The Digital Reader » Uncategorized http://www.the-digital-reader.com The Best News and Info on Ebooks and eReaders Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:14:50 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 The Morning Coffee – 7 February 2012http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2012/02/07/the-morning-coffee-7-february-2012/ http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2012/02/07/the-morning-coffee-7-february-2012/#comments Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:17:29 +0000 Nate Hoffelder http://www.the-digital-reader.com/?p=30086 Here are  few posts that I am reading this morning. Ebook Pricing: Why 99 Cents Might Be a Mistake for You (Lindsay Buroker) Jonathan Franzen is wrong: the digital age is making us smarter (The Guardian) Longform + iPad = world’s best general interest mag (BookSprung) Memo to publishers: Remind us why you exist again? [...]

The Morning Coffee – 7 February 2012

]]> Here are  few posts that I am reading this morning.

  • Jonathan Franzen is wrong: the digital age is making us smarter (The Guardian)

  • Longform + iPad = world’s best general interest mag (BookSprung)
  • Memo to publishers: Remind us why you exist again? (GigaOm)
  • Putting Your Amazon Kindle Fire to Work (PC World)
  • Readdle’s new Remarks app is an incredibly quick PDF markup marvel (The Next Web)

The Morning Coffee – 7 February 2012

]]> http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2012/02/07/the-morning-coffee-7-february-2012/feed/ 1 Indigo Joins the Amazon Boycotthttp://www.the-digital-reader.com/2012/02/04/indigo-joins-the-amazon-boycott/ http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2012/02/04/indigo-joins-the-amazon-boycott/#comments Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:58:05 +0000 Nate Hoffelder http://www.the-digital-reader.com/?p=30039 Bad news comes in threes, and Amazon certainly learned that this week. First, B&N announced that they weren’t going to carry the print editions of any of the books published by Amazon, which are currently being distributed by HMH. That by itself was bad news,but it was lessened by B&N’s concession that the books would [...]

Indigo Joins the Amazon Boycott

]]> Bad news comes in threes, and Amazon certainly learned that this week.

First, B&N announced that they weren’t going to carry the print editions of any of the books published by Amazon, which are currently being distributed by HMH. That by itself was bad news,but it was lessened by B&N’s concession that the books would be available on their website. Then later this week, Books-a-Million confirmed that they were following suit.

And late Friday afternoon Indigo, Canada’s largest bookstore chain, joined the club. They won’t be stocking books published by Amazon either.

“In our view Amazon’s actions are not in the long-term interests of the reading public or the publishing and book retailing industry, globally,” Indigo vice-president Janet Eger said in an e-mail, adding, “Indigo Founder and CEO Heather Reisman has congratulated Barnes & Noble for taking a leadership stance on the matter, and offers kudos.”

The 3 majors, with around a thousand stores between them, are also joined in this by probably about an equal number of indies. (No clue on how many indies, but it’s bound to be high.) So what we have here is a protest that has grown beyond one of the majors fighting with another; this has now become a genuine boycott of Amazon publishing.

I must say that I find this amusing. Amazon wants to be  disruptive force in any industry they enter. But by entering publishing, they have become a unifying force for booksellers. Everyone hates their guts. Angry mobs might not hold together long, but they can do a lot of damage before they split.

Indigo Joins the Amazon Boycott

]]> http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2012/02/04/indigo-joins-the-amazon-boycott/feed/ 6 Apple to Launch Garage Band for Ebooks on Thursdayhttp://www.the-digital-reader.com/2012/01/17/apple-to-launch-garage-band-for-ebooks-on-thursday/ http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2012/01/17/apple-to-launch-garage-band-for-ebooks-on-thursday/#comments Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:18:29 +0000 Nate Hoffelder http://www.the-digital-reader.com/?p=29193 Ars Technica posted an interesting story last night. According to their source, Apple’s news this week isn’t about selling digital textbooks, like I previously assumed; it’s about making them. Apple is slated to announce the fruits of its labor on improving the use of technology in education at its special media event on Thursday, January 19. [...]

Apple to Launch Garage Band for Ebooks on Thursday

]]> Ars Technica posted an interesting story last night. According to their source, Apple’s news this week isn’t about selling digital textbooks, like I previously assumed; it’s about making them.

