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December 2007

Blooming Marvellous

Marvel Comics in a new Web initiative have launched a "Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited" persona. Fans of Marvel's comic books and graphic novels can now read a vast array of them online (no downloads) for a fee, with free samples available.

The service offered some 2,500 comic books when launched, with weekly additions expected. Of note, the range includes rare first issues of some classic series such as Spider-Man and the X-Men. You can search the site six ways; by character, writer, illustrator, book title, mini-series or date of publication, and the site also has community features for the socially-minded. The cost is US$4.99 per month if you subscribe for a whole year, or US$9.99 per month on a monthly basis. It's both Mac and PC compatible.
http://www.marvel.com/digitalcomics

Kindle sparks some interest

A clever Russian hacker has opened up the Amazon Kindle e-reader to a wider range of books. Actually the 'crack" does not affect Amazon's own Kindle editions, instead it allows modification of existing MobiPocket format books so that they're readable on the device as well. Meanwhile major "independent" e-book retailer Fictionwise is also selling Kindle editions.

As for the device itself, it was "sold out" for Christmas delivery by the beginning of December. However nobody is revealing just what the stocks were in the first place, so the real significance of this, if any, is not yet apparent. There must be some consumer push though, as scalpers were obtaining double the original price on eBay.

Dymocks the Trail Blazer in the Land of Oz

Visiting Dymock's flagship bookshop in George St, Sydney, recently this writer was surprised - and delighted - to find e-books on sale within the store from a touch screen kiosk. This site has long advocated that instead of fearing e-books, "bricks & mortar" bookshops should make them available as easy downloads on the premises, so that their customers have a choice between physical and digital varieties. Now at last a major Australian chain is doing just that.

The books are downloadable from the company's website in Adobe PDF, Microsoft Reader and Mobipocket formats, from a range of over 120,000 titles (plus over 10,000 audio books). A condition is that purchasers must join the Dymocks "Booklover" loyalty programme. Once they have downloaded a title to a particular device, customers will still retain access to their book purchase online at any time, removing one of the most annoying restrictions of current DRM management.

The text titles are made available in conjunction with the Australian-based Ebooks Corporation, and the audiobooks in partnership with audible.com. A helpful Dymocks shop assistant described their e-books as "significantly" cheaper than their printed counterparts, believed to be on average 20 - 30% less expensive overall. However that's still often a lot dearer than Amazon's $9.99 fiction e-titles.

In a "back to the future" feature, Dymocks also plan to make print-on-demand copies available in stores from their extensive digital catalogue online. And in another surprise, Dymocks are now selling the paperback-sized iLiad e-reader. The Dutch-designed iLiad is a quality device (see our November 2006 review), but price has always been a severe limiter, and at $A899 here it's hardly likely that they'll fly out the door. As well, the iLiad is restricted to Mobipocket format titles at the commercial level. Moreover, unlike Amazon's Kindle the iLiad's books have to be downloaded indirectly to the device from a computer rather than directly from the Web. Still, such a first step seems a serious portend towards a greater e-reader future.

The long-established and family-owned Dymocks chain has 78 bookshops in Australia, and 17 abroad. With these progressive steps they seem determined to lead rather than follow Australian booksellers into the digital future.

North of the Border

Meanwhile giant US book retailer Borders is not to be outdone by Dymocks. Already selling the Sony Reader in its USA superstores, Borders has now launched a "co-branded" e-bookstore online for the Sony device. The new site reportedly offers over 25,000 titles for download.

Epub - not a virtual drinking experience

Major digital distributor OverDrive has announced that from early 2008 it will support the recent ".epub" digital format. The new format was developed by the International Digital Publishing Forum (formerly the Open eBook Forum), which is backed by many of the largest digital book industry players.

But what is it? Epub is an "open", enhanced, reflowable XHTML standard that can be repackaged to suit various commercial purposes. In October the large Hachette publishing group announced it will produce e-books in the format, and a number of other publishers are expected to follow suit soon. Adobe's Digital Editions software also supports the format, which may eventually enable e-publishers to produce just one original digital version rather than a range of them for their potential customers.

November 2007

Feature article:

Kindle out - but will it spark?

The Amazon Kindle e-reader was released in the USA on Monday 19 November, on the back of a Newsweek cover story. This news page has already discussed the Kindle last September, and indeed a year earlier in September 2006. But now this device is officially out we can confirm its major specs.

These include $US399 price tag, 10.3 ounce (643 gram) weight, paperback size and high-contrast, six-inch E Ink screen. The two-hour battery charge will reportedly last "several days to a week", and there is thoughtful "left or right-handed" page navigation. . Then there are all the usual goodies like variable font size, bookmarking, an inbuilt electronic dictionary, a search function within the book and the abilities to make & export notes and highlight text passages.

Amazon is making over 90,000 books available for the Kindle to begin with, none above $US10. In addition you can preview the first chapter of a prospective purchase for free. The Kindle will store around 200 text books, upgradeable five-fold with a standard SD memory card. Purchases are also backed up online in a Your Media Library feature.

So far ho hum, apart from the prospect of cheaper best sellers. But what is revolutionary about the Kindle is that it allows bookshop browsing and direct downloads straight from the Web to the device, via a free high-speed Sprint EVDO (= Evolution Data Optimised) wireless network called the (Amazon) Whispernet ( this is available only in the USA to begin with).

In other words, no PC is required as an intermediary. Note that there is also a USB connection by which, in the reverse of the traditional e-reader process, you can upload files to your PC from the Kindle. For subscribed newspapers & magazines the result is even more impressive -dailies can be automatically delivered to your device overnight!  Another intriguing feature is an included Kindle email address. Indeed the Kindle can even Web browse after a fashion, but the results are dismaying by early accounts.

Future models will need to address that issue to unlock one of the most attractive possibilities of Kindle-style devices. The present fixed text digital book is really only an electronic facsimile of the codex, a format already almost two thousand years old. The Kindle e-reader however looks towards an expanded, or indeed revolutionary e-book where the text can link to other relevant information, explanation, images, commentary or criticism on the Web.

