The eBooks are nicely formatted and download smoothly. They’ll play in Adobe Digital Editions, so might be great to add to your library and they read in Acrobat if browser reading is your thing. Familiar public domain titles, but excellent for advanced or novice eReaders.

Planetpdf.com is the place to go for PDF news and tips, advances and free PDF creator software.


Jan 25

Adobe Digital Editions

We’ve all seen Adobe Acrobat in action. Do we have a choice? We’ve all dealt with its foibles, and its bigger and bigger upgrades. Yah…

I’ve got to say though, if you’re a serious or novice eBook reader, take a look at their Adobe Digital Editions. I know that lots of people are uncomfortable with Adobe’s PDF files, probably because they’re all-pervasive and represent a lack of choice that the net is designed to prevent; however, Adobe Digital Editions is the cat’s meow for people who like to read PDF’s on their computer. It offers  platform support  for reading digital documents on laptops as well, in addition to allowing support for the Sony® Reader.

Digital Edition Screen Capture

Digital Edition Screen Capture

I found it easy to work with, and presented formatted eBooks, documents and magazines beautifully.

You can page through eBooks and docs with a real-world feel and look. I do take my hat off to the designers, they’ve done a hell of a job with this. There’s a ‘feel’ to it that somehow resonates with that old-world, Gutenberg part of me that would prefer it if we could just go back to reading regular old-fashioned books. Yah? This program crosses over nicely and depending on your monitor does an excellent job of emulating the color and ‘look’ of a printed page.

Perfect for PDF fans, and for newbies who want to try the eBook thing but want to do it one step at a time. There are variable viewing options–single or multipage, zoom–depending on preference and reader eyesight.

You’re also able to build your own PDF library from eBooks you can download for free from their collection of samples and public domain works. And you can read any PDF you want. Adobe Digital Editions will open up any PDF document formatted the way the publisher wanted it.

Read the full lowdown on its features here.