Thanks Jorgen for a link to an article at the Arizona Republic that outlines some of the changes and challenges facing publishers and authors in the eBook Revolution.
An informative read on this Easter Sunday.
Apr 03
More about eBook Readers
Since today marks Apple iPad’s coming out party, I thought I’d post a link to a Canadian Press article that starts to describe both ends of the spectrum in eBook reading, and hints at the crowded and varied future for eBook Reading devices.
Apr 02
Apple iPad Arrives April 3, 2010
Apple’s iPad will arrive in stores April 3, 2010 and the iBookstore will go live. To prepare you for that we’ve got a link to the Chicago Sun-Times’ Andy Ihnatko’s piece “iBooks is worth the price alone for iPad as ebook reader.”
A very informative Good Friday article, in it Ihnatko makes some excellent comparisons between E Ink eBook Readers like the Amazon Kindle and iPad’s multi-function platform.
Apr 01
The Peril for Publishers
We found an excellent article at The Economist describing the perilous questions that digital publishing poses for the traditional publishing world.
It’s a very detailed discussion of the difficulties awaiting traditional publishers as they are forced by market and technological advances to adapt their business models to the eBook Revolution.
The problem these corporate giants face is not whether they’ll be able to compete, it’s about whether they can get it through their big-business mindsets that a shift in product content and content delivery to something that has a fraction of the production costs of the old product, must mean a shift downward (hopefully, temporarily) in the perceived and actual product value and the profits that result. A shift in product cost and value should redraw the bottom line. Ignoring that will guarantee extinction.
Traditional publishers simply cannot succeed in the new milieu if they’re going to focus on maintaining outmoded and unjustifiable profit levels. They have to be willing and able to take a loss. And, they’ve got to be market savvy enough to find a valid way of making up any short fall.
Mar 31
Smashwords taking a bite of Apple?
There’s a rumor going around out there that Smashwords has inked a deal with Apple to distribute its growing list of titles by independent authors and publishers at the iBookStore. Now we’ve got ars technica talking about a letter going out to participating authors to confirm it. Read about the letter here. We’ve talked about Smashwords before here and here when founder Mark Coker finalized similar rapid fire deals with Sony eBook Store, Barnes and Noble, Kobo Books (formerly Shortcovers) and Amazon.com. Now Apple iPad.Â
Kudos, Mr. Coker!
When one considers that within the ranks of independent authors you will find the next Stephen King, Stephenie Meyer and Michael Crichton, then readers are about to experience a renaissance of talent and selection. The eBook Revolution continues to grow, yah?
Mar 30
Pioneer Computers Unveils their $149 eBook Reader.
Here we go. I think it’s a horserace. I’d put Kobo’s $150 eBook Reader first out of the gates but Pioneer Computers didn’t waste any time getting their DreamBook Color eBook Reader W95 into the race.
Their machine offers a 5-inch TFT (LCD Display) screen with a native resolution of 800 x 480. It offers a portrait and landscape mode, supports eBook formats (EPUB, PDB, TXT, PDF, HTML and FB2), the photo formats (JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP), video (MOV, MPEG, MPG, WMV, RM, AVI, RMVB, 3GP, FLV, MP4, DAT, VOB and MKV) and music (MP3, WAV, WMA, FLAC, AAC, OGG).
Read the announcement here at smarthouse.com.au.
This is where price and multifunction delivery begin to bottleneck. It’s offering a lot on a fairly small screen, but the price will make it a perfect first adoption for the curious mainstream. And it satisfies the color, video and music fix for many who want all the bells and whistles.
Mar 29
If it didn’t work with music, why would it work with eBooks?
Here’s a story at Geek.com about Apple’s plans to add DRM (Digital Rights Management) to the eBooks they sell at the iBookstore. We’ve gone over this so many times I can sleep-type it. Locking a digital item promotes piracy and file-sharing. (Especially if the prices are too high–and why else would you digitally lock an eBook?)
Now, we’re also hearing that they’re using the ePub format, but with their own added code to make the titles iPad-friendly only. This on top of Amazon and Barnes and Noble’s plans to deliver a free App for iPad (so iPad owners can access the titles at those stores) leaves me wondering why they don’t just go for a single open format. (Like ePub was before they started adding code…)
Oh, I forgot. These companies are unable to learn from history. Look at the damage that overpriced, digitally locked songs did to the music industry. (Same thing is happening to the movie industry.) I guess they always have to see how dumb we are, before they can just get down to doing business.
Ah well, as I’ve said many times, things are getting interesting.
Mar 28
The eBook Revolution for Writers
I found an excellent story here at Daily Finance about the effects of the eBook Revolution on writers and their changing relationships with publishers. For any scribes in the audience, the article gives an overview of some winning strategies. Enjoy!
Mar 27
More on Kobo’s $150 eBook Reader
This time Gadget Lab picks up the story and puts Kobo’s $150 E Ink eBook Reader on a collision course with Amazon’s Kindle. I mentioned the device the other day and called it a game changer for the eBook Revolution, but I have to agree with Gadget Lab. This $150 machine is going to be more painful for eBook reading devices that offer grayscale E Ink displays like Kindle, Nook and Sony Reader but cannot match Kobo’s low price. Read the complete story here.
Mar 26
Is it time to re-invent the eBook?
Thank you Jorgen for pointing us to a post by R. David Lankes at the School Library Journal titled: “Ereaders, the iPad—Is That All There Is?” Seems Lankes was under-impressed by the recent launch of iPad. (And it sounds like he was none-too excited by the eBook Reading Devices that were already on the market.)
None of his discontent has to do with the machines themselves. He accepts that they perform admirably as viewers for digitized avatars of earth-bound volumes. His desire, it seems, is to see the actual eBooks re-invented. So far, he contends, we’re missing an opportunity to redefine among other things: How they display, what they contain and how we interact with them.
Lankes makes some excellent points, but I’m afraid he’ll have to be patient. He’s describing the future of the eBook.
Good Reads
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