Dear Author » Sony

Thursday Midday Links: eBooks 20% of the Market?

Jane — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 17:00:56 +0000

Barnes & Noble reports that the majority of its ebook sales are agency priced books (which feeds nicely into my Sunday article about how the biggest winner of agency pricing was BN). BN announced its quarterly results two days ago. Total sales are up 2% to $1.4billion, driven by large increases at bn.com as a result of nook color and nook touch and “a quadrupling of digital content sales over last year’s first quarter.” In store sales decreased 3% for the year, particularly for books whereas in store sales of the Nook and toys and games are increasing. It’s selfpublishing section PubIT! is also experiencing strong growth. To wit: BN’s book orders from publishers will not be increasing in the near future. Source: Market Watch

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Amazon moves:

It launches a PDF challenger.
You can now bother authors by typing @author and your comments/questions inside a Kindle book . These will be sent to participating authors.
The 7″ AmTab is coming but the 10″ is delayed until 2012 says DigiTimes.

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BISG came out with a new study about reading behavior. You can read some of the tweets by BISG here. Of interest:

3 most popular channels for mass market paperbacks are supermarkets, Wal-Mart & independent bookstores
Amazon readers’ preferred e-tailer increasing mkt share to 71.5% from 60.5% last yr
e-books have been adopted by >15% of bookbuyers…many still want print. But some of the heavy readers r loyal to ebooks

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Random House’s digital revenue was 20% of overall sales for the first half of 2011 (source) and that figure is true for Hachette as well (source).

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Sony debuted a new eink reader. It’s cheaper ($149) and has wifi and direct access to participating public libraries. I would have been excited if this was released in 2010 but in 2011, I think Sony has to come up with something more enticing than this. It’s still the most expensive wifi device on the market with no web based store and the highest prices.

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You really need to watch this video. It only takes seconds. I watched it three times in a row. Are you back? Good, now recommend a firefighter story for me.

Thursday Midday News: Mr Romance Is Done

Jane — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 15:23:24 +0000

Google has partnered with iRiver to introduce a new ebook reader to the market. This will be sold at Target and online. PC World has a really good review of the device. The pro of the device is that it has the crispest screen of any eink device on the market. The cons? Poor software interface and lack of page turn buttons.

I don’t plan on getting this device but if someone does and wants to review it for DA, let me know jane at dearauthor.com.

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Sony plans to release a new slate of ebook readers and tablet computers this fall. The speculation is that the ebook readers will be cheaper with new software. The tablet computers will integrate the reading application with the bookstore (more attractive to me).

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Borders did get an offer of purchase but it has turned down the offer and now looks to be pursuing liquidation.

Borders Group Inc. said it will seek court approval to sell itself to a group of liquidators, rather than to a unit of Najafi Cos., after revisions to the earlier sale agreement and the terms of its bankruptcy loan.

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RT apparently has pulled the plug on Mr. Romance. I’m not surprised nor sorry to hear this. Dorchester was the long time sponsor of Mr. Romance and no other publisher has stepped up to offer to take Dorchester’s place. Mr. Romance, while maybe fun for the attendees, simply perpetuates the “romance is porn” mantra and contributed to an oversexualization of the genre. Glad to see it go. I also suspect with this gone, some big name authors who have been absent in the past will be attending the conference. It’s in Chicago next year.

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We had a post from Maya Banks about her experience in publishing. Maya has been very successful, in large part due to her hard work. A post on BookEnds shows a slightly different experience from author Ellery Adams. Writing is tough work.

Number of publishers I’ve written for — 3

Average number of series I’m writing at once – 3

Average advance received from publisher — $6,000 per book

Average amount paid for large print or foreign rights — $500 or $1000

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ABA, the independent bookseller’s association, is partnering with Bluefire to bring an ABA endorsed reading app to the masses. My understanding is that Bluefire has removed all the internal buy links and catalogs and thus to get books on your ABA app, you’ll have to buy them using your computer, download the books using Adobe Digital Editions, and then send them to your device, either through email or syncing via the USB cord and iTunes.

Reading with Android: Sony

Brian — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 10:00:30 +0000

Sony has at long last followed Amazon, B&N, Borders and Kobo and released a reading app for the Android platform. Was it worth the wait?

Upon opening the app you are presented with the >>˜Home’ screen. At the top of the screen you’ll see your most recently opened book. Below that is >>˜Books’ which shows the most recent three books in your Sony library along with a >>˜See All’ button which brings you to a book list. The next item shown is >>˜Favorites’. These are books which you’ve marked as favorites while you were reading them. Below that are options to view >>˜Bookmarks’ and >>˜Highlights’. Lastly at the bottom of the screen is a button which simply says >>˜Store’. Tapping menu while on the home screen gives you options for >>˜Store’ and >>˜Settings’. >>˜Settings’ is where you can Deauthorize your device and also has a link to access your Sony account.

The booklist is pretty basic and can be sorted by author, title or last read. It lists the books in your Sony account showing cover, title and author. It also has a progress indicator for books that have been downloaded to the device. Pressing and holding a book will give you a popup menu allowing access to the books info page, which shows an overview/synopsis purchase date and current reading position, and for books downloaded to the device, an option to add/remove from the favorites list. Books not on your device will have a black bar with a downward pointing arrow tapping the book will download it. One fairly big problem is that once you download a book there is no way to delete it provided in the app. I tried deleting my test books using a file manager, but while this removes them from the device the app still thinks they’re downloaded so they can’t be re-downloaded and tapping one just brings up a black screen. I had to remove the app and re-install in order to set things right again which also requires re-downloading any books you had downloaded, whether they had been deleted or not.

