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Ebooks
Broadly, ebooks are electronic versions of books. Ebooks can be simple Web-based representations of books (via HTML, CSS and other Web-markup technologies) or they can be ported into more advanced file formats that bring the traditional "book" look and feel into the digital domain.
Many ebooks are defined by their file formats. Some formats can only be read on specific devices (e.g. AZW ebooks only render on Amazon's Kindle e-reader), while other formats can be read across different equipment and software platforms (e.g. EPUB and PDF).
Scribd Store Sets New Standard for Ebook Ecommerce (and 650 O'Reilly Ebooks Included)
There are more than 650 (DRM-free of course) O'Reilly ebooks now on sale in the new Scribd store, which officially launches Monday morning. Full details over on O'Reilly Radar: For...Amazon Acquires Lexcycle
Lexcycle, the company behind Stanza, has just announced it's been acquired by Amazon: We are not planning any changes in the Stanza application or user experience as a result of...Over 160 O'Reilly Books Now in Kindle Store (without DRM), More on the Way
I'm happy to announce that more than 160 O'Reilly books are now available on Kindle, and are being sold without any DRM (Digital Rights Management). Though we do offer more than 400 ebooks direct from our website, the number for sale on Kindle will be limited until Amazon updates Kindle 1 to support table rendering ("maybe this summer" is the most specific they would get). We expect to add another 100 or so titles in the coming weeks; those have needed a more detailed analysis of the table content to identify good candidates. There were two main reasons we held our books back from sale on Kindle: poor rendering of complex content and compulsory DRM.Open Publishing Distribution System -- an Open-Standards Catalog Format
It's no secret we're big fans of the iPhone/iPod reading app Stanza. While the Kindle App has overtaken Stanza for the top-spot among free book apps in iTunes, Stanza offers a much better reading experience than the Kindle App (for example, by supporting standard formatting like tables and whitespace-preservation). But more than the quality of the software, the major reason I'm so bullish on Stanza is their willingness to experiment.Readers Boycotting Kindle Titles Priced Above $9.99
Pricing is a red-hot topic among publishers when it comes to ebooks. As I said in a Q&A; for Forbes.com last week, cost-driven pricing (especially when the costs in question are calculated based on printed output) is a poor approach for ebook publishers. Readers simply don't care how much it costs a publisher to produce an ebook -- they only care how much it's worth to them. (This is especially true for the iPhone, where books must compete alongside games, music, movies, and other "apps" primarily priced well below $10.)Software Development as Collaborative Writing
Following a lively backchannel email discussion, I'd planned to blog about what writers, editors, and publishers can learn from software developers (specifically their tools and techniques) but Tim beat me...Pragmatic Programmers Now Doing "Ebook Bundles"
It's great to see other publishers picking up on the "ebook bundle" concept and including multiple formats -- the Pragmatic Programmers are now selling a combo of EPUB, PDF, and...Sony-Google Deal Adds 500k Public Domain Books to E-Reader
Sony is adding 500,000 public domain EPUB-based titles to its Reader catalog through a partnership with Google. Paul Biba at Teleread examines Sony's rationale: Sony's apparent intent, meanwhile, beyond...One-Question Interview at BookNet Canada Tech Forum
Last week I had the pleasure of speaking at the 2009 BookNet Canada Technology Forum in Toronto (motto: Even colder than you expected!), and Mark Bertils caught up with me...Jakob Nielsen: Kindle Content Must be Kindle-Specific
Jakob Nielsen offers an in-depth look at Kindle formatting best practices: For Kindle, it's certainly unacceptable to simply repurpose print content. But you can't repurpose website content, either. For...Is Print a Preference or a Habit?
Over on the O'Reilly Radar blog, Dale Dougherty posted on students increasingly prefering the sound of MP3 over higher quality music: [Jonathan Berger] has them listen to a variety...O'Reilly Ebooks Now In Stanza Online Catalog
Just in time for Read an Ebook Week O'Reilly's 400+ ebooks are now available for direct purchase and download on your iPhone or iPod Touch from within Stanza's Online Catalog. Buying ebooks this way gives you the same flexible, DRM-free ebook bundles as buying through oreilly.com (because you are buying from oreilly.com via Stanza). That means 3 ebook formats and free lifetime updates (and did we mention no DRM?). To celebrate the Stanza news (and Read an Ebook Week) you'll automatically get 40% off any ebooks purchased on Stanza through March 15.Kindle Comes to the iPhone
Users of the iPhone and iPod Touch can now tap into Amazon's Kindle store with the free Kindle for iPhone application. From The New York Times: The move comes a...Expectation of Fair Pricing, Not Free
At Dear Author, a post stating that not all content should be expected to be free; rather it must be provided, free or not, in a realistic understanding of consumer...Are Ebook Device Makers Missing the Market?
Over on Dear Author, Jane Litte suggests current ebook device marketers aren't effectively targeting what is likely the most influential segment of their market -- women: The idea is to...Ebook Vendors from the TOC Directory
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