Ebooks

2012 eBook Reader Holiday Buying Guide

2012 eBook Reader Holiday Buying Guide

Reader K Harris emailed me a couple of weeks ago with the following question: Hi! I was wondering if you were planning on doing a post on e-readers for the coming holiday gift-buying season. I have a Sony Reader Touch which I love dearly but I’m feeling seduced by the new generation of readers with(…)

Your Rights and Deadlines Under the Price Fixing Settlement

Your Rights and Deadlines Under the Price Fixing Settlement

Introduction This post is to help ebook buyers understand their rights and deadlines in the price fixing settlement.  Minnesotans, this post is not for you. Nor does it apply to those in DC  or one of the five Territories or Commonwealths  It’s about the ebook price fixing settlement and for some reason, your state or(…)

REVIEW: Kindle Fire HD 8.9″

REVIEW: Kindle Fire HD 8.9″

Contents Kindle Fire HD comes with the device and USB 2.0 cord. No power adapter is provided.  Amazon gets a big fat raspberry for that. Initial impression My first thought when I lifted it out of the box was that it was heavy.  According to the Amazon site, the Kindle Fire HD with the 8.9″(…)

Review: A look at the new Nook HD+ 9″ tablet

Review: A look at the new Nook HD+ 9″ tablet

With the iPad, iPad Mini, Nexus 7 & 10, Kindle Fire HD 7 & 8.9, Nook Tablet and dozens of more generic Android tablets in the market place things are getting very crowded with good tablets. On September 26th Barnes & Noble crowded it further by announcing the 7″ Nook HD and 9″ Nook HD+(…)

Review: The iPad Mini, the most dangerous competitor to the iPad yet

Review: The iPad Mini, the most dangerous competitor to the iPad yet

It’s iPad v. iPad The iPad Mini is the perfect marriage between form and function. It’s perfect for one hand, in the bed reading. Your purse, no matter what size, will be able to carry this. It might even fit in some larger inside suit coat pockets. It’s biggest competition isn’t the Kindle Fire or(…)

DMCA Exceptions for 2012 through 2015

DMCA Exceptions for 2012 through 2015

Intro On October 26, 2012, the Register of the Federal Copyright Office issued the triennial exemptions to the DMCA law. (PDF here) Every three years, the Register of the Copyright opens a proceeding whereby it accepts public arguments as to why certain anti circumvention processes should be allowed. It’s a flawed system but the only(…)

2012 Holiday Gift Guide

2012 Holiday Gift Guide

I did my holiday gift guide in November of last year, but I heard that many people start shopping in October.  Sarah and I did our Holiday Book Buying Guide in the last podcast and thus I thought I would blog about the 2013 Holiday Gift Guide today. You have 64 days until Christmas. *throws(…)

REVIEW: Kindle Paperwhite

REVIEW: Kindle Paperwhite

I’ve been reading mostly on my iPhone and iPad having sold my Kindle 3G on Craigslist this past spring. I just wasn’t using it enough.  But when the Kindle Paperwhite went on sale, I had to buy one. There are two versions of the Kindle Paperwhite – one with wifi and one with 3G.  I(…)

How independent booksellers failed to recognize the buying power of the mass market reader

How independent booksellers failed to recognize the buying power of the mass market reader

  Warning: The following contains generalizations. I realize that not all indie bookstores are the same and that some are very welcoming to romance readers. A week or so ago, an independent bookseller tweeted on a message that (and I am going to paraphrase a bit so it is a little harder to track down(…)

Ebook prices are rising…and falling but the consumer’s in the driver’s seat

Within days of Judge Cote approving the settlement in the price fixing case, HarperCollins abandoned agency pricing and retailers started discounting.  To Mike Shatzkin, industry consultant (here); Michael Cader, publisher of PublishersMarketplace (here, registration required); Rich Adin (here); and so on, the fall of agency pricing is leading to increased ebook prices. Given the hue(…)

Ownership in a Digital Society, Part 2

Ownership in a Digital Society, Part 2

Introduction About a day after I posted part one of this two part series, news broke that Bruce Willis was planning to sue Apple over the right to bequeath his extensive iTunes library to his daughters. The news turned out to be a hoax but for a short while it shined a light on a(…)

Judge Cote’s rules in favor of settlement in DOJ’s price fixing case

Judge Cote’s rules in favor of settlement in DOJ’s price fixing case

Introduction As I posted yesterday, Judge Cote approved the settlement between the DOJ and Simon & Schuster; Hachette; and HarperCollins.  The decision which can be read in its entirety here was rendered without delay because, as Judge Cote wrote on the last page of her decision “E-books consumers should not be forced to wait until(…)

Amazon launches two new Fires and one new Kindle

Amazon launches two new Fires and one new Kindle

The Kindle Fires include Kindle Fire HD in 8.9″ ($499/$299) and 7″ ($199) and a regular Kindle Fire in 7″ ($199). The new Kindle is called a Paperwhite.  The tablets come with a new feature called “Kindle Free Time” that allows you to make profiles for members in your family, set daily screen limits, and give(…)

Ownership in the Digital Age, Part 1

Ownership in the Digital Age, Part 1

In federal district court in the Second Circuit, New York’s Southern District, Capital Records is suing ReDigi Inc.  ReDigi’s business is the resale of legitimately purchased digital music.  Capital Records argues that a digital file resale creates a secondary, unauthorized copy that violates intellectual property rights of the rights owner.  ReDigi argues correctly that Capital(…)

Authors Guild v. Google (Whether scanning and showing book text is fair use)

Authors Guild v. Google (Whether scanning and showing book text is fair use)

Introduction In 2004, Google undertook an ambitious project to scan and preserve every printed piece of material in the world. This eventually caused great consternation with copyright holders and led to The Authors Guild filing a lawsuit, among others, alleging that Google’s scanning and subsequent book text index was an impermissible infringement on copyright. The(…)