Indeed a whole temporary community directly accessible from the device itself could form around a book as it now does on a weblog. For non-fiction works, a web-based peer review or even public critical process could address shortcomings in a book as part of a wider editing process before formal publication, or indeed as part of further editions. These ideas may seem startling now, but in a short generation's time may become commonplace, within the scholarly community at least. For the ordinary reader of fiction the chance to jump straight to descriptions and reviews of other books in the genre, information about places mentioned or a direct link to the author's own website could be valued inclusions.

Now for the bad points

First up, the Kindle is dearer and much less attractive to look at than the Sony Reader or even the eBookwise-1150, two of its significant contemporaries. Indeed its aesthetic (with that jungle of angled keys) is appalling to many. That may sound superficial, but it's a major flaw in a design-conscious world, particularly if you hope to attract a young and judgmental market. Also it can't do colour, and until it can it will lack any market-storming edge.

Moreover as we've said before, most of that market simply refuses an expensive dedicated e-reader. Our own belief is that such devices need to be cheap or "free" - with the real cost spread over book purchase plans - if they are to electrify the masses. Like so many companies that have gone down this path before and failed, Amazon does not appear to understand how to market such a device successfully. Although Amazon founder Jeff Bezos claims to understand that it is really a "service" and not a device he is selling he has failed to draw the logical conclusion, one that for example computer printer manufacturers realised a decade ago.

Then there are the same old DRM and file format issues that have bedevilled e-readers so far. In other words if you buy the Kindle you're tied to Amazon and can't shop elsewhere on the Web, or even buy any PDF, Palm, Microsoft or other format e-books. Nor can you treat the book as your own transferable, uncontested property the way you can a physical book. And heaven help you if the company fails.

For some, given Amazon's size and ubiquity that may not be an issue. Trusting a restrictive technology that many other majors (e.g. Adobe, Microsoft and Palm) are rivalling however is still a big ask. Only an e-reader that offers massive compensation for these shortcomings can hope for more than niche appeal. Examples of such compensation could be that it hardly costs anything up front and yet provides substantially cheaper books and/or lots of attractive deals.

Pointer to the Future

So will this device turn out to be yet another in a long line of failed or only marginally viable dedicated e-readers? Probably. The irony of the dedicated e-reader to date is that far more e-books are being read these days on multi-purpose devices conceived more for other functions. The sharp end of that stick is that the e-reading capacity of those devices costs nothing extra, rather than the $400 demanded for the Kindle. And that's a fact that value-conscious consumers are unlikely to ignore.

Moreover in some respects the Kindle is less impressive than many of its contemporaries and even predecessors. And yet - the Kindle is still important as a valuable step forward. It introduces a direct symbiotic relationship between book retailing on the largest scale and the dedicated e-reader device. For the consumer moreover it's now possible to shop and download directly from the device to the Web, or rather from Amazon's website, making the whole operation much simpler and faster.

The Kindle then, is perhaps the wrong device in the right place and almost the right time. We can see in it how the company that deals successfully with the limitations mentioned above may yet startle the world, by finally triggering the long-awaited e-book boom. So our message to Amazon is - you may yet have a winner in an improved Kindle Mark II, provide it is inexpensive and perhaps even issued to interested and committed Amazon customers as a "freebie". But only if you take the rightful criticisms on the chin and get cracking on the necessary changes to your product and its marketing.

*

The Nokia N810 Internet Tablet - hot, hot, hot?

Okay, you want something much smaller than a laptop that will read e-books, but it really has to be quite smart as well. Not just any old UMPC either, you want a genuine, slide-out physical qwerty keyboard along for the ride. Well Santa hears you, it's here! Just. The Nokia 810 is available in American stores this month for $US 479.99, less variable discount according to your dealer. In the UK the release date is 30 November, for a more expensive 320 pounds sterling, apparently. Elsewhere, it's wait your turn.

By the way, despite the Nokia name the N810 is not a phone!  However it sneakily can do VoIP calls, and of course talks to phone numbers to Web connect. Some specs: running Linux as the operating system on a 400MHz OMAP processor, the Nokia 810 boasts a 4 inch colour screen and a solid 2GB of internal memory, upgradeable with cards. It has WiFi (802.11b/g) although not WiMAX, Bluetooth of course and GPS to boot. Then there's mini USB 2.0, a frontal camera and playback for video and audio.

Battery use on the 810 is not a strongpoint though, with battery life only an estimated 4 hours of "typical use", or 10 hours for music only. Though why you'd use this for music alone beats me. You could at least read books on it, for example. Then again, that sound use estimate might also be 10 hours for an audio book! Thanks for reminding me. In the blogosphere they like the N810. Make up your own mind, but I suspect this one may do well. Although many of those who desire it most may not have the wherewithal. Xmas gifts oh Xmas gifts, what a boon are they...

New Harvard Librarian extols e-books

Robert C. Darnton, the new director of the Harvard University Library, has declared in favour of melding printed books and e-collections into a single, functional "scholarly landscape". "I want to continue to strengthen Harvard's fabulous collections in old printed material, but at the same time I want to help Harvard move into the world of digitised information," he told the Harvard Crimson newspaper before addressing library personnel.

In a speech entitled "Old Books and E-Books" Director Danton then told staff that libraries are not "warehouses of printed paper," but dynamic cultural centres. To prove the point he is even writing his own interactive e-book, which can be customised by readers. Danton also confided that he expects Google's digitisation project for Harvard's non-copyrighted texts to be finished by the end of 2008.

Amazon e-books amazing new site about to open… but which is it????

Apparent wow factor news for November is that Amazon4eBooks.com is about to metamorphose from a beta site to a live one. Why so hot? The site under construction boasts that all their e-books will cost just $1.99 with instant downloads, and that 10% of every purchase will go to charity. This presumably is just an opening special, and who knows what selection of books will be available, but this headline news is certainly the kind e-book fans have long been waiting for.

But wait, is this site (which calls itself in publicity "the new Amazon for ebooks") indeed the real Amazon, who already sell e-books through their subsidiary Mobipocket? Can it be a prospective online bookstore for Amazon's long-rumoured and just arrived Kindle device? Or does it represent something unrelated altogether? We can tell you that a search on the Amazon.com site finds no mention of amazon4ebooks.com. So no, this is NOT the Kindle site, which is now very much available at Amazon.com. Is this satire or..?