When opening a book you’re automatically taken to the beginning of the book or to the last page read for books you’ve already started. Tapping the center of the page will bring up a progress bar and briefly show you the page you’re on along with the total number of pages. To switch your page view from portrait to landscape simply rotate your device, there is no way provided to lock the screen orientation. Pressing and holding on a page brings up an adjustable circle, dragging the edges of the circle will allow you to highlight a word or passage. One thing I dislike is that each page of the book has a header showing the books title. Some folks might like this, I personally find it a distraction and wish there was a way to turn it off. Other than that the reading experience was pleasant enough and I have no real complaints, but more customization would be welcome.

A page can be bookmarked by pressing your devices menu key and tapping >>˜Add Bookmark’. Other options provided by the in book menu include >>˜Books’ which will return you to your list of books, >>˜Search’ lets you search the text of the book but there is no dictionary or web searching available, >>˜Appearance’ allows you to adjust font size and screen brightness, >>˜Jump To’ brings up the books table of contents and also has options to jump to a specific bookmark or highlight and >>˜More’ has options to display the books info page or to add the book to your favorites on the >>˜Home’ screen. Unfortunately there is no way to adjust the page/text colors and there is no night mode available.

The store uses your devices browser and is about what you’d expect. I found browsing and purchasing to be easy and to work well. The biggest problem is that there is no link to return to the app. Therefore you must either use your devices back button until you’re back to the app or use your devices home button and then re-launch the app.

There is no way to sideload any content to this app which is unfortunate. I tried adding books to the folder where Sony stores them and also tried ADE and Sony’s desktop software with my device connected to a PC to no avail.

Owners of the PRS-950, Daily Edition, will find the ability to sync reading position a nice feature.

All in all this isn’t a bad app, but like I’ve come to expect with software from Sony it’s very basic and doesn’t always work great. It may be a welcome addition to folks with large libraries from the Sony eBook store otherwise I’d skip it and save the over 16MB of space it takes up. Another potential problem this app has, probably bigger than its low number of features, is that it requires Android 2.2 or greater. Unfortunately approximately only half of the Android devices on the market use a version this up to date (Sony’s own Android phones run 2.1). Things I had originally read had indicated that when this app finally launched it would be for Android 1.6 and greater, what changed I don’t know.

If Sony was hoping that the release of this app would bring their store more customers it’s probably too little, too late.

Notes About the 2010 Sony Readers

Jane — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 09:00:45 +0000

I don’t have the 2010 Sony Readers, but I am getting questions about them and so I’ll share with you the information I’ve gathered from the around the internet.

The new Sony Readers come in three flavors:

Pocket Edition – 5″ screen, 2GB memory
Touch Edition – 6″ screen, 2 GB memory with SD slot
Daily Edition – 7″ screen with 3G and wifi

The names are a bit misleading because the neat thing about the 2010 Sony Readers is that they are all touch. The listed items above are the main differentiating features: size, memory, and connectivity. The battery life is about 2 weeks (Kindle has about 4 weeks without wifi/3G on). They are all made out of aluminum with a rubberized backing.

The Pocket Edition is truly pocket, shaving off almost an inch from the original Pocket Edition. I loved the original Pocket Edition because of the size and I suspect this new Pocket Edition is even more awesome.

Sony was one of the first manufacturers to present an eink touchscreen. In the past, eink touchscreens were accomplished only by placing another screen over the eink screen. This overlay screen would accept and transmit the touchscreen inputs. The problem was that second screen always degraded the quality of the eink, making it appear less crisp. This was a trade off that many felt worthwhile.

No Decline in Screen Quality

Fortunately, Sony has developed a way to provide eink touchscreens without any screen degradation. Sony achieved this by placing infrared optical touchscreen technology which, as I understand it, means that there are infrared lasers on the sides of the device that read your finger or stylus inputs. Thus, there is absolutely nothing on top of the Pearl eInk display, just like on the Kindle. If you look at Slide 2 from PCMagazine, you can see the clear difference between the former Sony PRS 600 and the Sony PRS 650.

This is really exciting to me because I think it presents a clear way forward for the color eink screens and I would expect that the next generation of eink readers would all incorporate this type of screen including the Kindle and the nook. I saw the Mirasol color eink screens at the Tools of Change convention in February of this year and the screen was gorgeous but I worried that adding another layer would decrease the quality of the screen. Given this innovative use of infrared sensors, I no longer have those concerns.

Easy Notetaking Ability & Intuitive Navigation

Because of the touchscreen, you can easily draw on the eink screen of the Sony Readers and take notes with the stylus or use the onboard keyboard to type notes. Sony does have software that helps to predict the word that you are trying to type (like many phones).

Turning pages is an easy swipe to the right or to the left. Touch a word and the dictionary definition pops up at the bottom.

Best eInk Software Organization

Nook has no organization and the Kindle has a fairly lame kind of organization based on folders on the Kindle device. Sony’s organization of ebooks is called “collections” and is based on “tags”. This is so much easier because you can tag your books using a software program like Calibre (you may have to reconvert to embed those metadata changes) and then send those files to the device. It is much faster and easier for readers.

Latest and Greatest eInk Technology

Underneath those infrared sensors, all three 2010 Sony Readers come with the Pearl eInk display. This is the latest and greatest eink screen and it is what appears on the Kindle 3. According to Amazon, the Pearl eInk display has 50% better contrast.

The 2010 Sony Readers also offer the reader the ability to adjust the screen contrast and brightness. Outside, you may need greater contrast and higher brightness but at night, even reading with a lamp, you may want to reduce the contrast and brightness.

