As more and more people weigh in on the topic of eBooks and the eventual state of the market, it’s not unusual to find that most fall into one of two camps.  First, we have those who believe that paper books are a thing of the past and that the publishing industry as it stands is going to collapse under its own weight in the near future.  Then, also, you have those for whom nothing short of a paper book will do and who are convinced that no matter how great the experience with a Kindle or other similar device can get, it will simply not measure up favorably by virtue of being made of plastic and having buttons.  The truth, as usual, is fairly certain to fall well in between these extremes.  That said, this is certainly a sign that more and more people are willing to draw away somewhat from the traditional model and experience a new way of doing things.  The numbers can’t be anything but encouraging.

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While I’m not intricately familiar with patent law, it would seem from an intuitive standpoint that the Kindle is safe.  As far as I, or seemingly anybody else covering the topic for that matter, recall, there was no effort made previous to these suits(at least that managed to achieve public recognition) by Discovery to defend their rights in the matter. Given that the patents in question were assigned in 1999 and 2007, it would seem rather late in the game to expect results on this front.  Again, I’m no expert and don’t claim to have the only, or even the best, interpretation of what the outcome will be.  All I can say is that I’m not terribly concerned for my Kindle.

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This announcement only emphasizes the often-overlooked fact that the Kindle platform is about a lot more than the Kindle device.  Whether the hardware continues to do well or not, and I sincerely believe that it will be even better than ever with the upcoming release and a fairly steady stream of firmware updates adding new features all the time, Amazon isn’t going to be letting go of their grip on the eBook marketplace any time soon.  Paper books are here to stay, as many people have said since the eReader concept began to become popular, but never again are they likely to be the exclusive medium for their content.

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So, will the Amazon ownership change anything in how the site is run?  Comments from the company say no.  They will remain a wholly independent entity that just happens to have a really really rich backer providing them with all sorts of fun new opportunities, advice, and options.  To demonstrate how completely separate from Amazon they truly are, Woot’s first Deal of the Day following the purchase was a brand new Kindle, of the latest generation, for only $149!  As with many of their better deals, it sold out before I could get one.  Still, we can hope to see great new selections and deals in the future, especially since you’ve got to assume that Amazon has whole warehouses worth of unsellable merchandise just waiting to find a home after all these years.  If you love a good deal, don’t mind the occasional refurbished item, and enjoy a seller with a sense of humor then you should really check them out.

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As already reported, the nook has undergone a steep drop in price from $259 to $199, as well as welcoming a new member to the product family: A WiFi only model at a mere $149.  In response, Amazon has cut the price of their ever-popular Kindle from $259 to $189 in what can only be seen as a direct and hostile response to B&N’s move.

One of the main sources for concern lately among critics has been the pricing of these devices.  While always a reasonable investment for the avid reader, some have had trouble justifying the expense of the more popular and full-featured of the eReaders such as the Kindle and nook.  This is quickly becoming a non-issue. The Kobo made its splash by setting an amazing new low price for the market and mere months later we have one product with a more robust support list and feature set being offered at the same $149 price, and the most popular and well-supported eBook reading device on the market today for just $40 more.   There is simply no excuse anymore not to own one.  Amazon and B&N are in a price war and the only one winning is the reader.

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This fall’s lineup will include:

• A Scattered Life by Karen McQuestion
• Sweet Farts: Rippin’ it Old School by Raymond Bean
• The First Assassin by John J. Miller
• Russell Wiley is Out to Lunch by Richard Hine
• AWOL on the Appalachian Trail by David Miller
• Mercury Falls by Robert Kroese
• Shaken by J.A. Konrath
• The Grove by John Rector
• Final Price by J. Gregory Smith
• MetaGame by Sam Landstrom

These titles range from self-published works, including what I believe to be the first self-published Kindle edition to get optioned for a movie(A Scattered Life), to complete originals.  There’s something there for almost any audience.  So check them out.  Seriously.  Go on, I can wait.  Anyway, it’s good stuff.  Clichès aside, I’m going to go order some of my own now.

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The unexpected feature that is, at present, merely a well-substantiated rumor, is that the new Kindle will finally be offering up the option of WiFi connectivity either in parallel with or exclusive of the existing 3G connection.  This opens up at least the possibility of having multiple pricing options depending on user requirements, since there is some evidence that plans have been made for a 3G-free model.  It also adds in a much-needed interface option for those who enjoy the Kindle device but do not have regular 3G access in their homes.  Coverage is growing all over the place, but it’s simply not quite everywhere just yet.  Even for those among us who do have the coverage, the speed boost offered by such an option will be a more than welcome advantage when it comes to web browsing and downloading.  This is to say nothing about the potential effect on price that going without 3G coverage might entail.  August is likely to be a fun month.