Apple is slated to announce the fruits of its labor on improving the use of technology in education at its special media event on Thursday, January 19. While speculation has so far centered on digital textbooks, sources close to the matter have confirmed to Ars that Apple will announce tools to help create interactive e-books—the “GarageBand for e-books,” so to speak—and expand its current platform to distribute them to iPhone and iPad users.

There’s not much to go on beyond the few lines above, but I believe it. Apple is currently making  number of tools like the one mentioned above. Pages, for example, is  Word app that also makes Epub. Final Cut Pro edits movies. And of course Garage Band creates music.

Update: According to Forbes, Ars went off on a tangent with their interpretation. This tool won’t  be designed to do an end-run around publishing. It will just be a good way to make digital textbooks. I had ignored that part because it didn’t really make much sense for (and this is from the biography) Pearson to be involved in an end-run around itself.

Since we can pretty much assume that this rumor is true, let’s take a moment and think about how Apple’s soon to be competitors are going to feel. First, Coursesmart and Vitalsource are the 2 big names in this niche, and I expect them to soldier on.

But then there are the iPad specific developers. Inkling was launched last year with the goal of making an enhanced digital textbook platform. They even drew investment from Pearson. There’s also Kno, who has pinned their hopes on their textbook app ever since their dual screen tablet crashed and burned last spring. And don’t forget Vook. While this enhanced ebook maker focuses less on textbooks than on fiction, they’re still in this market.

I would expect Kno to do the best. They’re not selling enhanced textbooks so much as they are selling textbooks via very capable app. Many of their features are found in the app, not the books, and that could make all the difference. And Vook is available on several other platforms, so they have other markets to fall back on should Apple crowd them out of the iPad.

Inkling, on the other hand, is the interesting story. Considering how much they have in capital investment, they’ve never released all that many textbooks. And the ones they have released are both enhanced and interactive. This puts them in direct competition with Apple’s new platform, which could spell their doom. But I don’t see them going away so much as being swallowed up by Pearson, who is one of the investors. I personally think that Person has been planning all along to buy up Inkling, and this week’s news might move their time table forward.

BTW, I also briefly considered the possibility that Inkling would be involved with Thursday’s news. Nah. The CEO is quoted by Ars, so he’s clearly not under an NDA.

In any case, let’s see what happens Thursday.

Apple to Launch Garage Band for Ebooks on Thursday

]]> http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2012/01/17/apple-to-launch-garage-band-for-ebooks-on-thursday/feed/ 0 Baker & Taylor Launches New Ebook Library in Amazon’s Backyardhttp://www.the-digital-reader.com/2011/12/22/baker-taylor-launches-new-ebook-library-in-amazons-backyard/ http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2011/12/22/baker-taylor-launches-new-ebook-library-in-amazons-backyard/#comments Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:24:01 +0000 Nate Hoffelder http://www.the-digital-reader.com/?p=27894 The ebook and book distributors Baker & Taylor announced this morning that their ebook platform is finally going into a private beta. They’ve named their first partner, and it will be King County Library System, an urban system that covers Seattle, WA. B&T hasn’t released much in the way of details about their platform, but [...]

Baker & Taylor Launches New Ebook Library in Amazon’s Backyard

]]> The ebook and book distributors Baker & Taylor announced this morning that their ebook platform is finally going into a private beta. They’ve named their first partner, and it will be King County Library System, an urban system that covers Seattle, WA.

B&T hasn’t released much in the way of details about their platform, but I have discerned a few tidbits. Axis360, which was first announced at the ALA conference this summer, appears to be built around Blio. This is an enhanced ebook format that Baker & Taylor launched last fall. While it’s not clear how much commercial success B&T  has had with Blio, they have had some luck with signing publishers. Blio currently offers titles from most of the major publishers as well as a quite a few specialty and indies.

KCLS was a good choice for a partner. It’s one of the biggest library systems in the US, and it supports a population of over a million residents. That population was also why KCLS was chosen as a beta test by OverDrive and Amazon when the Kindle got library ebooks back in September.

So this new system is based on Blio, and that’s both good and bad. The good part is that B&T has already released Blio apps for Windows, Android, iOS, and Windows Phone 7. And they offer  over 95 thousand titles.