The Drawbacks

The major drawback is the price. The Pocket edition is $179; the Touch is $229; and Daily Edition is on sale for $299 (but not currently for sale). The Kindle 3 (comparable in screen size with the Touch) is $139 and the nook is $149. Neither the Kindle or nook have an eink touchscreen but the Kindle and nook both have wifi at the low end pricing and 3G at the high end, which is still lower than the Sony readers.

Another drawback is the price of books. For non Agency priced books (books priced by the publisher and not allowed to be discounted), Sony’s prices are often 10-20% higher than Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Which leads me to the issue of availability. While Sony accepts standard epub, Amazon only sells AZW/TPZ (a form of mobipocket) and Barnes and Noble only sells PDBs or a proprietary version of ePub which can only be read on nook related software or devices. Thus, you can shop almost anywhere but NOT Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Sometimes Amazon or Barnes and Noble may be the only places where you can get the ebook.

The final drawback is connectivity. Only the Daily Edition comes with connectivity. The Pocket and the Touch do not have wifi or 3G unlike the $139 Kindle 3 and the $149 nook. Wifi or 3G allows you to buy books anywhere you have a connection. With the Kindle you can email yourself books or other documents.

Thus the question will be whether the eink touchscreen is an important enough feature to overcome price, availability of content, and connectivity. The availability of content and price of books problems can be overcome if you learn how to strip the DRM from a BN book or a Kindle book. The connectivity issue, though, is a little more difficult. You would have to move up to the Daily Edition and pay, at least, $100 premium for the touchscreen feature.

Monday Midday Links: Sony Drops eBook Reader Prices

Jane — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 16:00:38 +0000

Bonds of Justice by Nalini Singh is available at Kobo Books for $5.49. I’m not sure how they are discounting it and no one else is but who am I to question a decent price for a much desired book?

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To celebrate the release of MOUSE AND DRAGON, their thirteenth Liaden Universe novel, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller are holding a contest for readers and bloggers.

The contest is geared to attract readers who have yet to read a Liaden novel. They can enter for a chance to win an ebook edition of The Dragon Variation, an omnibus that includes the novels CONFLICT OF HONORS, LOCAL CUSTOM, and SCOUT'S PROGRESS. 36 winners will be picked.

Sharon Lee & Steve Miller are the author team behind the classic and ever-popular Liaden Universe ®. This series of "adventurous romantic space opera" holds cross-over appeal for both romance and science fiction readers.

In celebration of the publication of Mouse and Dragon, the thirteenth novel set in their Liaden Universe ®, authors Sharon Lee and Steve Miller are holding an Expanding Universe Contest! Yes! No less than thirty-six electronic copies of The Dragon Variation will be given away.

The Dragon Variation is an omnibus edition of three Liaden Universe ® novels -’ Conflict of Honors, one of the first modern SFRomances; Local Custom, second place winner of the Prism Award for best Futuristic of 2002; and Scout's Progress, the first place winner of the Prism Award for best Futuristic of 2002, Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice for Best SF Novel of its year, and the prequel to Mouse and Dragon.

That’s three complete novels under one cover. No prior knowledge of the Liaden Universe ® required. Electronic! In Baen Books' DRM-free, multiplatform style. This omnibus can be read on your Kindle, your phone, your iPad, your desktop, or other ereader.

To enter the contest, visit Sharon Lee's blog and follow the instructions you see there (it's easy). Winners will be announced on Saturday, July 17, 2010.

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When many news sites are closing off access with pay walls and registration walls, Guardian UK is going the complete opposite direction. It has developed a wordpress plugin that will allow bloggers to embed searches and entire articles from the Guardian on their blog.

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Sydney Morning Herald reviewed the BeBook Neo. The advantages of the Neo over the Kindle, say Adam Turner, is the built in wifi, a web browser and ability to download eBooks via the web. It also supports un encrypted MOBI and DRM protected ePub and PDF. The Neo also has tablet technology which allows you to take notes on the screen much like the Sony Touch.

The disadvantages is that it is double the cost of the Kindle and triple the cost of the Kobo and downloading ebooks from the web is cumbersome.

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Sony has dropped the prices of its devices in response to the BN and Kindle price drops. The Pocket is $150, the Touch is $170 and the Daily Edition is $300.

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Dear Jane: How do the different eReading devices handle notes?

Jane — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 10:00:40 +0000

Dear Jane:

I read epub ebooks on my iPhone using Stanza, having transferred them over using Calibre.

Recently I read a book where I made a lot of annotations. I want to know if it is possible to get that book and the annotations back off the phone and onto my computer.

I prefer to permanently store my ebooks on my laptop and just transfer what I’m reading and planning to read to the phone. When I’m done, I delete them off off the phone, knowing everything is safely stored elsewhere.

Before, this hasn’t been an issue. Now I have this file with all the annotations on the phone and I don’t want to have to leave it there forever to have access to my notes. I’d rather be able to store the annotated file back in my permanent directory on my laptop and not on the phone.

Can this be done? Can you help?

Thanks,
Kerry

Dear Kerry:

Short Answer: No, unfortunately, the only way to transfer notes in Stanza is one at a time by selecting a paragraph or a word and then “Share” and then “email”.

Long Answer: Your question made me investigate the other ebook readers and how they handled annotations.

Sony: Sony has stand alone devices. Currently there are three of them: Pocket, Touch, and Daily Edition. You can only take notes with the Touch and Daily Edition. Sony has a touchscreen that is responsive to a stylus. Note taking can be done using the stylus or an on screen keyboard.

How To: Using your stylus (which I think is the easiest) start writing your note. Or highlight some text and the

You can export your notes to your computer using the Reader Library software but they are in a separate document and not connected with the book itself.