*Over at the definitely-for-real Mobipocket meantime, a beta version of the Mobipocket Reader 6.0 for Blackberry is now available, as is a 6.1 beta version of the Mobipocket Desktop Reader. If you're loathe to dabble in betas, the current fully-smoothed software is the Mobipocket Reader Desktop 6.0, available from http://www.mobipocket.com/en/DownloadSoft/ProductDetailsReader.asp

Ebrary survey probes online reference use

Ebrary has now released the results of their 2007 Global Faculty E-book Survey. Some 906 faculty members representing nearly 300 individual higher education institutions (in almost forty countries) completed the survey.

A key finding was that about half of respondents indicated they prefer using online resources for research, class preparation, and instruction, while only 152 preferred using print resources (the rest expressed no preference). Almost the same half require students to use electronic resources for course assignments.

Yet 57 percent of respondents indicated that students do not know how to use electronic resources provided by the institution's library, with nearly 28 percent stating that there is not enough instruction in how to use such resources. The obvious implication - students need improved and probably more instruction in this area, to take better advantage of what is available to them electronically in digital format.

Students are therefore in many cases doing their own research on the Web without being aware of the numerous pitfalls, while expensively purchased resources may be under-utilised. One obvious suggestion is to move towards both verified free resources and to commercial resources that cost only in accordance with actual usage. Oh, and that throwing money at resources without teaching people how to use them is a really dumb bureaucratic concept.

October 2007

The Sony Reader, Mark II

October (fondly known as Rocktober in parts of Australia) has been enlivened by the release of a second generation PRS-505 model of the Sony Reader, which the manufacturers now prefer to call the Reader Digital Book. The price is about the same at around $US300, but "more" and "better" are the buzz words (often code for overcoming deficiencies in a first release model).

Outwardly there are now two colours available (silver or dark blue), although some may complain that the device looks less "stylish" than the first PRS-500 model (see November 2006 news). However a colour-coordinated protective soft cover is included, while optional accessories include pink or black leather covers.

But the superficial aside, what's better under the hood?  The e-paper for one, with faster response and a higher contrast ratio, and indeed eight gray-scale colours instead of just four. Available on-board memory for book storage appears to be the same at 64MB, but you can augment that with Memory Stick Duo or SD cards as much as you need. A new auto sync feature to align folders with those on a PC looks promising. Better navigation on the device is touted, a hint there were complaints about that on the first model. A USB cable comes with the Reader and an AC wall charger is optional.

Of course the single proprietary BBeB book format available for copyrighted titles will still dismay many. However there are now over 20,000 titles on offer at Sony's CONNECT e-bookstore, and eight more major publishers contributing, a marked improvement. The Borders book chain will also be offering the e-reader at over 500 of its American stores, and is launching a co-branded online store as well.

All in all the Sony Reader is an increasingly credible device. When it's offered for $49.99 (or even $0) with a book plan, Sony could have a winner on their hands, if only they would resort to such bold marketing. Meanwhile, competition from Amazon is hot on their heels (see September news).   Of which more soon, for "Kindle Edition" notices are beginning to appear on the Amazon.com website...

Love is in the "e"

When it comes to non-fiction e-books, romance titles are one of the most popular categories. Indeed they're perhaps equalled only by the sci-fi and adventure/thriller genres. One of the world's leading publishers in the romance area is Harlequin Books, so it should come as no surprise that this month the Library Journal (1/10/07) reports breathlessly that "Harlequin's romance with ebooks is going from a fling to a full-blown affair".

Indeed Harlequin is throwing caution to the wind and making all its current titles (around 120) available in electronic formats. With its previous light dalliance in the digital arena now transformed into headstrong passion, Harlequin's romances will attempt to entrance all hearts by being available in no less than five formats, viz.Adobe Digital Editions, MobiPocket, Microsoft Reader, Sony, and Palm.

Pakistani Senate lauds e-book contribution

Pakistan's Senate Standing Committee on Education Science & Technology has praised the higher education contribution made by an e-books programme. Access via the Internet to the research materials of many universities world-wide is contributing significantly to the work of both students and researchers, the Committee noted. The Pakistan Education and Research Network (PERN) is making more than 40,000 international books and 23,000 journals available to students and researchers under the e-books programme.

iPhone again

A native e-book reader for the iPhone is now available free, thanks to Zach Brewster-Geisz, Chris Born, Stephan White and others. It's capable of reading HTML and plain text. But note that installation requires both effort and some expertise - a degree of geekiness is recommended before attempting this one. You can also find sources for iPhone and other mobile phone e-books in our August column. Learn more about this development at:
http://code.google.com/p/iphoneebooks/

*** BTW, did you know that electronic books for mobile phones are huge in Japan?  Sales in 2006 were up 331 percent on the previous year to 6.9 billion yen ($US58 million), according to the Digital Content Association of Japan. Moreover this years figures look like being up more than another half again, and on present trends will surpass sales for all other e-books in Japan. Now ain't that sumthin', and will we see it elsewhere later on?

Hello Sailor, read any good e-books lately?

The US Navy in the form of Navy Knowledge Online has expanded into e-books. The senior service's collection includes over 8,000 audio books and 400 print e-books, available in Adobe Digital Editions and Mobipocket Reader formats for text, while audio books are in OverDrive Media Console format.

Some fiction highlights are Classic Literature, Historical Fiction and Comic & Graphic Books, while Foreign Language Study and Reference head the non-fiction area.  Intriguingly there are also special rank-graded collections. The e-book launch marks the third year of the US Navy's digital flotilla, and you can take a guernsey at what the sailors can read at http://navy.lib.overdrive.com. However only US Navy & Marines and their families may borrow.

Musical Editions

Online music retailer, eMusic sells music, right? Well yes that's kind of self-evident, but now they're selling e-books too, in the form of audio books.  Indeed they've launched this foray on a goodly scale with over 1,000 titles in MP3 format. The venture is probably not as risky as it sounds as audio books are a hot corner of the market, worldwide sales being expected to reach $US201 million this year.

A particular joy of the audio book is you not only hear the words, they may be narrated by some startlingly familiar voices. Try for example "Hamlet," read by Sir John Gielgud; "The Nanny Diaries," read by Julia Roberts; or Barack Obama reading his own titles.  Eric Clapton's autobiography will not be self-read, alas, but you'd want music to go with that one anyhow. Expect to pay around $10 per title on a monthly purchase plan.

