It's a rainy Sunday afternoon and I'm sitting in a cafe in central Tokyo, desperately trying to enjoy a book on my iPad. Distractions abound: sloppy typography, misspelt words, confusing page breaks, widows, orphans, broken tables. These and more pull me from the narrative spell. In that moment I realize, although I've had this substantial object of glass and metal for a few weeks, I haven't managed more than ten pages of anything.
What, then, is the problem?
It's not the screen — I've happily read several novels on my iPhone.
It's not the weight — it feels fine when resting on a table or my knee.
The problem is much simpler: iBooks and Kindle.app are incompetent e-readers. They get in the way of the reading experience and treat digital books like poorly typeset PDFs.
We can do better. ...
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Brilliant Essay by Craig Mod Concerning eBook Page Design
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Somebody Blow "Taps" for the Borders Kobo e-Reader
Awkward ButtonsThe price cut suggested would put the retail tag of the Kobo well below manufacturing cost, so I don't see that happening.
The Kobo has a bright blue navigational pad, which happens to be the e-reader's most awkward feature. ITWire wrote, "Eventually, after more than an hour of reading time, your hand and fingers will start to ache due to repetitive strain from pressing the button hundreds of times."
PCWorld agreed: "... the buttons still provide enough resistance that my hands fatigued after using them for more than a 15-minute block of time."
No 3G or Wi-Fi is a Bummer
It's fine that the Kobo doesn't have all the fancy features of its competition, but without 3G or Wi-Fi connectivity, the Kobo immediately presents itself as something circa 1994.
Wirelessly connecting to and downloading from an e-bookstore has become an essential feature since other e-readers sport that capability. As it stands, if you want to download from the Kobo e-bookstore, or Borders' upcoming e-bookstore, you need to do so with a computer and the mini-USB cable. Sony's e-reader made the same mistake.
Sure, there's an app for the Kobo, but that requires either Bluetooth syncing or a sync via your PC. Plus, as ZDNet points out, you can't choose what books you'd like in your library -- the Kobo syncs them all.
The Verdict
When "competent" and "decent" are the best adjectives you can get in a review, you're in trouble. The only way I can see the Kobo surviving the battle of the e-readers is if the price is lowered by at least $50. That way its barebones makeup would be justified by its price.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Simon & Schuster's Jonathan Karp Leverages eBook Technology & Backlist Prose to Address the Topic of Generals and the Presidents Who Fire Them
eBook Royalties - New Street Communications, LLC
Bottom Line: Pandigital's "Novel" Will Be - In Fact, Already IS - Dead on Arrival
Sure, Pandigital's Novel may be delayed until next month because of some firmware issues -- and we haven't heard the most positive things about the 7-inch LCD based e-reader / tablet -- but we had to check it out for ourselves. At $149, the all-plastic reader isn't going to win any build quality awards (it's also rather heavy for what it is), but the Android 2.1-powered gadget does have a pretty attractive user interface. In use, however, the resistive screen had to be pressed quite firmly to make selections and the software was noticeably sluggish. Surprisingly, the device did play a standard definition video smoothly and it has an accelerometer -- which is more than the Archos 7 Home Tablet can brag. Barnes & Noble's Android app will be preloaded, and it also has a skinned Android browser of some sort. ... you've got the picture here: the Novel isn't what we'd call novel, you just get what you pay for.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Google Foe Antoine Gallimard Elected President of the French Publishers Association (Syndicat National de l’Edition, SNE)
[Gallimard's] priorities for the SNE include an agreement for digitizing out-of-print titles, but despite political pressure "let us not confuse speed with rushing," and "allow technical and financial reasons to interfere with the aim of including French 20th century heritage in digital libraries and thwarting the worrying ambitions of Google Books."
He called for more dialogue with booksellers at a time when "a few major players want to control our pricing policies in order to impose their vertical integration model," and for VAT on ebooks to be reduced from 19.6% to the 5.5% levied on print.
Gallimard, who took over as SNE chief from Serge Eyrolles, welcomed the recent industry-wide agreement to achieve interoperability of the various ebook distributors. "We must overcome divisions and form ties between the profession’s structures," he said.
But interoperability was not enough for former culture minister Jacques Toubon. "Publishers should get together to create a single distribution platform," to compete with the search engines and other powerful groups, he told The Bookseller.