Kindle: Kindle has a standalone device and apps for the iPad, iPhone/iTouch, Blackberry, Android, and the Mac and PC. Kindle has the most robust note features. (It does not have the best input of notes as the bubble keys on the Kindle itself are ridiculous).

How to: Use the joystick to navigate to where you want to place a note. Press again and it will highlight. Start typing to take the note.

All highlighted passages and all notes are stored in a file called “My Clippings” which can be transferred to your computer using a USB connection. Further, the notes will sync across every platform. Thus if you are reading on the Blackberry and take a note, it will show up on your Kindle device.

You cannot take notes on Kindle for Mac, Kindle for Android, or Kindle for Blackberry but you can on the Kindle for PC, Kindle for iPad/iPhone. If you are reading on a device where you can’t take notes, you can still see the notes you took on the device that could.

The notes appear as a little icon near the text and you can access the note immediately.

Kobo/Borders: No note taking ability as of yet.

Nook / BN eReader App:

The Barnes and Noble platform includes the stand alone device, nook, and eReader Apps for the PC, Mac, Blackberry, iPhone, and iPad. You can add notes to the BN eReader App for PC, Mac, iPad, and iPhone but not the Blackberry. The notes do not sync over all platforms.

The BN eReader App for the PC and the iPad will sync notes and last place read with each other but the other apps will not (and neither will the notes on the nook sync with anything). There does not appear to be a way to export the notes from any device.

How To: On the nook, you use the touchscreen to select “highlights/notes”. Once that is selected, you can then highlight a word or block of text and add notes to the highlighted selection.

There is no differentiation between a note and a highlight. A list of the notes and highlights can be accessed by selecting “Go To” on the App or selecting “Notes/Highlights” on the touchscreen while a book is open on the nook.

iBooks: There is no desktop application. iBooks is only for the iPad and iPhone/iTouch. You can take notes on each of those devices using the on screen keyboard or, for some models, with an attached bluetooth keyboard. The notes are synchronized between devices along with last place read.

How To: Simply run your finger across the text you want to highlight and then select “note” from the menu that pops up. Start typing when the sticky note appears.

A list of the bookmarks and notes appear on the “Bookmarks” page. You can not export these notes in one file but only read them one at a time.

The notes are designated by the date that the note was made on a mini stick in the margin. The note can be immediately accessed.

Dear Jane: Can I Read Books Bought at the Sony Store on the Nook and Vice Versa

Jane — Sun, 09 May 2010 09:00:45 +0000

Welcome to Dear Jane, a weekly column based upon reader mailbag questions on anything relating to ebooks. No question is too simple or too mundane. We are all learning together. Send your questions to jane @ dearauthor.com with “Dear Jane” in the subject matter.

Dear Jane:

I have the opportunity to purchase a Sony PRS-300 eReader. The problem is that I’ve heard that Barnes & Noble ebooks aren’t readable on or transferable to the eReader. What I can’t find is any definite information one way or the other. Does Calibre solve this issue of B&N books not being true ePub format? I have gift cards to use and don’t want to purchase a reader that can’t read ebooks I purchased or plan to purchase. I know this particular Sony is just a basic ereader and I’m fine with that, primarily because the price is reasonable (less than $140).

Debating a Sony

Dear Debating a Sony:

I am sorry to say that the digital books that you buy from Barnes and Noble are not transferable to any of the Sony devices. While Calibre is a great software program for managing your digital books, it can only convert digital books that are unlocked.

A more technical explanation:

Both the nook and Sony devices read a format called “epub” but the nook uses a special type of software lock and right now, only the nook reading device (and ereader software) has the unlock key.

Sincerely,

Jane

Dear Jane:

I have the Sony 505 and so far have bought pdf books but found out I could do epub. Barnes and Noble’s ebooks..well I found a super duper bargain but don’t like reading at my computer! I’m assuming it’s not compabible since they’re trying to sell their own and the price is a bit steeper than I’m wanting to pay since I already have a good ereader (at least I think it’s ok!) and prefer paperbacks if I can find them for the same or similar price but some just aren’t available in paperback or the paperback is $15 and the ebook $2.50-$5.95..big difference!

Is there software that can convert esp from barnes and noble or kindle formats or am I just stuck?

Wanting my Bargains!

Dear Wanting:

Good news. Unlike poor “Debating a Sony” above, the nook Reader can read books purchased at the Sony store, but it requires what is called a “side load” process.

First, you can’t download Sony books directly onto your nook from the device itself using the snazzy color browser at the bottom. Instead, you download the Sony books onto your computer, plug your nook in and then transfer the books onto the nook.

Here is a video on sideloading a book onto the nook: Side Loading a Book on a Nook

To get the Sony Books onto the nook, you have to do these steps:

You can do this for any epub purchased anywhere, not just Sony epubs.

Sometimes you’ll need to restart the nook after adding content. Good luck and please write again if you have any problems.

Sincerely,

Jane

Thursday Midday Links: Orbit to Publish Digital Shorts

Jane — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 16:41:42 +0000

Orbit, the publisher of books like Soulless and Changelessby Gail Carriger along with The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin, has just announced that it will digitally publish short fiction in the genres of science fiction and fantasy. There are not many publishers providing digital fiction in the SFF area other than Baen and Drollerie Press so it is good to see a new entrant into the market.

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The American Conservative notes that Scott Ambrose O’Reilly has moved from Amazon’s music division to the Kindle division. O’Reilly is credited in this article as striking deals with music companies that have lead Amazon to begin to be competitive with Apple in the digital music business.