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This is Amazon’s second publishing endeavor, so it is safe to say they know something of the ins and outs of the process by now.  According to what information we have regarding this move, titles chosen will be heavily influenced by the standing they have in terms of favorable reviews on the Amazon website, thus allowing readers to directly influence how well distributed their favorite authors become.  This new imprint promises to be a positive move for authors, readers, and hopefully investors alike.  There aren’t nearly enough international authors represented well in English just yet, much to many of our monolingual dismay.

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PC Magazine is a great resource for expert reviews on electronics and computers.  PC Magazine was introduced in 1982, the year after IBM set the world into a tailspin with one of the first personal computers. PC Magazine chronicled through the evolution of computer technology.  In the 1980’s you could get a desktop for around $6000.  You can get one now with a lot more memory and capabilities for less than $1000.  The 1990’s were  a big decade for computers.  Microsoft took off several versions of its Windows operating system.  The internet went mainstream into businesses and homes.  Apple found it’s niche in graphic design software.  Amazon.com, Yahoo and eBay were introduced in the late 1990’s. more

The last decade has brought evolution of existing technologies by improving them and making them much faster.  The 2000’s have also seen the introduction of PDA’s and mobile devices such as cell phones, blackberrys, palm pilots and others.  The e-book reader market is taking off with the Kindle, Nook and the iPad coming along. The tablet computer market not is too far behind.

Over the years it has been PC Magazine’s job to cover the latest trends, analyze them and share the best results to the consumers so that they can make the most informed decisions in such a rapidly changing market.

PC Magazine stopped selling print editions of its magazine so it makes sense to get it for Kindle if you want a portable device to read it on.  However, based on the comments provided, it is highly recommended that the Kindle team add the images in for the articles.  Many of the articles are based on the reviews of an item and it is helpful to have a picture of that particular item to refer to.

Currently, PC Magazine is owned by Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc and the stock information is private.

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Now, I’m not saying that this was a problem for everybody. Originally those who were close enough to a Sony run store had this luxury, of course, and in fact still do. Hell, the Sony Readers have long since come to Target stores around the country as well. Today, however, the eBook market is heating up based on distribution models and 3g devices like the nook and Kindle have center stage as they make the move to the big name storefronts.

Later this month, the 25th if reports can be believed, we should be seeing the Amazon Kindle popping up at Target stores all over the place. In what may be a coincidence, but is probably a reaction, Best Buys will in turn be picking up sales of Barnes & Noble’s nook. This should be a fun time.

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A lot of good literature gets published outside in the US. In fact, if you look at popular fiction genres, you will see that many of the world best sellers come from outside the US. I mention works of fiction mainly because those are the ones that sell the most. And with those facts in mind, it is easy to see why this would benefit Amazon. Amazon has really ushered the era of eBooks by making the Kindle and tying it up with the Whispernet platform. With this new move, they ensure that there is a steady supply of fresh material that is much greater in number than their current competitors. The great diversity that the Kindle Store will gain as a result of this will be really good for Amazon’s business.

For the average user, this means more choices and that is always a good thing. Plus it will also mean that you can finally carry your favorite non-US author on your Kindle, in addition to having the printed editions. With better choices and more diversity, you will probably end up buying even more books on your Kindle and less from physical bookstores. And that is exactly what Amazon wants.

As for the Authors, this basically means a new market has opened up to them. Book sales have been down for a long time now and they have been getting worse. But eBooks are gaining momentum by keeping the print media relevant. So many of them will undoubtedly see the great opportunity that it is for them and jump right in.

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Well.. this seems to settle it. In my personal opinion text-to-speech was no threat to audio books because although much better than most voice synthesis systems I’ve experienced so far it still falls way short of professionally read audiobooks. It is also as much copyright infringement as me reading bed time stories to my daughter… But that’s just my personal opinion. It’s amazing what a law suit threat can do in a modern corporate world.

I just hope that few copyright holders would actually choose to exercise this ability to opt-out because this feature actually comes quite handy on long commutes when I don’t have any audiobook to listen to.