Apple - Typographical Fashionistas
Designers of ebooks are starting to grumble about Apple's policy of locking down which fonts can be used on its iBooks platform.
Apparently iBooks 1.1 won't recognize fonts applied with standard CSS to any body, p, div, or span element.
Apple's guidelines say that designers choosing their own fonts would lead to "a bad user experience," a claim which some are calling shortsighted.
Liz Castro from the enigmatically-named Pigs, Gourds and Wikis says that Apple is messing with the ePub standards it purports to support and tells the Cupertino company: "Your desire for control will ultimately break these standards or it will break iBooks. It will break standards as it incites designers to use ugly hacks to overcome iBooks' broken support for standards. It will break iBooks as people design beautiful standards-compliant ebooks that look great in other readers ...
On the other hand, too many font options will make for chaos across the boards in eBooks publishing, if we are not careful. Perhaps Apple is on to something, although they lose points - as usual - for their heavy-handedness.
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Good Detailing of Nook Wi-Fi Specs by Angela Pollock (Helium)
The NOOK Wi-Fi, priced at $149, weighs about 11.6 ounces and has a white back panel. Also available is the 3G NOOK Wi-Fi for $199. The 3G+Wi-Fi has a gray back panel and weighs a touch more – 12.1 ounces. The back panels on both can be interchanged with others available through Barnes & Noble.
The 3G NOOK will connect free anywhere via 3G plus Wi-Fi. The size averages – 7.7” x 4.9” x .5”. The 2GB of storage will hold about 1500 eBooks but also has an expandable microSD slot. It will works as an MP3 player so you can listen to your music or audiobooks. The NOOK will hold approximately 26 hours of audio. The rechargeable battery will last about 10 hours when not using the Wi-Fi.
Kindle App Update for iPhone iOS4 - And the Illusion of eReader Hardware Wars
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Politics & Prose Bookstore (Amazingly) Finds Interested Buyers
The sale of Politics and Prose is yet another indication that the recent climate has become increasingly hostile to independent bookstores. Over the past six years, the Washington DC area has seen popular stores like Olsson’s, Reprint Book Shop, Sisterspace, Karibu, and Vertigo Books close their doors. Even the very chain stores that have played such a role in the demise of the independents have had their own share of problems ...Washington Business Journal editor Douglas Fruehling delivers a similar analysis:
Although there's no indication Politics & Prose will close — presumably it could if a buyer isn't found or the right price is not achieved — it's the latest chapter in the sad story of the ever-changing publishing industry. D.C. has already lost several home-grown bookstores: Olsson's, Franz Bader Bookstore and Trover's.But buyers there seem to be ... including Jeffrey Goldberg and friends.The owners of Politics & Prose, which was often featured on C-SPAN, say they have been selling about $3 million in hardcover books in recent years and have 60 employees. That's not chump change, of course, but with more and more iPads and Kindles hitting the market, you have to wonder how long they can keep those sales up. Or how long it will be before Politics & Prose goes the way of our city's other great institutions: Woodward & Lothrop, Nathan's and Commander Salamander.
Jason Perlow: Nook, Kindle and Other Dedicated eReaders Headed the Way of the Dinosaur
Where is that bottom? I don’t know exactly, but I can tell you that it is very close to device manufacturing cost, which is somewhere between $90 and $125.
And unfortunately, Amazon and Barnes & Noble will be unable to sustain a business on the devices when it hits that low, because the price of the most important and expensive component of those Black & White e-ink readers, the Vizplex display, is controlled by a company that exclusively manufactures and owns the rights to the electrophoretic technology used in these devices, E Ink Corporation.
The “give away the razors and sell the blades” model doesn’t work with dedicated e-book readers because Amazon and Barnes & Noble’s customer base is increasingly becoming iPad and iPhone users, and shortly will also be Android phone and tablet users.
In which case, there’s no reason to sell “razors” at all, especially since Android Tablets will be made out of commodity parts, will use cheap LCD display technology and will be far more capable, and many will be priced in the $200-$300 range and well within striking distance of the current price of dedicated e-readers.
Indeed, e-ink may be superior for daytime reading, and at least for the time being, the hardcore reader types, most of which are Boomers, will go out and buy Kindles and Nooks for their content consumption this summer at the beach.
But the Millennials will only be interested in their iPhones, iPads and Droids, with brilliant and sharp color displays, and the App versions of these e-book stores will suit most of these people fine, at least for the remaining ones that still like to read books.