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Get Digital Books at 40% off. I added this yesterday but it was late and I wanted to highlight it again. Over at Mobileread.org, a reader pointed out a special that runs out on the 17th. Target is selling Sony eBookstore gift cards worth $25 for only $15. The poster suggests you print out the ad to take with you as the Target employees appear not to be fully aware of this deal. I’ll be driving around tomorrow availing myself of this great deal. via Mobile Read

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E-Reader-Info claims that Kindle sells 66% of e ink device market which means they have moved about 3.3 million units. Shipments of eink screens were about 5 million in 2009. Via Teleread.

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Robin asks if bad ideas aren’t worth debate in a community.

In a Romance reading community, where female sexuality, romantic love, and independence are so powerfully present, questions around what it means to be a woman in our time versus what it meant 50, 100, even 500 years ago, as well as debates over the virtues of marriage, children, sexual freedom, economic independence, and equal opportunities for men and women are not only relevant but are already underway – in the books themselves.

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What, I ask you, do we gain as a community when these discussions can't or don't happen? And what do we lose by having them?

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Marginal Revolution asks whether VATs aren’t just a money machine and notes that the US is the only country in the OECD that hasn’t adopted VAT. VAT has not been applied to books in the past, but VAT is being applied to ebooks. It creates a buying barrier for our friends internationally.

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Lisa J. Murphy has created a tactile erotic book for the blind (and for those who like to touch their erotica, I guess).

Tactile Mind is half art object, half artisanal concept book. It contains explicit softcore images that are raised from its pages, along with Braille text and photos. The effect of the tactile, plastic “images” is a bit like that of an ancient Greek bas-relief. Or, somewhat less precisely, a smutty pop-up book.

This is one form of book that digital cannot replace.

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Like the idea of an iPad but not enthused about the Apple censorship (no satire is allowed, not even Pulitzer Prize winning satire) and it’s increasing desire to control your entire computer world? Then you might like the WePad. WePad will be launched in Germany this summer. The WePad will have a “Linux-based OS, USB ports, webcam, and Wi-Fi.” Via Slashdot.

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I think I forgot to post this, but Harlequin has been welcomed back into the Mystery Writer’s Association. Someone on twitter said that this was because Harlequin was not going to include a referral to its subsidy press, Dell Arte, on its rejection letters. Profiting from a subsidy press is okay with these organizations but putting your brand on it is not, apparently.

Friday Midday Links: Steve Jobs Claims Publishers to Punish Amazon

Jane — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:15:43 +0000

Steve Jobs was interviewed by Walt Mossberg after the iPad event. (I cringe everytime I have to write iPad. Maybe I’ll just call it iSlate). Jobs states that he believes the prices in the iBookstore will match other prices online and that publishers will be withholding books from Amazon, presumably because of Amazon’s $9.99 price point.

The ePub version that Apple will be using is Apple specific (or iPad specific) so don’t expect to buy from the iPad and be able to transfer it over to the Kindle.

Remember yesterday how I noted that the iBookstore looked similar to Classics? Apparently the original creator noticed how similar it looked as well. Maybe it’s because Apple has stolen all of the employees of the original creator? That sucks Apple. Really sucks.

"I guess it's not enough Apple has hired every employee who worked on Delicious Library, they also had to copy my product's look. Flattery?"

AT&T announced that in the fourth quarter of 2009, over 1 million ereaders were activated on its network. Kindle likely makes up the lion’s share of this as the nook was estimated to sell only about 60,000 units since its botched Christmas release and the Sony Daily Edition even less. Given these numbers and the fact that the Kindle has been on sale for almost two years, it’s probably safe to conclude that the Kindle readership is near two million.

Jeff Bezos makes the claim that there are millions of Kindle owners. In the same link, you can read how profitable Amazon was in the fourth quarter. “Net sales increased 42% to $9.52 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with $6.70 billion in fourth quarter 2008. “

International readers will be shut out of the iBookstore jolliness as it is reported that the iBookstore will be U.S. only at launch. But I guess publishers don’t care if people outside the U.S. buy the books. Pirates will fill that void, unfortunately.

Speaking of the nook, I forgot to include this link which describes some really polite, but awful customer service for one customer of the nook.

Other bad news for Barnes and Noble is the New York Attorney General has opened an investigation to determine whether membership account information from BN and other membership clubs have been sold to discount clubs who then charge those members fees disguised as discounts. BN has denied any wrongdoing.

But the worst news is for Borders who is laying off another 10% of its workforce. Remember that in November, Borders cut 1500 jobs just last November with the closing of over 300 Waldensbookstores.

Sony Reader Pocket Edition Winners

Jane — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 07:00:30 +0000

To introduce the readers to Sony’s new social media site for booklovers called Words Move Me, Sony helped us sponsor a giveaway for two Sony Reader Pocket Editions. We had over 330+ commenters leave their favorite book quote. I plan to several of these to my widget and encourage you to start your own widgets.

The winners using Random.org are:

254: Louise D

“There are so many good line to choose from but this one is freshest in my memory :)

“”I’m so sorry, Vane. I swear didn’t mean to get us killed like this.”"
–Night Play by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Now I’ll just keep my fingers crossed”

92: Kim W

From Lisa Kleypas’ Tempt Me at Twilight:

“…You know, Marks, if you ever learned to hold your tongue, your chances of attracting a man would rise exponentially.”

Her eyes narrowed . “Why would I want to attract a man? I have yet to see anything they’re good for.”

“If for nothing else,” Leo said, “you need us to produce more women.”

I can’t wait for the fourth book in the Hathaway series. Leo and Marks are a hoot and a half.

Thanks to Sony and thanks to the commenters of Dear Author.