September 2007

The online novel as writer's experiment

Author Azoic thanked us in a recent email concerning his book GODSPAWN, to which we provide a link on the Freebooks page. Said Azoic " My link-tracker shows that this single recommendation resulted in over 1,000 Australian downloads… that one link proved more influential than the links on a hundred other sites. That shows the power of a widely-respected reference… Consequently, I would like to thank Bruce, and all the other Aussies who have helped to make GODSPAWN such a success. Now, if anyone knows how authors can earn a living by offering free ebooks…?"

Thanks Azoic, and in response to your question, we would be grateful for such information ourselves!  While we're at it though we've received a link request from one Sandy Copeland, a young American who says: " I am currently publishing a novel in the form of a blog, it can be found at http://novelog.com. The story is called 'My Walk' and it follows Sandy Copeland as he learns about life, it's a coming of age story about perspective and how it shapes experience." But is this truly a novel, autobiography or journalism?  We can't decide, so we'll leave it up to you the readers.

An oogle from Google

Google, the Net darling grown gargantuan, has been repeatedly in the news over the past year or so in relation to its book-scanning project. At present you can freely search books scanned by Google, even if they're copyrighted, and read excerpts online (or full text for public domain books). Very soon however (this northern autumn) according to a New York Times report, Google Book Search will be expanded. The startling news is that Google will then charge a fee for access to full text digital commercial titles, in other words sell e-books. But apparently you'll only be able to read the books online, not possess a digital copy.

To do this for copyright books Google will of course have to reach binding agreements with publishers, many of who are suing Google at present. The report suggests that publishers, not Google, will set the book prices. We'd hope the charges are restrained given the mortifying absence of offline access to the titles.

In any event a number of publishers are now stirring anew in the digital direction. For example Random House intends to have about 6,500 e-books available by 2008, more than double their present number, while Harper Collins has digitised over 10,000 of its titles.

Some publishers already have a "browse inside the book" feature similar to Google's own. The hot news for iPhoniacs from one such (Harper Collins) is that they're making excerpts available from a few of their new releases in an iPhone-compatible format, at a special mobile-friendly site Mobile.harpercollins.com . The follow-up will be Harper Collins digital book content available for purchase for the iPhone.

Attractive new features of Google Book Search will allow people to create their own private library of book extracts, or easily add excerpts from copyright-free books to a web page. The biggest danger of the new sales project though is that it may put Google in a position to become a monopoly force in online e-bookselling. With its now huge revenues Google could simply go around buying up smaller online digital booksellers, close them down and virtually take over the industry.

It's a danger that Amazon, the present largest online seller of physical books and a growing e-book retailer, is clearly aware of. Amazon is already moving on its own commercial counter-strike (see following story). And Barnes & Noble, the largest bricks & mortar US bookselling chain, plans to offer digital full texts from its website in the next 12-18 months, according to CEO Stephen Riggio.

Amazon's e-reader revisited

A full year ago in mid-September 2006 rumours of an Amazon.com e-reader created a flurry of excitement on the Web. Now finally the story has firmed up, as Amazon responds to Google's audacious plans (see previous article). The Amazon Kindle e-reader will connect to Amazon's own e-bookstore, and what's more it will have direct wireless capability (reportedly either via the EVDO network or Wi-Fi).

We won't include our previous picture of the Kindle here, because we're not at all sure that's the final look of the device. We can say it includes a keyboard and a scroll wheel. A web browser is featured and unfortunately this e-reader will only display monochrome text (no colour) on the high-quality e-Ink screen. There'll also be an RSS feed option for major news reports plus some included texts, possibly reference works. The Kindle will run the popular, full-featured Mobipocket software.

The downside of all this is that the proprietary DRM means you'll be tied to the bookstores run by Amazon and its subsidiaries. Sigh! Moreover the expected price of the Kindle is $US 400-500 (by contrast the Sony Reader is now down to $US280). Which probably means that an awfully large segment of the potentially interested will turn away regardless, even if the device has the huge allure of access to all of Amazon's titles. Amazon through its ownership of Mobipocket already has a large interest in e-bookselling online, and already retails some e-books from its own website too.

Comment: We'd say the same thing to Amazon that we've been telling various e-book manufacturers for years. Offer a $99 device (or better still a $49 one) tied to a book purchase plan and you'll have a booming business. And please offer a $0 device the way they sell mobile (cell) phones. Otherwise you're just tinkering at the edges. Unfortunately, companies whose business strategies are controlled by myopic bean counters rather than shrewd visionaries just never get it. Will Amazon?

Kenya dips toe in African e-publishing

East African Educational Publishers have digitalised three books by popular Kenyan authors, including one title (Carcass for Hounds) by Meja Mwangi and two by Mwangi Ruheni (The Future Leaders and The Minister's Daughter). EAEP Managing Director Muriuki Njeru, who is also Vice Chairman of the Kenya Publishers Association, reports that negotiations are under way to make the titles available on the Web through a partner company.

Other Kenyan publishers such as Longman Kenya and the Jomo Kenyatta Foundation are also reported developing an e-book product. "Electronic books will help us transcend… geographical, cost and language barriers, which have been the most challenging factors affecting publishing in not only Kenya, but also the world," said Kakai Karani, General Manager Longman Kenya.

August 2007

iPhone, you phone, iRead, you read…

So where's the long-hoped for Apple e-reader? Nowhere in sight so far, but those sporting a new Apple iPhone can at least now read real books on their device.  Indeed there are already enthusiasts blogging on this very topic. Even better, a new website BooksOniPhone is dedicated to supplying good novels for the iBeastie, and what's more the website has a dedicated iPhone interface.

Only American classics are offered so far, but there are lots of them. By the way, don't expect fancy user features with your iPhone reading, which is merely made "possible" on the device, but apparently they present rather well & pages are easy to navigate. Or so the iPhoniacs tell me...
http://booksoniphone.com

Kiwi e-books for sale

South Pacific neighbour New Zealand has scarcely dipped its toes in the waters of commercial e-book publishing to date.  Now though a Kiwi website, Readingit.com, has waded boldly into the e-publishing pond, hoping in fact to reach across the Tasman Sea and into the wider wired - or wireless - world beyond.