In the next year Vizplex e-Ink will almost certainly be revved to color technology, but for the dedicated reading device, it will be too late.
By then, different competing high-performance transflective LCD displays will be on the scene, manufactured in huge volumes ...
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Released: Borders eBook app for iPad
Monday, June 21, 2010
Amazon Responds - Kindle (with 3G) for $189
“It was obvious that the price of standalone e-readers had to come down,” said James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research, citing the threat by Apple and other tablet makers. “We just never thought it was going to happen this rapidly.”
Analysts had expected the prices of e-readers would gradually fall because of the natural decline in component costs and the increased profitability of e-books themselves.
Until this spring, e-book sellers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble sold many bestselling e-books at a loss, in order to entice customers. But then five of the six major American publishers agreed with Apple to change to a so-called “agency” sales model. Under the new agreement, booksellers were required to raise prices on many digital books and got to keep a 30 percent commission on the sales, which now allows them to sacrifice some profit on their hardware.
The price cuts should add further momentum to what, despite incursions by the iPad, has been a growing market for dedicated e-reading devices. Amazon and rivals are on pace to sell 6.6 million e-reading devices this year, up from 3.1 million in 2009, according to Forrester.
But even as the market grows, several smaller players have encountered problems. iRex Technologies, based in the Netherlands, recently sought protection from creditors in Dutch bankruptcy court, citing problems with its division in the United States. Earlier this month, the Skiff e-reading platform, developed by Hearst, was acquired by News Corp., casting doubts about the planned introduction of a Skiff reading device.
“I don’t see more than two, or maybe three dedicated reading companies in the market for selling e-books,” said William J. Lynch, chief executive of Barnes & Noble, in an interview. “I think you are starting to see a shakeout now.”
Mr. Lynch also predicted that within 12 months, e-reading devices “that people will actually want to buy” could be available for under $100.
Nook WiFi Confirmed Plus Drop of 3G Nook Price to $199
Cheaper "Nook WiFi" About to Ship From Barnes & Noble?
A leak from Barnes & Noble's inventory system is likely to have confirmed rumors of an entry level Nook coming by the end of spring. The listing for a "Nook WiFi" shows it shipping for $149 on June 23. Not much else is detailed by Engadget's insider, but prior leaks had it stripping out 3G to fall below the regular Nook's $249 asking price.In the short-term, this Nook WiFi (Nook Lite) will really pose a significant challenge to the generally-unimpressive Kobo eReader (Borders-affiliated) which sells for the same price but has no touch-screen interface and no WiFi. Not so much the Kindle, which incorporates 3G and stands on a par technically and price-wise with the standard Nook. In the longterm, the launch of Nook WiFi is the first step on what seems an inevitable trail for the major dedicated eReaders (Kindle, Nook, Sony eReader) toward increasingly modest hardware price-points while maintaining (if not enhancing) essential functionality - thus creating a niche even more distinctly separate from the tablet market than it is now. Choice for consumers. That's the key.
Note, Nook 2 is in development, as is a major new hardware release for the Kindle.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Jay Yarow's Premature Eulogy for the Kindle
Kobo Releases eBook App for Google Android
When you download or purchase books they’re added to your library in a matter of seconds, and the Kobo app will keep track of the last read page on each book.Your data is synced with the Kobo web site, which means you can also pick up another device and keep reading where you left off.Kobo offers a physical eBook reader as well as a a desktop app for PC and Mac (which is currently only available when you buy a Kobo Reader device, but which should be available for download this summer). There are also apps for iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, and WebOS.
There are a few quirks with the Android app. For one thing, I found deleting eBooks from my library to be a big hassle. There doesn’t appear to be any way to do this from my phone. Instead, I had to login to the Kobo web site, visit my library, and delete books from the web interface. Next time I launched the Kobo Android app those books were gone. But this seems like a clunky solution.
Also, while the Kobo Android FAQ says that you can create bookmarks by pressing the menu button in any book, I didn’t see any option to create a bookmark. Hopefully this will be addressed in a future release.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Garrison Keillor and the End of Old Media
Authors Guild, Turow, Piracy Redux
I do believe that there are markets in which digital book piracy is a net loss - college textbooks may provide the most direct example. But I also believe that there may be markets, and authors, for whom piracy helps improve awareness, trial and paid sales.
