With the shift from print books to digital books come a few nasty side effects. Sure, it’s much easier much easier to acquire and read books when you don’t even have to get out of your chair, but those digital copies can be cracked and disseminated for free with only a little more effort.
As ebook sales expand, so does ebook piracy, so I have to wonder if Apple’s concerted efforts in creating a new kind of iBook experience will open them up to unwanted attention from digital pirates. → Read More
With this morning’s addition of 16,000 Italian-language ebooks, and 22,000 Spanish-language books, Amazon has updated the total number of digital books it claims to offer through its Kindle Store. The company says the new Kindle Store now offers over 900,000 titles in English and other languages, and indeed, the eBooks section actually turns up 950,000+ search results.
For the record: this is eBooks only – all in all, there are more than 1 million books, newspapers, magazines and blogs available for Amazon Kindle today, the company professes on this page (see ‘Massive Selection’) and elsewhere. → Read More
Borders just announced the release of the wireless version of the Kobo ereader. The Kobo Wireless joins the nook and the non-wireless Kobo reader, but has improved hardware and software, and is priced at a quite reasonable $139.99. → Read More
We told you all the rumors, we told you it was available for pre-order, and now we’re here to tell you, it’s finally shipping! The Spring Design Alex eReader is shipping their pre-orders (at least the US ones) tomorrow. The Alex is that dual screen, Android based reader that many consider to be a very feasible alternative to the iPad. → Read More
With all the flaws that e-book readers have, they don’t seem to be going away anytime soon. VTech, makers of fine educational electronics, are rolling out the Flip animated e-book reader, so now, your kids can get in on the action too. → Read More
The NYT has a report on ebook pricing for the iPad, saying that Apple may charge $9.99 for popular titles, just like everyone else in the free world.
While most prices will be higher – it’s an iPad! Why go slumming? – popular books can hit the $9.99 if need be. Apple takes 30 percent of the sale while the publishers take 70 percent. → Read More
So Matt and I just got our hands on the Samsung E6, the company’s first electronic book reader. As a device it’s not bad, but compared to what’s out there you just know that Samsung was all, “We need to release something to get a foothold in the market.” The 6-inch e-redaer slides open, quite possibly like a phone you once owned. It’s only black and white, too, so those of you expecting Samsung to usher in the era of color e-reaers will be disappointed. → Read More
The e-book seems to be the next big thing as we roll into the end of 2009. What with the Kindle 2, the nook, and others coming on the scene, it’s interesting to watch what’s coming next. For example: the Alex eBook Reader. It’s running Android, and has an absolutely insane frame rate (for an e-book reader). → Read More
Sony — you know, the folks that brought us such wonderfully proprietary technologies as the MiniDisc and the MemoryStick — have an e-book reader. You might have heard of it, it’s called the Reader. In a pretty bold move, Sony announced that by the end of the year they’ll only sell e-books in the ePub format. Further, Sony is abandoning their own digital restrictions management software — that stuff that prevents you from sharing your e-books with your friends — in favor of solutions from Adobe. → Read More
As expected, Sony officially unveiled their latest eBook readers. So, here we have the PRS-600 Reader Touch Edition and the PRS-300 Pocket Edition. The latter rocks a five-inch electronic paper screen display that fits in your pocket and lasts up to two weeks off a single charge. The $199 reader will store up to 350 standard eBooks. → Read More
Ready for more ebook readers? I hope so ’cause Sony has two in the pipe right now. Somehow the service manuals were posted in some random corner of the Internet and of course a forum user downloaded them. The PRS-300 seems to be an entry-level model and the PRS-600 is a slightly larger, better equipped ebook reader. → Read More
E-book readers tend to be the sizes hardcover books – or a lot larger. That might be all well and good if you’re laying in bed, but the Bookeen Opus is about the size of a paperback, which makes it truely portable. The folks folks over at MobileRead got their hands on the small, but impressive, Opus for a sneak peak. → Read More
So eBooks are the Next Big Thing, and soon we’ll all be reading eBooks exclusively. How, though, will we find new eBooks? It’s not like there’s a unified standard for organizing and displaying catalogs of eBooks available for purchase on any device capable of displaying an eBook. If only someone would create such a standard! If I did it, I would call it “Open Publication Distribution System” and I would base it on the Atom syndication format. → Read More
eBook readers are here to stay, and if you’re a CE company you’d better have one if you want to stay in the game. Samsung Electronics will soon be rolling out their Papyrus ebook reader in the US and UK. Will the touchscreen make this a Kindle killer? → Read More
If the Kindle eBook app isn’t your thing, you might be interested in a new eBook app for the iPhone and iPod Touch dedicated to the Grateful Dead. That’s right: a dedicated app for a single eBook about the world’s most successful potheads.
I’m skeptical about the long-term usefulness of a single application for a single eBook. What’s the likelihood someone will re-read the eBook? Isn’t something like this — especially something like this — better suited as a large format dead tree book you can put on your coffee table, or next to your commode? → Read More
Follett, a distributor of educational materials, has announced that it has developed an eBook reader for education that is aimed at classrooms and libraries. Now, don’t be mistaken. This isn’t a portable eBook reader. It’s a software reader that is paired with its own online store. They claim that this reader should protect publisher content while introducing new “education-friendly” technology. → Read More
So far eBook devices chief sticking point is the high price. The $300+ range of the Kindle and Sony Reader turns off all but the most avid gadgetphile, book proprietor. Maybe the $259 eSlick by Foxit will find more success even though it opts for a lower price rather than fancy connectivity or e-ink backlighting. It’s still slim at .4-inches thick and ships with 128MB of internal memory along with a 2GB SD card. The unit can even function as a MP3 player. So wanna-be eBook owner, is the $259 price right? Or does it still need to drop a bit more? Foxit via PC World → Read More
Sony’s got a new Reader in the PRS-700 and that Reader, it’s got a touchscreen. Simply slide your dirty, smudge-inducing finger across the six-inch screen and watch as the e-inked pages magically turn, just like a real book. Or use that same finger to enter notes and/or highlight text. There’s also a stylus for people like me who have weird issues with touchscreens. And for those of you who like to read in the dark, the PRS-700 sports LED illumination emanating from either side of the screen. Total weight is 10 ounces, battery life’s good for more than eight hours, and storage should top out at around 350 books (plus anything else you can fit into the SD card or Memory Stick expansion slots). The Reader will set you back around $400 sometime in November. [via DVICE] → Read More