In keeping with the Kiwi reading ethos there's only a nod to fiction, so far anyway, but self-help, mind/ body/spirit, poetry, local history & business are all big on the site. There are also opportunities for approved unpublished authors to appear in print there. For founder Fred Stewart the emphasis is on "quality reading material."  So far books are only available in PDF format, with Microsoft Reader on the way and perhaps other formats later.
http://www.readingit.com

R U reading on yr fone yet?

Perish the thought that writing on the Web should turn into Textlish. Or maybe that's an overreaction to the otherwise cute name of the website tx2ph.com. Whichever, this site promises to transform an internet-enabled cell (mobile) phone or PDA into a book.  Which is not what it does at all - instead it keeps the book in question safely on a remote server and allows you to download a few pages at a time. That way you don't even need any special software on your device to manage these progressive morsels. As a result memory usage is tiny.

Nevertheless the text in question can be rotated 90 degrees to run along the screen in landscape format if so desired. There are hundreds of titles available, including lots of Sci-fi, with short stories as well as full-sized novels. You can even upload your own books to the site, for your remote reading-in-progress (and in International Characters too). Now that is cute…
http://www.tx2ph.com/

Video, Videre

Librarians ahoy! Ovid's collaboration with Oxford University Press has been expanded, with over 80 new titles added to the OUP medical and health science e-books range. More importantly, Books@Ovid customers will now have a "perpetual unlimited access" (= purchase) option for any of the titles, in addition to the previous annual subscription model.

Freeloading

Speaking of textbooks, one of the hopes for the e-book era was cheaper, more up-to-date ones, was it not?  And indeed many are available, and the libraries of many tertiary institutes offer access to them in abundance, although librarians have found to their (& their budgets') cost that "cheaper" does not mean inexpensive.

But what about unrestricted copies of e- texts that may be purchased directly by students themselves? Uptake of those has been surprisingly slow, despite the possible real savings available.

So one website is biting the bullet and offering unrestricted free student texts for download. Freeload Press Inc. provides textbooks and study aids for use in US "college" courses, advanced placement high school courses and for professional reference. Close to seventy titles are available so far. Subjects include: Accounting, Computer Applications, Economics, Education, English, Finance, Mathematics, Psychology, & Study and Productivity Tools.

Is there a catch? Well of course. To start with, they may not be the particular texts you want. Beyond that, advertisements are placed in each e-text, in the same way your "free" Google operates. But in this case you also have to register, complete a small survey for each text downloaded and be open to being contacted by advertisers. Considering the price of textbooks these days it could be argued that this is scarcely an excessive demand for an impecunious student, however.
http://www.freeloadpress.com

July 2007

Now available: Super-freebies from the World eBook Fair
Great news! Until August 4 2007, you may access & download over 750,000 free online e-books from the World eBook Fair. Some 125 separate collections are available, including general fiction, historical documents, national literatures, children's literature, medicine and reference, and there are some 100 different languages represented.

These books include many copyrighted items that must normally be purchased, but are being made available free by the publishers for a limited period. Sponsors of this mammoth giveaway include Project Gutenberg, The World Public Library, Baen Books, Digital Pulp Publishing, eBooks About Everything, Ask.com,The Internet Archive and MobileBooks.
NB: These books are in PDF format and require the Adobe Reader or other PDF readers, but no special e-book software.
www.worldebookfair.com

The colour e-Ink e-book reader!

Details are now firming up on the first colour e-Ink e-reader, the FLEPia, from Fujitsu of Japan. The word is that you'll be able to order astronomically-priced samples of the two e-reader sizes from August, with the first actual deliveries to occur at the end of October 2007.

Astronomically-priced?  Yes, at around 262,500 yen (about $US2,500 or $A2,975) and 157,500 yen ($US1,500 & $A1,785) respectively.  OK, is this an early adopter phase to sort out the super-rich from the merely affluent?  No says Fujitsu, the first off the line are actually intended for interested companies to evaluate in fully-serviced field trials, and the minimum order is ten. It appears that Fujitsu hopes corporations will adopt the device for widespread in-house use with Microsoft format documents.

It might be more sane, therefore, for the ordinary consumer to wait until 2008 for the first freely available product, at perhaps about $US $310 for the smaller size and $US500 for the larger one.  Fujitsu are hoping for ten billion yen worth of sales by the end of 2010, which translates to a yearly sales average over three years of more than thirty million US dollars. That seems decidedly optimistic unless the device proves a real winner.

The product lowdown?  The FLEPia will be available in A4 and A5 sizes, both only 12mm thick and weighing 480 and 320 grams respectively.  Screen resolution is 768x1024 (XGA), and the CPU the usual Intel Xscale.  Operating system?  Why Windows CE5.0, so Microsoft claims first blood in this arena, in a riposte to the Adobe PDF victory in the Sony Reader. Data is stored on a 4GB SD flash card, which Fujitsu claims will accommodate up to five thousand e-books.  Readers will need to recharge the lithium polymer battery after about 50 hours reading.  WiFi connectivity (b/g) will be built in, with USB 2.0, and oh yes, you can have any colour device you like as long as that's silver, pink or pearl white (sorry, no black).

Then there are the controls, where a touch panel, scroll button, and six function buttons are the go. There's also a touch-pen to tap a virtual keyboard with, for yes you'll be able to send and receive email on the FLEPia, and there's a web browser too. For your audible e-books the device boasts a built-in stereo speaker, plus head-phone connector.

So there it is folks, the wondrous first offering of a large colour e-reader with a true book-quality screen, thanks to the magic of e Ink. But will the FLEPia be locked down to Microsoft format e-books controlled by a smothering DRM that frustrates most would-be purchasers? Those are the real details that may in the end make or break this otherwise trail-blazing device.

NUUT e Ink
Yet another new e-reader is the (hmm) NUUT, from NeoLux of South Korea. This has a grayscale e Ink Vizplex screen and is priced in the Korean market at the equivalent of about $A330 ($US280). The device is linked to a Web e-store offering around 50,000 books and comics, with claimed support for over a quarter of a million more. Memory provided is 512MB, and the rechargeable battery will run to an estimated 7,500 page turns per charge. It can also play music, even while you read, and supports English, Korean, Chinese and Japanese languages.