REVIEW: Sony Reader Touch Edition

Jane — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 11:00:06 +0000

Sony sent me the Sony Reader Pocket and Touch Editions for review. I’ve had the devices for little over three weeks and they will be winging their way to another reviewer tomorrow. You can read my review of the Pocket Edition here.

I have the Sony Reader PRS 700 which was a touchscreen and integrated light. While the Sony PRS 600 or Touch Edition has a faster refresh, the lack of light made the device a disappointment for me. Further, the screen clarity is much lower than that of the Sony PRS 300 (Pocket Edition) and without the onboard light, it’s not worth the upgraded cost or screen size despite the touch screen.

You can find more about the Sony Reader Touch edition at the Sony site.

SPECS: 6″ eink screen
IN THE BOX: soft neoprene case, USB charger, and device.
FORMATS:

DRM= PDF, ePUB, and Sony’s BBeB
NON DRM = PDF, ePUB, Txt, MS Word (requires software which will convert the MS Word to a readable format), and RTF. This device will also play MP3s and display JPGs.

The Touch Edition (PRS 600) retails for $299 and comes in Silver, Red, and Black. The screen size 6″ which is the same as the nook and the Kindle. The 6″ screen is nearly the same size as a mass market page. I would say that the 6″ screen holds about 3/4 to 7/8 of the amount of text held on one page of a mass market.

The clarity of the Touch Editions is slightly lower than the Pocket edition but the touchscreen also includes a stronger glare. It’s harder to position the Touch edition to read under a lamp because of the glare. My Sony also has a glare but because it was an integrated light, the glare issue is resolved when the light was turned on. Because the Touch Edition has no light, the glare can only be resolved by maneuvering the device away from direct light.

The Sony site says that the charge lasts for two weeks but it did seem like the charge ran down faster on the Touch Edition than on the Pocket.

When you first connect the device to your computer, the computer will ask you if you want to install the Sony Reader software. I said yes and this installed flawlessly for me.

There is 512 MB of onboard memory but the Touch Edition also has an SD memory slot and a Sony Memory Stick slot. With an SD card, you can easily carry your entire digital library with you. You can also listen to music on the Touch Edition which will likely need to be stored on the SD card. The top of the device is as follows: SD slot, Sony Memory Stick slot, power slide, and LED charging light.

The bottom of the device has inputs for the volume rocker, headset, mini USB port, AC charger (which costs extra), reset, and a security lock.

The controls are five silver buttons that correspond to page forward/page backward, home, font size, and options.

The Touch Edition includes five different font sizes: S, M, L, XL, and XXL. The Pocket Edition only has three font sizes. Advancing the pages requires a touch on the screen where the page numbers appear.

The Home button takes you to the main screen and the magnifying glass changes your font size. Options gives you different options depending on what menu you are on. In the book, options include these:

The touchscreen allows you to write directly on the screen itself. The refresh rate is fairly quick but I did find that if I laid the side of my hand against the screen while writing, the screen would recognize my hand and not just the stylus. While my penmanship will win no awards, I promise that it is better than it appears below.

To bookmark the page, you have to tap the upper right corner. I’ve never been good at being able to get the device to respond to a finger tap up there. I end up tapping two or three times and then the bookmark takes and comes off. It’s fairly frustrating. I really wish that there was a button. You can choose to have “create/edit notes” in the “on” position and that gives you an onboard button but it also reduces the screen display for the text of the book.

BAD: The screen quality is fairly low and because there is no built in light, it is hard to read in low light situations. I wish that there was a bookmark button because four out of five times, I can’t get the bookmark to take.

GOOD: The touchscreen is more intuitive than button pushing and allows for a greater range of menu items. The ability to write notes on the screen is a bonus and the refresh is fairly good. It has an expansion slot which makes it nice to swap out collections. The on board software that allows for collections (an organizational tool) is wonderful. It’s more attractive than the Kindle and easier to turn pages as you can simply swipe left or right to advance through the book. This device also has a rubberized back that gives you a good grip on the device.

If the touchscreen is important to you and you want some ability to annotate your books, this is the lowest cost option on the market. You will be trading off screen clarity for the touchscreen.

Sony Reader Pocket Edition Giveaway: Help Me Fill My Widget

Jane — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:00:25 +0000

This post is a sticky meaning that it remains at the top of the site. Scroll down for new content.

ISony has a new social media site for booklovers called Words Move Me. As a way to promote this, Sony has approached a number of bloggers to share their reading experiences with others and have provided them a Sony Reader to the readership. We actually get two of them, one to give away and one to keep. Because I already have a Sony Reader, I’m going to give away both Sony Readers. This is the Sony Reader Pocket Edition.

I was given a tester to try out for a couple of weeks and I was pleasantly surprised by the size. It’s smaller but I liked how portable it is. The screen is nice and clear and I thought the bottom layout of the buttons was very intuitive. We have a pink (rose) one and a silver one to giveaway.

HOW TO ENTER:

Simply leave a comment with your favorite quote along with the book and author of the book from which the quote comes.
This contest will close on Sunday, December 5, 2009, 10:00 PM CST.

I will announce the winner on Monday and the device will be mailed Priority Mail to get to you before Christmas.

Shipping note: I’ll send these overseas, but with the following provisions: any shipping in excess of $12.00 has to be paid for by the winner, along with any additional fees.

I’ll be adding your favorite quotes to my widget. Thanks guys!

Tuesday Midday Links

Jane — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:25:16 +0000

Maili is guesting over at Victoria Janssen’s blog home about her favorite category books. Sadly so many of them are out of print. I’ve read all but one of the stories recommended by Maili and they are worth hunting down and not just because Jane is the heroine in one of the books. Really.