That’s why we started studying the impact of piracy on paid sales almost two years ago. On an admittedly limited sample (something we’d like your help to grow), we’ve found an apparent correlation between piracy and subsequent growth in paid sales.
Now, you recently told GalleyCat’s Jason Boog that “…the larger problem for us is the pirating of books”. I ask, simply, “How do you know?”
There are no reliable studies of the impact of piracy in the book business. Because our sample set is limited, I include our own work to date in that bucket. The studies that are cited most often are based on sampling techniques that try to track the instance of piracy, then apply an assumed number for “substitution rates” (lost sales).
The Government Accounting Office recently “assessed the assessments” of digital piracy and found them all lacking. That’s not the final word, but it’s an indication that conclusions drawn on the limited data available are premature, at least. ...
Kurzweil's Blio
The Grateful Dead, The Economy of Ideas, And Reconsidering the Notion of eBook Piracy
Two points.
1) I wonder how he has quantified this. I mean, what's the methodology? Given the extent to which all the major players load their editions up with DRM, I'm skeptical of the risk.
2) More importantly, however, I wonder how much of a detriment piracy actually is. Are we even correct in viewing piracy as something we actually want to avoid? There's evidence that piracy (in my view: free word-of-mouth) grows reputations and thus fuels legitimate sales.
So, the question: Do we need DRM? The Grateful Dead used to create a dedicated space at their concerts for people who wanted to record bootlegs of the band playing live. They encouraged the exercise and, in effect, gave away their work (their "content") for free. In turn, the band's reputation/fanbase grew exponentially.
As regards books, per Michael Shatzkin, there's little evidence file-sharing reduces sales. Shatzkin points to science fiction writer Cory Doctorow who "does the best he can to give away as much of his content as possible." The result? Doctorow's sales continue to boom.
I am reminded of a statement in "The Economy of Ideas," that seminal 1994 essay by Grateful Dead lyricist, EFF co-founder, Berkman Center Fellow, and (now) New Street Communications Editorial Advisory Board member John Perry Barlow: "The increasing difficulty of enforcing existing copyright and patent laws is already placing in peril the ultimate source of intellectual property - the free exchange of ideas ... unbounded intellectual property is very different from physical property and can no longer be protected as though these differences did not exist. ... if we continue to assume that value is based on scarcity, as it is with regard to physical objects, we will create laws that are precisely contrary to the nature of information, which may, in many cases, increase in value with distribution."
Here is Barlow making the same point - click the center "play" button:
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Quark's New Digital Publishing 2.0 Ideal for Color/Interactive Content
Quark has a new digital publishing platform out today called Quark Digital Publishing 2.0. The company unveiled the platform at The Big Money's Untethered conference--partnering with K-NFB Reading Technology, creator of the Blio e-reader application and distributor Baker & Taylor. The three companies are collaborating to offer Digital Publishing 2.0.
Taking advantage of the popularity of color screens on iPads and other tablets, Quark's new platform allows publishers to publish in color and create interactive design-heavy content. Designers don't have to know how to program code, they just have to input their designs into the platform to create interactive content.
QuarkXPress's built-in interactive features include the ability to add slide shows, embed video and create other interactive elements. The published content can be formatted for viewing on various devices. ...
eBook Sales Up 127.4% Over Last Year for April
According to the Association of American Publishers (AAP), eBook sales jumped 127.4 percent in April compared to the previous year--totaling $27.4 million in sales. In comparison, audiobook sales were $11.7 million for the same month.Nevertheless, March 2010 was a better month for eBooks. As we reported, sales totaled $28.5 million that month. Follow this link to see stats for adult and children's/YA sales in April. ...
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Kindle 2.5 Firmware Update Now Available in US
Free Content at Starbucks
News Corp's Investments in Digital Reading
How to Make eBooks Better - Kevin Rose
Baker & Taylor, LibreDigital Form Ebook Distribution Partnership
Baker & Taylor and LibreDigital, Inc. announced an expanded agreement to partner for the delivery of ebooks. The two companies are introducing a new digital services platform that includes books, newspapers, and magazines, and such digital devices as the Baker & Taylor-powered Blio e-reader software and Apple's iPad.
As part of the agreement, Baker & Taylor will offer its more than 30,000 publishing partners a full range of LibreDigital digital services, including LibreMarket and LibrePublish.
Inbound from South Korea - LG and iRiver Partner on an eReader for the American Market