Nov 7 2012
Wednesday News: Sony Reader releases its iOS App; Britney Spears fiction; Amazon Prime goes monthly; EU to end Agency
Sony brings Reader software and bookstore to iOS platform | ZDNet – Sony launches its Reader software for iThings. It might be one of the best OS reading apps available for ePub. You can read Adobe DRM’ed ePubs (and PDFs) along with non encrypted ePubs and PDFs. You can create your own collections as well.
Watch Out Netflix And Hulu, Amazon Prime Is Now Available For $7.99 Per Month – Amazon is making its Prime service available for $7.99 per month. This includes free two day shipping, streaming access to TV and movies, along with rent one free e-book per month from a selected number of books. AppAdvice
Exclusive – Amazon to win EU e-book pricing tussle with Apple – Yahoo! Finance – The EU is reportedly going to approve the settlement offered by Apple and four publishers (Simon & Schuster, News Corp. unit HarperCollins, Lagardere SCA’s Hachette Livre). The settlement mirrors the one in the US.
1) Existing agency contracts with Apple will be terminated.
2) Apple will allow any other “major international ebook publisher” to terminate its agency agreement immediately. If the publishers take no action, Apple is to terminate the agreement.
3) The publishers will offer each retailer the option to terminate the agency agreement if the agreement restricts the retailer’s ability to change the price or if the agreement contains an MFN clause. If the retailer does not respond, the publisher must terminate the agreement.
4) For two years, the publishers agree to not restrict the pricing of ebooks by retailers.
5) The aggregate value of the price discounts or promotions offered by any retailer should not exceed the aggregate amount equal to the total commissions the publisher pays to that retailer over a 12-month period in connection with the sale of its e-books to consumers.
There is no monetary rebates mentioned in the Proposed Agreement (PDF). The Hachette and S&S agency pricing the US should end any day now.
Britney Spears Book Deal: Singer In Talks To Write First Novel – Britney is going to “write” a novel that will “incorporate fictionalized versions of her own life experiences.” Does she know that this has already been done? In Pop Baby Krissy Doucet [Pop Babies 1] (Siren Publishing Menage & More)
“Kevin Federline’s aunt Diane Story has written an erotic novel “inspired” by the former dancer’s ill-fated marriage to Britney Spears.RadarOnline.com is exclusively reporting.”
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Nov 07, 2012 @ 09:32:39
If anyone with an iDevice is a fan of Kim Harrison’s Hollows series there is a free short story from the series included with the Sony app…
http://kimharrison.wordpress.com/2012/11/06/kim-harrison-exclusive-hollows-short-preloaded-in-the-new-sony-reader-app/
Nov 07, 2012 @ 10:18:36
Why do I feel like the price of Amazon Prime just went up? I got a couple of free years (Amazon Mom) then got suckered in. I think I paid $79 last year. This is $96 or thereabouts.
Nov 07, 2012 @ 10:21:37
I wouldn’t mind trying the Sony reader but it does not appear to be available for me to download from the app store. Yet another geographical restriction!
Nov 07, 2012 @ 10:34:24
@Sylvie: From everything I’ve read they will still be offering the $79 annual plan for Prime. The monthly is just another option for folks that want to go that route.
Nov 07, 2012 @ 12:15:19
@Sylvie: My understanding is that this was aimed specifically at the holiday buying season. It’s a brilliant, if costly, move on Amazon’s part because (a) they have nearly everything and (b) it will all ship for free and (c) you can sign up for November/December and then cancel.
I am not waving the Amazon flag here, just pointing out the opportunity this represents. Amazon must be betting that satisfaction with Prime overall will translate into annual memberships or even continued month-to-month.
Nov 07, 2012 @ 13:26:07
@Sylvie: the month to month thing is handy if someone in a family is deployed. You’re not locked into a year of Prime when someone is away for 3-6 months, although I wouldn’t be surprised if people wound up continuing it as @Darlynne describes.
Nov 07, 2012 @ 18:36:09
@Anne V: Yup. I’d totally subscribe to it for 2-3 months when I go to the States and drop thousands on electronics (laptops and other gadgets) on stores. And the fast shipping and convenience will mean that the most of my money will be spent at Amazon.
(I rarely buy laptops, etc. in Japan b/c they’re so overpriced… About 50-200% more expensive than the comparable items in the States)
Nov 07, 2012 @ 22:57:26
I’m pretty sure I saw a movie on tv that was based on a novel written by Britney Spears. *toddles off to google*
Yep, Brave New Girl, based on A Mother’s Gift by Britney & Lynn Spears. The movie was actually pretty good, as I (vaguely) recall.