But the bad news is that Blio has never lived up to the hype. B&T promoted it as having excellent text to speech abilities, and they still haven’t shipped that feature. Blio was also promoted as being user-friendly for the visually impaired, and so far as I know B&T still hasn’t released enabled versions of their apps.

But there is still some value to the format. Blio supports richer features than is usually found in Epub, and that means Axis 360 will offer ebooks with enhanced digital content, more interactive features, and a generally richer appearance. Axis 360 isn’t quite a direct competitor to OverDrive, the leading library ebook vendor.  That might actually be its strength. It offers content that OverDrive does not, and it might appeal to libraries who had  decided against signing with OverDrive.

On the other hand, Blio still comes with some hindrances. It doesn’t support Epub in any of its current DRMs. Instead Blio uses its own DRMed ebook format. There are no e-readers that support Blio, and that would certainly limit my interest as a library patron. It will also make it more difficult for libraries who have already invested in e-readers and ebooks to switch to Axis 360.

All in all, it’s a mixed bag.

Baker & Taylor Launches New Ebook Library in Amazon’s Backyard

]]> http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2011/12/22/baker-taylor-launches-new-ebook-library-in-amazons-backyard/feed/ 5 Clues to Angry Birds’ Secret Levels Are Hidden in Google Bookshttp://www.the-digital-reader.com/2011/12/15/clues-to-angry-birds-secret-levels-are-hidden-in-google-books/ http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2011/12/15/clues-to-angry-birds-secret-levels-are-hidden-in-google-books/#comments Thu, 15 Dec 2011 22:02:32 +0000 Nate Hoffelder http://www.the-digital-reader.com/?p=27615 Google and Roxio Labs have teamed up for a scavenger hunt, but you’ll need to be running Chrome before you can go look for them. A new version of Google Books for Chrome was released on Monday, and buried inside the app are hints and instructions. You’ll need to open the app in your Chrome [...]

Clues to Angry Birds’ Secret Levels Are Hidden in Google Books

]]> Google and Roxio Labs have teamed up for a scavenger hunt, but you’ll need to be running Chrome before you can go look for them.

A new version of Google Books for Chrome was released on Monday, and buried inside the app are hints and instructions. You’ll need to open the app in your Chrome browser or ChromeOS PC and decipher the clues.

You’re actually going to need the Chrome versions of both apps, because according to Google these particular secret levels were only added to the Chrome version of Angry Birds. You won’t find them elsewhere.

Yeah, I can appreciate why Google would only hide the clues in the Chrome Google Books app, but I’m a little disappointed in Rovio. I have bought their apps on 4 platforms already (Android, iOS, webOS, and Android). I’m not interested in getting another one.

BTW, this is actually the second time that Google arranged an exclusive. Back in July OK Go released a new music video that could only be viewed via Chrome. I remarked at the time that this was a waste because it ignored 85% of the browser market.

The same applies here, only it’s probably even more true for Rovio. What do you want to bet that iOS+Android is actually 90% of their market, not 85%? Given that Angry Birds works best on a tablet or the iPad, I think so.

via

 

Clues to Angry Birds’ Secret Levels Are Hidden in Google Books

]]> http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2011/12/15/clues-to-angry-birds-secret-levels-are-hidden-in-google-books/feed/ 0 Daily Deal: Sony Reader Wifi now $99 on Dell.comhttp://www.the-digital-reader.com/2011/12/06/daily-deal-sony-reader-wifi-now-99-on-dell-com/ http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2011/12/06/daily-deal-sony-reader-wifi-now-99-on-dell-com/#comments Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:01:21 +0000 Nate Hoffelder http://www.the-digital-reader.com/?p=27295 Dell is known for their laptops, PCs, and tablets, but they also have an electronics store on their website where they sell gadgets. And today they have a sale on the Sony Reader Wifi. It’s selling for $99, and that’s $30 less than the US retail. I’d get it if I were you; my hacked [...]

Daily Deal: Sony Reader Wifi now $99 on Dell.com

]]> Dell is known for their laptops, PCs, and tablets, but they also have an electronics store on their website where they sell gadgets. And today they have a sale on the Sony Reader Wifi.

It’s selling for $99, and that’s $30 less than the US retail. I’d get it if I were you; my hacked Sony Reader is my favorite ebook reader.