June 2007

Format Wars: Adobe Digital Editions release equals another bold strike

What is it? Previously available in a Windows-only beta, the just-released full version of "Digital Editions" software from Adobe may seem to some like a rehash of the Adobe eBook Reader. The latter was an e-book specific software offering an improvement on the Adobe Reader for reading and using digital PDF books. However the Adobe eBook Reader was subsequently swallowed whole by newer incarnations of the Adobe Reader, and the accusation is true in the sense that the latest "current" Adobe Reader, Version 8, has lost some of its e-reading functionality (although Digital Editions, if installed, will be just an internal click away).

What is new is that this Digital Editions software will now read not only the rigid PDF structure with its fixed pagination and unalterable form but also the new, fluid .epub file specification from the International Digital Publishing Forum (IPDF), formerly the Open eBook forum. This opening is a valuable feature given that e-books are now being read on such a huge variety of platforms that the restriction to PDF was in danger of dooming Adobe in the mobile market.

The .epub format is also open to all comers rather than being just an Adobe proprietary property, and is therefore more attractive to many readers wary of company-specific file formats. After all, if paper books could only be read with special glasses that had to be obtained from each particular publisher then the dead-tree format would be in deep trouble, and rightly so.

Both file formats available in Digital Editions can also incorporate Flash and common image file types. Useful features of the DE software include the abilities to change font size, add bookmarks, make text notes, and highlight passages. Digital Editions also offers a library mode and a bookshelves feature. The software - and therefore the ability to read .epub books - will reportedly now be incorporated into the Sony Reader device too.

From the DRM-adverse there will be less enthusiasm for this newbie, as heavy-duty digital rights management (here called ADEPT, for Adobe Digital Editions Protection Technology) is built into Digital Editions. Such DRM has been eased out of Adobe Reader 8, which is therefore now generally incapable of reading DRM-protected PDF e-books (so if you want to continue reading such e-books & don't want Digital Editions, stick with earlier versions of the Adobe Reader).

Digital Editions versions for Windows and Mac are now available, with a Linux version due later this year. Adobe claims that more than 150,000 commercially published titles are already compatible with Digital Editions. Of value is that the Digital Editions download is less than 3MB, a trifle compared with Adobe Reader. With an initial launch in English, other versions in Chinese, French, German, Italian, and Japanese will follow later this year, and perhaps others after that.
NB: Take note of the system requirements before you consider installing this software.

Psst! How many different e-readers are out there?
A recent feature on the popular Endgadget website asked readers to nominate their best (preferred) e-reader device. The following responses were posted, actually a list of devices these people owned & liked for e-books, for a wide range of reasons.

NB: The list is in alphabetical order only. Note also that some of these devices are mobile (cell) phones. With these responses emanating from only a small number of people it's clear that this list merely scratches the surface of what may now be literally hundreds of devices you can read e-books with.  You'll note too that a few of these devices (e.g. The Newton) are "heritage" items that survive and prosper into the present day in the hands of careful owners…

Cingular 8125 (HTC Wizard), CyBook, Dell Axim Pocket PC, Dell X50v , Handspring Visor, HP Jornada 360 LX., HP200LX, HP iPaq 4700, HP Ipaq 6315, iRex iLead (e-ink reader), Newton MessagePad 2100, Nokia 770 or N800, Nokia 6600, Nokia 9210/9290 Communicator, Palm m500, Palm Tungsten T3, Palm TX, Palm VX, , PlayStation Portable (PSP), pocketPC Phone, PowerBook 12", REB 1100, REB 1200, Samsung SCH-i730, Sony Clie PEG-SL10, Sony eReader, Sprint 6700, Tablet PC (in many varieties), Tapwave Zodiac, TMobile MDA, Treo 700p, Vadem Clio 1050.

iPhone to make "Yes dear" conversations all too likely
Now that more details of the fabled and long awaited Apple iPhone are leaking out, the next question is, how good will it be for e-books? Well here's a first. Apparently you'll be able to read a book downloaded from the Web at the same time as having a phone conversation.  But who can talk intelligently while actually concentrating on something else? The real question is surely, will Apple ever give us a serious e-book reader?

Mini Reads for an ever briefer civilisation
A new Web service is offering to send you daily email bites ( = less than 5 minutes reading) of a range of classic books. They have around 370 titles available at present, and the service is free so far since the books concerned are out of copyright. Soon they hope to offer a paid service for current titles, in cooperation with agreeable publishers.

The emails are presumably intended primarily for passengers travelling on relatively short trips or workers and homebodies with odd minutes to spare over coffee etc. "War and Peace" is perhaps not recommended as it will take you several years to read this way, but the service may be a boon for the time-poor desperate not to miss out altogether on real reading. 50,000 people are reported to have signed up so far.

Digital ILL

The digital interlibrary loan (ILL) has finally arrived, at least in Canada. There the National Research Council of Canada's Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (NRC-CISTI) is pioneering the service, thanks to an "eBook Loans" platform developed by the Coutts company.

Scholarly publishers participating include heavyweights Blackwell, Elsevier, Springer, and Taylor & Francis. Each digital ILL loan costs US$25, which gives 30 days access for the end user. As the loan expires automatically the tiresome issue of overdue books is eliminated, and of course none are lost or damaged either. And naturally wrapping, posting and unpacking of loaned items is no longer required.

ILL departments have long been the Cinderella sections of many libraries, suffering as they frequently do from severe staff shortages and grossly inadequate funding. The end results have often included excessive delays, harassed staffers, and disappointed patrons. Obviously not all books will be available digitally in the near future, but nevertheless digital ILL's offers the hope of transforming these sections into a cutting edge of library service in years to come.

May 2007

e Ink in colour

The colour e-Ink e-book reader edged closer in May, with LG Philips of South Korea announcing A4-sized colour electronic paper. These bendable display panels are truly paper-thin at just 0.3mm thick. They're also highly energy-efficient. Why so?  Because they draw no power for static display, only for image change. Next year looks prospective for a worthwhile device.