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A few days ago I detected a certain malady that some Kindle users may have experienced. I have come to learn that there are many more conditions, symptoms and maladies of which I believe my fellow Kindle users should be aware. The list is not exhaustive so please feel free to add any additional items as you may have experienced on your own.

Kindle Abandonment Syndrome: The feeling of concern when you cannot find a newly published or previously published book in Kindle format which results in you sending threatening letters to publishing houses or checking the “New on Kindle” site every ten minutes.

Kindle Anxiety Syndrome: Worrying that your Kindle will run out of charge before you can reach your home and your charging cord.

Kindle Separation Anxiety: This manifests symptoms which include trying to tap the next page button on a paperback or hardcover book, if you still read those!

Kindle Agoraphobia: The fear of traveling to a destination that goes not have Whispernet access, like a foreign country, a remote location, or a tunnel.

Kindle Envy Condition: This is when people post negative comments about the Kindle on forums without having ever owning one.

Kindle Curiosity Malady: This is when you spot another Kindle owner in public and you insist he or she show you what they have downloaded on their Kindle.

Kindle Braggadocio: This is when you give a ten minute demonstration of how your Kindle works when someone casually asks if that is a Kindle.

Kindle Confusion Malady: This is when you repeatedly lick your finger when you tap the next page button.

Kindle Hoarding Syndrome: This is a condition where you have downloaded 2000 books from every free e-book website you can find. It is particularly serious when you download the Russian versions of
Tolstoy’s books and you cannot read Russian.

Kindle Displacement Condition: This is a condition where you consider your Kindle a member of your family and purchase seven designer covers and extra SD cards but neglect to buy your family milk.

Kindle Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: This is when you check the Velcro patch which secures your Kindle to its case every half hour to ensure it won’t slip out again. It can also manifest itself with the
purchase of multiple batteries and the constant checking of your Amazon Media Library.

Kindle Carpel Tunnel Syndrome: Intense pain in your thumbs from speed reading on your Kindle.

Kindle Obesity: This is the insistence that gaining weight is only due to the fact that with a belly you can now read your Kindle while lying prone.

Kindle Perplexity Disorder: This is when a patient insists that any reading matter he or she received must be in either asw, prc or pdf convertible format because “I don’t read anything that isn’t
Kindlized.”

Kindle Grammar Abuse: Using the word Kindle as anything other than a noun: such as is it Kindleable?; can you Kindlize that? Or I don’t do anything unKindled.

You may ask is there a cure for these maladies. I fear that no cure is available. My only hope that is when the Kindle becomes universally accepted like the IPod and the laptop computer, these maladies will be readily accepted by the population.

Some of these are hilarious and are especially true for me. Do you have any Kindle related disorders you would like to share?

Source: Google Groups

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This is what Amazon said on its blog;

Our goal is to make every title available for Kindle, and to that end some eagle-eyed Kindle owners and enthusiasts have already noticed and been using a new tool to help us do just that. If you’re frustrated that a physical edition of a book is not (yet) available in Kindle version, just look below the book’s image on its product detail page and you’ll find a box that reads, “Please tell the publisher.” Click on the “I’d like to read this book on Kindle” link and we’ll forward your request. Make your voice heard.

It is a nice feature which will hopefully be used by Kindle owners to highlight old and new books which publishers haven’t bothered to Kindle-ize, yet. It would be also nice if once you have submitted you request to be notified by Amazon if the book does become available on the Kindle,

Next step is magazines and newspapers which should also have this button.

Source: Official Amazon Kindle Blog

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AbeBooks touts itself as a leader in rare and hard-to-find books. Russell Grandinetti, VP of books for Amazon.com said “AbeBooks brings added breadth and expanded selection to our customers worldwide, AbeBooks provides a wide range of services to both sellers and customers, and we look forward to working with them to further grow their business. We’re excited to present all of our customers with the widest selection of books available any place on Earth.”

Hannes Blum, chief executive of AbeBooks, said that he was “very excited” about the acquisition. “This deal brings together book sellers and book lovers from around the world, and offers both types of customers a great experience,”

Founded in 1996, AbeBooks charges members a monthly subscription fee to list their books, the website has over 110 million rare and out-of-print books listed.

Amazon expects to close the acquisition of AbeBooks before the end of the year for an undisclosed sum–rumoured to be between $90-$120 million–and is still subject to regulatory approvals. The takeover is the third major acquisition Amazon has made this year. It took over digital book download site Audible for $300m in March and also bought on-line fabric store Fabric.com in June.