You never really know what you may get when you pick up a category romance. Will it be another tale of cookie-cutter characters, much-peddled-and-tired old story line, and insane fillers that makes you want to bang your head against a wall, wondering why you spent money on something wasteful?

Or will it make you sit quietly after it ended, musing about how much you enjoy being a romance reader?

The Daily Beast, a blog run by Tina Brown, has inked a deal with Perseus Books to create “Beast Books”. Beast Books will release the titles in digital format first, followed by a print run, the quantity of the print run determined by the sale of the digital title. The books will be primarily political and cultural and about 45,000 words.

Perseus is paying The Daily Beast a five-figure management advance to cover the costs of editing and designing the books, and Perseus will distribute the titles through its existing sales force. The writers will receive low five-figure advances from Perseus, then split profits from the sale of both the e-books and paperbacks with Perseus and The Daily Beast. Ms. Brown said writers were not required to give Beast Books a right of first refusal on any book ideas they might generate.

John Biggs of Tech Crunch writes a…something for Washington Post (I’m not sure if it is an editorial or a tech piece) about Disney’s move to provide a subscription ebook service. For under $10 per month, you can allow your child access to over 500 Disney titles. The book can be read aloud to your child or they can read along, clicking words for pronounciation help. Biggs is strangely outraged at this:

You can add up to three kids for $8.95 per month or $79 for the year. $8.95 so your kid can prop a laptop on your kids bed and let him or her read Toy Story while you fix yourself a Tom Collins. Seriously. Is this what Disney wants? We have enough trouble convincing the kids not to ask to play Mario Kart Wii all day let alone equate reading with dragging a pointer across a laptop screen.

I’ve been a user of kidthing.com, a similar digital book experience for my tot since kidthing’s release. It is certainly no replacement for a parent reading to the child, but neither is it the sign of the apocalypse. And frankly, if I had the choice of my child playing Mario Kart Wii or accessing the Disney digital books, I’d much prefer the Disney digital books. And 500 titles for under $10 per month? I can see paying that. BUT! We need a better, cheaper tablet device folks.

Self published authors can now reach a broader audience by selling through the Sony eBookstore. Smashwords is providing a self publishing portal in conjunction with Sony.

Self-published authors can now visit the Sony Publisher Portal and click on Smashwords to sign up for a free publishing account. Then they can format a book in Smashwords’ style andchoose their distribution preferences, and their book will be made available for immediate sale at Smashwords.com. The book can show up a few days later on Sony’s eBook Store.

There are some lovely tributes to Kate Duffy around the web:

Smart Bitch Sarah’s post. Kate Duffy is the Julia Child of romance.
Squawkradio: She ate buttered scones on Wednesday.
Sue from Borders: Kate & I came from similar spirits -’ that direct, no nonsense kind of approach -’ man could we dish it!

Kate Duffy, for those who don’t know, was the founding editor of Silhouette Books at Simon & Schuster, founded Worldwide Library at Harlequin and Tapestry imprint at Pocket. At one time, Kate edited a stable of who’s who in romance: Jude Deveraux, Julie Garwood, Lori Foster, Heather Graham, Judith McNaught, Mary Janice Davidson, Jacqueline Frank and Mary Jo Putney.

It’s Banned Book Week and despite the ridiculous opinions of the editorial in the Wall Street Journal to the contrary, books are being challenged all the time. According to the ALA, over 70-80% of the challenges are never reported. A Google map was created of all the banned book challenge in 2008. Of Mice and Men was challenged in Newton Iowa. Really Newton? How embarrassing for you.

Tuesday News Roundup: Sony & iRex Out With 3G Wireless Readers

Jane — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:47:13 +0000

Sony announced that along with the PRS 300 (the 5″ screen at $199) and the PRS 600 (the 6″ touchscreen at $299) it will release Sony Daily Edition at $399. Sony Daily Edition comes equipped with 3G wireless capabilities, a 7″ touchscreen, and is powered by the ATT Network. You can see pictures of the weird looking device here. I’m tempted but would need to see one in person. I would want to be able to access my Calibre folder and if it is possible to do that, then I would be interested in the Sony 3G.

In other eReading news, iRex and Barnes and Noble have partnered to bring a touchscreen wireless device to the US (and possibly others). iRex has been in the eink business from the beginning and my guess is that the device that is coming out will be excellent given its long learning curve. It will be tethered to the BN store, however, and despite BN’s claims otherwise, it is still lacking in selection. I am guessing that the iRex device will be aimed toward the consumer reading crowd and the Plastic Logic device that will be directed at the business crowd.

NetGalley has announced that its egalleys can now be downloaded onto the Sony Reader.

Jane Friedman, the former CEO of HarperCollins who saw the publisher to 10 years of record profit and then got shown the door, has been raising money for a new venture. It looks like Friedman’s project will be to find books and turn them into movies.

We consumers are buying less and being more sensitive to prices of books. Given this it seems strange that companies like Pocket, EOS books, St. Martin’s Press continue to try to sell their ebooks at premium prices.

In blogging news, an anonymous blogger called a model a skank and the model got Google to divulge the information of the anonymous blogger. The anon blogger is now suing Google for violating her privacy.

Apple’s 5th Avenue store brings in approximately $35,000 per square foot making it possibly the highest grossing retail space on 5th Avenue.

If you or a loved one is addicted to the internet, rehab is now available at the low low cost of $14,500.

Weekend Links Round Up: Is Print Back?

Jane — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 17:00:52 +0000

Barnes and Noble’s retail sales have slipped 5% because of low retail traffic while the web sales are up a tiny fraction from 8.2 to 8.9%. I’ve just scrambled to recover from one of my busiest weeks in a long time and I think that web sales are up because who has time for shopping inside the store? It’s Saturday and I think that I might get some time to browse today but in store book buying seems like such a luxury.