Meanwhile E Ink is attempting to answer criticisms of the current technology such as a slow refresh rate and inadequate contrast. Their new Vizplex display doubles refresh speeds and increases brightness by 20 percent. E Ink is also rolling out a range of new display screen sizes suitable for both smaller and larger devices. Expect a rush of new E Ink readers over the next year or so…

Arabic e-books advance
The availability of e-books in Arabic has been patchy at best, but a young Egyptian businessman is doing his best to alter that. Ramy Habib has a two-year old website that already offers over 1,100 contemporary Arab authors, with 4,000 books in PDF format. Novels and poetry are his top-sellers, followed by works of or about religion. Actual religious texts are downloadable free at the site. Egyptian authors predominate at present, but Mr Habib hopes to offer more from other Arab states as time goes by. The site overcomes the thorny distribution problems that beset physical publishers in the Arab world.

A Common Format makes Progress

Cheering news on May 16 2007 from Nick Bogaty of the International Digital Publishing Forum (IPDF), formerly the Open eBook Forum. Two technical specifications have been released for a potential common e-book industry format.  OPS 2.0 (Open Publication Structure) is an XML-based standard for e-publications, while OCF (= OPS Container Format) is a distribution format using an .epub file extension.

Commented a spokesman for VitalSource Technologies, Inc., an industry participant: "The digital publishing industry has long suffered from the lack of a vendor agnostic standard." Amen to that, and e-book enthusiasts will await with interest signs of how much the new standards will contribute towards solving this problem.

Hype and Reality

A report out this month from the Association of American Publishers says that sales of e-books jumped 24.1 per cent to $US54 million ($A66 million) in 2006. Since then one source estimates $US21 million sales in the first quarter of 2007, which if correct represents a further rise of 60 per cent. Which is encouraging, but still minor league and off a tiny baseline in the multi-billion dollar book industry (sales of $US24.2 billion last year). There's some considerable way to go yet folks…

Not that you'd know that from listening to "the Bill." Bill Gates declared in the same month: "Reading is going to go completely online." The Microsoft chairman made this startling pronouncement early in May at his company's Strategic Account Summit in Seattle. Said Guru Bill: "As the device moves down in size and simplicity… somewhere in the next five-year period we'll hit that transition point, and things will be even more dramatic than they are today."

Comment: They're dramatic today? Um. Well, at least Bill has positioned himself to be the e-book king, if one makes judgements based on enthusiasm alone. Gee, if he didn't champion DRM so hard & his past pronouncements about e-book adoption hadn't been so, well, consistently wrong, we could almost take him seriously. Of course he's with the angels in that he'll have to be right in the long run, although our concept of "online" may well have changed beyond recognition by then. Hope Bill has ordered some marathon shoes...

April 2007

* Attention Trekkies! Out next month (May 2007) will be a new Star Trek e-book by the award-winning Glenn Greenberg.  Entitled THE ART OF THE COMEBACK it's a sequel to his 2004 adventure THE ART OF THE DEAL. A reliable source reveals that it features the U.S.S. da Vinci, an "ancient and vastly powerful alien artifact" and last but not least, mention of that beloved beam-me-upper, Chief Engineer Scotty. Cover artwork is by a Michael Collins - now there's a familiar name in real space history. Tricorders ahoy!

* New versions of some popular e- book software have recently appeared:

1. FlipViewer 4.0 is the latest incarnation of this pleasing "3D page-flipping experience", updated to work smoothly with Windows Vista.  PDF, HTML, Flash, and Word formats are all supported, and sound files can be incorporated in any e-publications. In addition to providing a "traditional" reading experience for e-books, the software works particularly well with the complex presentation of magazines, newspapers, catalogues and manuals.

An improved user interface in the FlipViewer Library feature of the upgrade resembles those of popular media players. As a bonus, FlipViewer now also automatically checks for new issues of publications. With streaming downloads the software is preparing the next few pages as you read your present one, so that there are, hopefully, no awkward delays or interruptions. Mac and browser versions of FlipViewer 4.0 are also available, and there are new skins and icon sets for those who value such glitz.
http://www.flipviewer.com/

2. EBook Maestro version 1.80 is an update of this advanced e-book compiler, offering additional features to customise your titles. The makers say their product can make books "talk, interact (and) present content in a lively and appealing way" if used to advantage, while even simple text publications can benefit from options such as instant search or text-to-speech rendering. A series of special options also make DRM potentially less of a bane for consumers.
http://www.ebookmaestro.com/

* UAE book event
The 17th Abu Dhabi International Book Fair was held recently (March 31 to April 7 2007) at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, and was rated a great success. More than 400 publishers from almost 50 countries took part, and over 400,000 visitors attended.  E-books and electronic publications in general were featured at the book fair, and it is hoped that their appearance there will give digital publishing a much-needed boost in the wider Arab world.

Editorial: Apple and EMI lead the way?

Most fair-minded people would agree that overall the stifling nature of DRM (digital rights management) has done the e-book world considerably more harm than good. Many are also convinced that the choking hand of DRM, with all the infuriating complications and limitations it causes with software and hardware, is a significant factor in the much slower than expected growth of the industry.

And so to the shock joint announcement from Steve Jobs of Apple and EMI Group's CEO Eric Nicoli that the entire EMI music catalogue will be made available as DRM-free downloads, through Apple's online iTunes. This revolutionary step is likely to start the DRM debate raging again within the e-book world. If these "majors" can bite the bullet, why not people in our industry too?

Steve Jobs talked of creating a "truly interoperable music marketplace". Perhaps e-books can become "interoperable" as well - and therefore much more saleable and popular.  But can this ever happen if manufacturers and retailers don't withdraw from their damaging obsession with the DRM drug?

The availability of recordable cassette tapes did not kill the sale of vinyl albums, but more likely stimulated it. For e-books, the prevailing situation is direr to begin with. For ours is an industry that has failed to engage the wider public so far, and the problems caused by DRM are, we believe, a significant part of that failure.

So the implication is clear. There is an especially strong case for the abolition of DRM - certainly for most fiction in the first instance - in that it holds out the bright promise of the availability of all books for all e-readers. Contrast that with the pitiful divisiveness that today rules the industry. The result is e-books "eking out a niche existence", as the China Post recently put it, instead of assuming a leading role in the digital revolution.