Like the Nook Touch, this e-reader is running  Android underneath the 6″ Pearl E-ink screen. That means that once it’s hacked you can install Android apps. Now, the Sony Reader Wifi doesn’t offer much room for the apps, and not all work. But the extra reading options are a nice addition to an already good ebook reader.

Dell.com (free shipping)

Daily Deal: Sony Reader Wifi now $99 on Dell.com

]]> http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2011/12/06/daily-deal-sony-reader-wifi-now-99-on-dell-com/feed/ 7 Cold facts: E-book sales are accelerating while print sales are plunginghttp://www.the-digital-reader.com/2011/10/17/cold-facts-e-book-sales-are-accelerating-while-print-sales-are-plunging/ http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2011/10/17/cold-facts-e-book-sales-are-accelerating-while-print-sales-are-plunging/#comments Mon, 17 Oct 2011 15:21:18 +0000 John Miedema http://www.the-digital-reader.com/?p=25541 Twenty years of the World Wide Web only increased the sale of books. Just a few years after the Kindle was launched e-book sales are accelerating and print sales are plunging. Here are the facts that interest the numbers nerds who follow these things. Amazon September 16, 2009. Sales for Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol sold [...]

Cold facts: E-book sales are accelerating while print sales are plunging

]]>

Twenty years of the World Wide Web only increased the sale of books. Just a few years after the Kindle was launched e-book sales are accelerating and print sales are plunging. Here are the facts that interest the numbers nerds who follow these things.

Amazon

September 16, 2009. Sales for Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol sold more copies for Amazon’s Kindle than in hardcover. This fact was interesting but not so surprising. The book was the much anticipated sequel to the popular The Da Vinci Code. It was just faster to download Kindle copies than print ones. Print sales caught up later in the week.

July 18, 2010. Amazon announced that its overall e-book sales topped hardcovers. For the previous three months it sold 143 Kindle books for every 100 hardcover books. Amazon only offered relative numbers not actual sales figures. Totals included the very inexpensive Kindle books, bought more easily than read, limiting any implications for understanding literacy. The announcement was interpreted as marketing in anticipation of the Apple iPad.

January 2011. Amazon sells more e-books than paperbacks in the US during the final three months of 2010.

May 19, 2011. Amazon announces that it has sold more e-books than hardcover and paperback print books combined. Sceptics like me are slack-jawed.

Independent Sources

May 27, 2010. “E-book sales grew exponentially in the first quarter of 2010, jumping from just 1.5% of total US book sales in 2009 to 5% of the market in the first quarter of 2010.” “Among e-book buyers, 25 percent said they bought fewer print books than before.” Kelly Gallagher, vice president of publishing services at R.R. Bowker, speaking from BISG’s Survey of Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading.

January 28, 2011. “In 2010, e-book sales rose by around 400% and pulled in almost $1 billion in sales.” Madeline McIntosh, Random House’s president of sales, operations and digital.

June 27, 2011. “The share of adults in the United States who own an e-book reader doubled to 12% in May, 2011 from 6% in November 2010.” Pew Internet.

July 25, 2011. “Sales of print books in Canada dropped dramatically in the first quarter of 2011″ …. “BookNet CEO Noah Genner attributed the drop to a combination of factors, including the sale of digital books ….”

August 9, 2011. “E-book net revenue increased by 1274.1 percent between 2008 and 2010, to $878 million. E-book net sales increased by 1039.6 percent between 2008 and 2010, to 114 million.” BookStats.

September 12, 2011. “E-book sales rose 167% in June, to $80.2 million, at the 15 houses that reported figures to AAP’s monthly sales report and closed the first half of the year with sales up 161%, to $473.8 million.” “Trade paperback sales had the largest decline, down 64%, while children’s hardcover sales were off 31%. Adult hardcover sales fell 25%, mass market sales were down 22% and children’s paperback was off 13%.” Publishers Weekly.

Conclusion. The overall book sales pie may be getting larger but it is due to increased e-book sales while print sales drop. In general people are switching from print books to e-books. There are important exceptions to this pattern that I will discuss in my next article.

reposted with permission

Cold facts: E-book sales are accelerating while print sales are plunging

]]> http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2011/10/17/cold-facts-e-book-sales-are-accelerating-while-print-sales-are-plunging/feed/ 1 RIP Steve Jobs – 1955-2011http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2011/10/05/rip-steve-jobs-1955-2011/ http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2011/10/05/rip-steve-jobs-1955-2011/#comments Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:33:33 +0000 Nate Hoffelder http://www.the-digital-reader.com/?p=25105 Apple announced that today we lost one of the great minds of our time. We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today. Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve. His greatest [...]