How does it effect the Kindle?

There wont be any immediate effects for Kindle owners because AbeBooks wasn’t in the e-book business, however the acquisition of AbeBooks shows that Amazon is ruthlessly buying up its competition which is a loss for the consumer. In fact AbeBooks is the antithesis of of what Amazon has done lately with pushing into electronic books with the Kindle and hosting Web 2.0 services like EC2, S3, and its recently launched Flexible Payment Service.

I don’t anticipate any new services from Amazon since they have stated that they will keep AbeBooks as a stand-alone operation, one thing that AbeBooks is great at is connecting book lovers with small, independent book stores and allowing them to discover titles which no major book retailer sells.

AbeBooks business model doesn’t really apply to e-books since a copy of the a book can always be stored on Amazons server, forever. Perhaps in the future when e-books are more commonplace then a service like AbeBooks would be beneficial to Kindle owners allowing them to discover obscure authors or controversial content which publishers wont ever print.

Can AbeBooks somehow incorporate its service for Kindle owners?

Source: Amazon, Marketwatch, Techvibes

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Once such publisher is Dave Thomas from Pragmatic Programmer which publishes technical programming books, as you can imagine, programming books will be full of diagrams, tables, code lists and images — they are really tricky to reproduce for e-book viewing.

This is what Dave had to say

About once a week, we get a request from a reader to have our books available in a format that can be read on an eBook reader (typically, nowadays, the Amazon Kindle).

In fact, we’ve had a prototype form of that capability for a while now, but we’ve always held back. Frankly, we didn’t think the devices worked well with our kind of content. Basically, the .mobi format used by the Kindle is optimized for books that contain just galleys of text with the occasional heading. Throw in tables, monospaced code listings, sidebars and the like, and things start to get messy. The .epub format (used, for example, by Adobe Digital Editions) is slightly more capable, but it also has issues.

You can see exactly what Dave is talking about because he has uploaded his tests, you can see the results here;

Dave goes on to say getting to this stage required a lot of hacks, for instance the code listings have been converted to images so that they render better, however they don’t scale when the user changes the font size — i’m sure many more hacks were used to get to this stage, Dave finises with a good question:

So… what do you think. Is this workable? Should we make these available, even though they’re not very good, or should we wait for a later generation of eBook that’s closer to the capabilities we need? Comments are open… :)

What do you think, should publishers wait or press on knowing this is the best possible outcome given the current technology?

Source: O’Reilly, PragDave

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Since its launch in 1995, Amazon has become a leviathan in the publishing industry, this spelt good news for the consumers, but not so good for the publishers. Amazon flexed its might in March this year by declaring that if publishers didn’t use Amazon’s in house print on demand wing called BookSurge then the “Buy” button on the Amazon page for their books will be removed. They could then only sell their books on Amazon through a third party.

This amounted to a antitrust suit being filed against Amazon in March of this year, the case is ongoing, Amazon filed for the case to be dismissed, the judge will decide on August 21st if the case can proceed.

The once mighty publishing industry is facing troubling times, with tighter margins on books and more competition from magazines and online publications, publishers are left with little option but to bow to Amazons wishes. Amazon’s cut is 65% when publishing book on the DTP and 25% when published on Mobipocket which gives Amazon even more power over the publishers. Removing their books from Amazon is not an option for many publishers simply because of the amount of revenue they will lose, precious revenue they cannot afford to lose.

The Kindle seems has tightened Amazons grip on the publishers, and as Kindle growth surges it will put the publishers in an even worse position.

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An Amazon.com press release today revealed that 11 top Christian publishers are to make available thousands of e-book for the Kindle.

From the Amazon.com press release;

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), today announced that Christian book publishers Augsburg Fortress, Crossway Books & Bibles, David C. Cook, Gospel Light, Group Publishing, NavPress, Strang Communications, Thomas Nelson, Tyndale, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. and Zondervanp have committed to making the majority of their catalogs of books available to Kindle owners by the end of 2008.

….

The response to our Kindle editions has been remarkable,” said Alan Huizenga, Director of Digital Publishing at Tyndale House Publishers. “We are excited to know that for readers who own a Kindle, they can download and begin reading bestselling Tyndale authors such as Joel Rosenberg, Tony Dungy, Francine Rivers, and Tommy Newberry in under a minute!”