Too many people hesitate and then dismiss the e-book option because the industry as a whole projects a messy, fragmented and incoherent image. It offers a product that appears to many to be fatally flawed in the way it is presented. Can we altogether blame them while the behemoths of the industry -and many minors too - put their DRM addiction before all else?

March 2007

Your phone - hanging on for a new tale from your pad

What pad ? No, Wattpad. Wattpad is a Canadian-based website that specialises in sharing stories among mobile (cell) phone users. You can offer up your own tale or read other peoples, plus now enjoy over 17,000 e-books from Project Gutenberg. You'll first need to download their free software to use the site though, by one of two methods: either go to www.get.wattpad.com on your phone's web browser and follow the link to download Wattpad, or download the files to your PC and then transfer to your phone using a Bluetooth or USB connection.

Wattpad works with a wide variety of mobile (cell) phones, including Benq Siemens, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, and Sony Ericsson mobiles. See www.wattpad.com/download for the complete list.
PS: A "wattcode" is a number used to quickly access a story from your phone.

Italian e-Ink e-reader has rollable display!

You read it right - you can actually roll-up the display panel of this new e-reader (so new in fact that it won't be available before the end of 2007). It'll be a foretaste of the rollable electronic newspaper that's very much on the way. The latter is predicted by some to catapult e-reading to the forefront of public attention within the next year or so.

This prototype device is from Telecom Italia working with the Polymer Vision company. With a telecom involved it naturally includes a mobile phone, and will play music, audiobooks and podcasts as well as allowing owners to download and read e-books. Grey-scale at this stage, both colour and video are envisaged in future. Oh, it has an LED touch screen and an "extendible" five-inch display. Sales will be restricted to Italy though.

February 2007

Wizard of Oz prequel e-books for games machines/ e-readers

Dark Witches of Oz is a trilogy-in-the-making of interactive e-books by fantasy author Darren Reid. The first title*, The Sword of Oz, deals with Wizard of Oz heroine Dorothy's grandfather Arthur (Gale), in the era of the old king of Oz. It's now available free, presented in versions optimised for DS and PSP browsers (as well as PS3 and Wii), with an iPod version planned. The story is interactive, so the reader can choose which route Arthur takes on his adventure. So does that make it a book, a game, or something in between?  You decide.
www.NextGenBooks.com
*The present intention is to follow it with The Lion of Oz and The Rise of the Dark Witch of Oz

The iRiver e-reader

From the Korean iRiver company, makers of a popular & stylish range of mp3 players, comes the latest in a recent slew of e-Ink e-readers. This one has a twist though - double pages! That's a feature that will be loved by readers studying translations side-by-side, or reading text with facing illustrations. However it will certainly raise the manufacturing cost of the device as well.

The dual, touch sensitive, e-ink screens are of course in gray-scale (the joy of coloured e-Ink e-readers is still under development, although a luxury rather than a necessity for novels and simple texts). Indications are there's a tie- in with the Adobe Reader for encrypted PDF files, though whether that's a lock-out of other formats remains to be seen. Evidently this device runs on simple AAA batteries, which with e-Ink's startling power economy may run for up to six months.

However the iRiver e-reader is a prototype only, with no information as to if or whether it will actually go into production, or how much it will cost if it does. Stay tuned.

January 2007

Readers Club opened online this month as a UK e-bookshop exclusively publishing new authors and new writing styles. An interesting feature is that authors will be available at times in online chat rooms for virtual interaction with their readers. The first publication is a novel in the romantic genre, "Build Anyway", and readers are promised access to a large free sample of the work before they buy. Titles will be published in Microsoft Reader, Acrobat Reader and Mobipocket formats.
www.readersclub.com

OverDrive Powers Up in US Schools

Large US-based digital media distributor OverDrive, Inc. has inaugurated a new e-book & audiobook service for schools. Named School Download Library, the service is on trial for around 150,000 students from public and private school districts in the Greater Cleveland area, Ohio USA, in partnership with the Lakeshore Northeast Ohio Computer Association (LNOCA).

The service comprises a core collection of 740 titles from a wide selection of classics, modern literature, picture books, foreign language learning, and study guides. Individual libraries may also pay to obtain extra items. A key feature is that simultaneous access is available to every title by all students, unlike services that simulate the limited physical availability of individual titles. The service may also be used to upload internal school content for distribution to students.

Students must first download & install special software, and can then search or browse the collection to obtain e-items of their choice, provided they have a valid student library card. Their downloads are then programmed to "expire" automatically when the loan period runs out. This feature eliminates "overdue books", while availability is continuous at any time (barring server crashes or connection problems). The electronic library items can be variously read or listened to on devices ranging from desktop computers down to tiny mp3 players.
http://lnoca.lib.overdrive.com/.

*

Free holiday reading

Here's a goodie - two free JA Konrath novels, ORIGIN, a thriller with SF/horror overtones, and The List, a techno-thriller, are available in multiple formats. Namely: PDF; MS Reader; .prc (for Palm Reader, Palm OS, Mobipocket & Windows CE devices, Symbian Smartphones, Blackberry, and Epic devices);also in .lrf (for the Sony Reader). From:
http://www.jakonrath.com/ebooks.html

Want to read books on the Playstation Portable?
Go to the manybooks.net page below for access to free PSP formatted books & instructions on how to save and access them.
PS: Parents, this is a great opportunity to nudge kids towards real reading as well as playing all those admittedly fascinating games.
http://psp.manybooks.net/

And for older gamers, there is reported available the first of a collection of author Darren Reid's Fantasy/ Science Fiction short stories, novels, and novellas optimised for PlayStation 3 plus Nintendo Wii and DS browsers at:
http://www.darrenreid.co.uk/freeebooklibrary.htm

*

True Multi-format - the Caravan Project

In the USA in the (northern) spring of 2007 a trial project will go forward in which shoppers for a test 24 books will be offered a simultaneous choice of five formats for their purchase. These will be traditional hardcover or paperback, digital e-book, chapter by chapter digital, audiobook or large print POD (print on demand). A plethora of non-profit publishers plus regular booksellers are cooperating for the experiment, which is based at the University of North Carolina Press.

The project aims for a "multiple win" result by enabling authors, publishers, wholesalers, retailers, and readers a better chance of obtaining or selling serious non-fiction books by means of an improved distribution model, made possible by a broad synthesis of current publishing technology.

*

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