RIP Steve Jobs – 1955-2011

]]> Apple announced that today we lost one of the great minds of our time.

We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.

Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that
enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.

His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts.

I would hope that he was well enough yesterday to watch one last iPhone launch.

RIP Steve Jobs – 1955-2011

]]> http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2011/10/05/rip-steve-jobs-1955-2011/feed/ 0 Baby’s First HTMLhttp://www.the-digital-reader.com/2011/10/03/babys-first-html/ http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2011/10/03/babys-first-html/#comments Mon, 03 Oct 2011 14:30:28 +0000 Nate Hoffelder http://www.the-digital-reader.com/?p=25000 If you ask me, it’s never to early to train the next generation of code geeks. HTML for Babies is a recently released board book with 16 pages. Each pair of facing pages shows a different fragment of code. All are simple enough that they can be used to introduce a toddler to the language [...]

Baby’s First HTML

]]>
If you ask me, it’s never to early to train the next generation of code geeks.

HTML for Babies is a recently released board book with 16 pages. Each pair of facing pages shows a different fragment of code. All are simple enough that they can be used to introduce a toddler to the language of the future.

Now I don’t have kids, but I am planning to get this book. The opportunities for humor are endless, and not just for giving it to a toddler. This book would make an excellent birthday gift for a programmer in training, a college freshman, or anyone learning the basics. Heck, i might keep one on my shelf just to hand out whenever I am asked for a reference book on HTML.

You can buy it on Amazon for $9. Sorry, but there’s no ebook version available.

Baby’s First HTML

]]> http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2011/10/03/babys-first-html/feed/ 0 Top Posts of the Week – 1 October 2011http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2011/10/01/top-posts-of-the-week-1-october-2011/ http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2011/10/01/top-posts-of-the-week-1-october-2011/#comments Sat, 01 Oct 2011 14:29:01 +0000 Nate Hoffelder http://www.the-digital-reader.com/?p=24923 This was a lively week at the blog, with Amazon surprising the hell out of us, but that’s not all that happened. The Kobo Vox leak on Thursday, Kindle library ebooks, the HP TouchPad, and the new Kindle Cloud were all popular stories this week. Barnes & Noble to Launch 2 New NookColors This Year [...]

Top Posts of the Week – 1 October 2011

]]> This was a lively week at the blog, with Amazon surprising the hell out of us, but that’s not all that happened. The Kobo Vox leak on Thursday, Kindle library ebooks, the HP TouchPad, and the new Kindle Cloud were all popular stories this week.

  1. Barnes & Noble to Launch 2 New NookColors This Year
  2. At the Amazon Kindle Fire Launch Event
  3. Kobo Vox Android Tablet Coming on 17 October for $250
  4. Kindle Cloud Storage Coming with the Kindle Tablet on Wednesday?
  5. How to read a PDF on an Android tablet
  6. The Kindle Fire just Killed Off the Android Tablet Market
  7. Kindle Library Ebooks & the Law of Unintended Consequences
  8. How Ebook Buyers Discover Books
  9. How to Check Out Kindle Library Ebooks and Return Them Early
  10. Amazon Prime Free Ebook Details Leaked on Amazon.com
  11. Updated: Library Ebooks now Available for the Kindle
  12. Amazon Overturned the E-reader Apple Cart
  13. Installing Preware on the HP TouchPad is Easier Than You Think
  14. Amazon’s Kindle Price Punking
  15. Fondle: HP Touchpad
  16. Jetbook Color confirmed for US release this fall – 9.7? E-ink screen, $350
  17. Kindle for Touchpad doesn’t like outside ebooks
  18. First look at the new Sony Reader PRS-T1!!!
  19. Kindle Tablet to be a Playbook Clone?
  20. Library eBooks now Work on the HP TouchPad (via the Kindle App)

Top Posts of the Week – 1 October 2011

]]> http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2011/10/01/top-posts-of-the-week-1-october-2011/feed/ 1