“For years Eerdmans readers have enjoyed our extensive selection of titles from the scholarly to the popular,” said Sam Eerdmans, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Eerdmans. “Now Eerdmans is excited to announce that many of our titles will be readily available on Kindle. Fans of Eugene Peterson or Joan Chittister can quickly find and access their new books using the extremely easy interface of Kindle.”

“Thomas Nelson is excited to offer our books in the digital format on Kindle,” said Robert Edington, Vice President of Internet Channel, Thomas Nelson, Inc. “Our readers have enjoyed works by Max Lucado, John Maxwell and Ted Dekker for a long time, and now those who have a Kindle can quickly and easily download them in 60 seconds.”

It looks like more and more publishers are jumping on the Kindle bandwagon, the more the merrier!

Source: Amazon.com

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Our old friend Walt Mossberg sat down with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos this morning at the “D: All Things Digital Conference”.

Walt Mossberg gave the Kindle a luke-warm reception back in November calling it “mediocre” and “marred by annoying flaws”. He liked the idea and the shopping experience behind the Kindle, but thought that the device itself was where Kindle’s flaw lied.

Jeff Bezos does his normal sales pitch about the Kindle, but this time he throws in a bit of new information about Kindle sales. Walt asks point blank “How many Kindles have you sold?” Jeff politely refused to answer the question instead he gave us a new stat: “Title-by-title basis…Kindle unit sales more than 6% of total book sales”. So of the 125,000 titles available for Kindle, of all those 125,000 titles that were sold — digital and print — Kindle accounted for 6% of sales. Jeff also said he envisioned a time when e-book sales formed a substantial portion of book sales at Amazon.

Jeff Bezos also commented on a Kindle v2:

“There will be a second version, a third version, a tenth version. … but a second version is not that near.”

It may take a decade to get the product to where Amazon wants it, he said. So this has confirmed what many thought, that Amazon is committed to the Kindle and there will be a Kindle v2 release sometime in the future.

The interview wasn’t just limited to talk about the Kindle, Bezos also talks about the streaming video-on-demand service for Amazon, which will be released in the next couple of weeks amongst other things.

You can see the interview below in 2 parts.

Source: All Things D

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Today BookLocker.com has filed an antitrust suit against Amazon.com on behalf of POD (Print On Demand) publishers.

It all started in late March when Amazon contacted a number of US small presses and self-publishers to say that if they didn’t use Amazon’s in house print on demand wing called BookSurge then the “Buy” buttons on the Amazon page for their books will be removed. They could then only sell their books on Amazon through a third party.

You can read the filing via this link. [PDF Document]

We will keep our eye on this as the story develops we’ll let you all know what happens.

Source: TheBookSeller.com via Mobileread Forums

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I love my Kindle and I’m a big fan of Amazon – even more now after dealing with their Kindle Customer Support folks.

My Kindle developed a strange crack on the bottom of the unit where the ports and volume control are located. I called Amazon support to explain the situation and they immediately shipped a new Kindle (so I wouldn’t be without mine while they replaced it.)

When the new one arrived, the process for deactivating the original Kindle and activating the replacement was fast and flawless.

I packed up my original unit into the replacement’s box, slapped on the return shipping label that Amazon sent me and off it went, back to Kindle-land.

Nice job, guys.

Nice job indeed – it seems like the Amazon customer service guys did a great job in dealing with John’s problems, I am a bit surprised that they shipped out a replacement before requesting John’s Kindle back. However, this is a really good sign that Amazon are looking after their Kindle customers, which is impressive after you read about all the Amazon horror stories out there.

Source: brandbrains.net

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Photo by benackerman.

If you have an image that you would like to submit for Kindle Photo of the Day then please get in touch! you can send the image via email to – please make sure you include your name and a link to your site.

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Act I: The act of buying

When someone buys a book, they are also buying the right to resell that book, to loan it out, or to even give it away if they want. Everyone understands this.

Jeff Bezos, Open letter to Author’s Guild, 2002

You may not sell, rent, lease, distribute, broadcast, sublicense or otherwise assign any rights to the Digital Content or any portion of it to any third party, and you may not remove any proprietary notices or labels on the Digital Content. In addition, you may not, and you will not encourage, assist or authorize any other person to, bypass, modify, defeat or circumvent security features that protect the Digital Content.

Amazon, Kindle Terms of Service, 2007

The main reason I linked to this post is because not only is it a brilliant post, but there is a lively discussion going on in the comments at the bottom of the page, 250 comments strong! So head on over and join the discussion!

Source : The Future of Reading (A Play in Six Acts)

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