Gena Showalter and Harlequin are offering a $10,000.00 cash prize to some random entrant to promote her first YA release, Intertwined.

Rupert Murdoch has declared his intention to make everyone pay for Newscorp news. A recent article at American Journalism Review suggests that if newspapers would remove themselves from the internet entirely, the industry could be saved. I think that publishing houses sometimes think in this manner, wanting to sustain the print environment by delaying ebook releases, pricing the ebooks at a huge premium, and not releasing ebooks at all. Is it forward thinking or dangerous?

Kristin Nelson blogs about how authors can get publishers to spend money on promotion for them. Most of the ideas center around being willing to spend a little money of your own to show publishers how serious you are about pushing your own work.

Amazon, Yahoo, Microsoft are joining together to oppose the Google Book Settlement because they argue the class settlement will prevent other competitors from entering the book scanning market.

Gawker points out the Forbes’ power ranking for women leaders is embarassingly flawed. Click on over to see how low Michelle Obama ranks. I think stuff like this does belong behind a paywall that is insurmountable enough that shit like this dies.

If you’re going to just make up a list like this based on nothing, shouldn’t it at least make intuitive sense? Here’s the thinking that went into it:

Forbes’ Power Women list isn’t about celebrity or popularity; it’s about influence. Queen Rania of Jordan (No. 75), for instance, is perhaps the most listened-to woman in the Middle East; her Twitter feed has 600,000 followers.

Kim Kardashian has 1.9 million Twitter followers. WHY WAS SHE DENIED? Does Angela Merkel even use Twitter!?!?

In an effort to make print seem more like digital, CBS has paid an exoribant amount of money to insert a tiny video screen inside Entertainment Weekly to play about 40 minutes of video to advertise its fall release schedule. It’s intentionally very loud so don’t open it at your desk during lunch.

A study by Cleantech Group has determined that Kindle’s command about 45% of the market and Sony 30%. The study was to determine the environmental impact of digital reading and the results showed that Kindle’s carbon imprint was fully offset in the first year. Given that Kindle book sales are purportedly higher than any other format, I can’t help but wonder if the Sony readers are buying a number of different formats instead of straight from the Sony store. That would explain why Sony is abandoning its BBeB format for ePub.

Tuesday Night Links Round Up: Jessica says categories are the Iron Chef of romances

Jane — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 03:14:41 +0000

Harlequin is going to allow us to purchase the vintage cover paper goods. Woot. I am ordering some of those matchbook notepads and some of those little paper booklets and postcards and WHERE IS MY COFFEE MUG??? Seriously, Harlequin heard our voices, you guys!

It’s Western Week in blogland. Kristie J started it off.

First off, I’ll start with why a Western. I’ve always been more a fan of "blue collar" type heroes then the "white collar" type. I just love a hero who works with his hands and isn’t afraid to work up a bit of sweat now and then. I love a hero who is willing to labour for everything he has rather then just inheriting it. And no one works harder then many a Western hero, whether it’s being a marshal, a cowboy, a gambler, a gunslinger or even a reformed outlaw.

And a Western heroine is one I can identify with so much easier. I don’t know if it’s my age or ’cause I’m more average myself, but while the girly girl in me likes reading about all the fabulous balls and dresses and things in Historicals set in Europe, I very much the ‘realness’ of the conflicts a Western heroine goes through.

Dear Author isn’t officially on the tour, but we are butting in because I have to tell you about Jo Goodman’s September release, Never Love a Lawman. I’m posting my review tomorrow along with a 10 ARC giveaway (one is a read copy, mine, but we want as many people as possible to experience this book). It’s MEN! HORSES! WOMEN! PIONEERS! (okay, not pioneers, but survivors nonetheless).

Wyatt stroked his black gelding’s even blacker mane. “You saw her, didn’t you? Was I wrong?” Raider shook his head and snuffled loudly. “That’s right. And if you still had your balls, you would have stood up to her.”

A digital reader is coming to the PSP but it’s aimed toward comic books. That makes marketing sense to me. The PSP has a 4″ screen. Click here for a closeup of what that might look like.

The Publishing Tidbits blog has a piece about Sony’s decision to drop its own proprietary format and go with ePub.

As Carl Shapiro and Hal Varian explain when discussing proprietary versus open standards, a company’s total reward is a product of the size of the platform and its share of that platform. By abandoning its proprietary file format and instead selling only ePub content, the company hopes to increase the size of its new platform by an amount that more than offsets its decrease in share. To do so, Sony must do two things.

Jessica blogs about the category in general and Kathleen O’Reilly’s categories in particular.

My favorite comment was Wendy’s, who said she loves categories because they give you "all of the romance, with none of the bullshit".

I totally agree with her on that. It’s cheeky to call secondary characters, subplots, worldbuilding, suspense, and fur, "bullshit" but I totally know what she means. I’ve already gone on record as saying that to me, the contemporary feels like the purest form of romance. … I have a lot of respect for category romance writers, because they have so much to do in so little time, with so many rules. It’s like the Iron Chef of romance writing.

According to this contribution on slashdot, 88% of consumer electronics exports are recycled and not dumped. I love hearing that. I don’t know how true it is though.

Thursday Morning News Links: ePub May Be Winning the Format War

Jane — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:20:40 +0000

One of the barriers of entry for ebook reading is the myriad of formats but the headache might be easing for readers. Sony has announced it will drop its own proprietary ebook format, BBeB (also known as LRF), and sell ONLY epub format. I think it makes sense for the consumer to either buy epub or be converting their books using Calibre into epub.

Adobe sent MobileRead a nice list of devices that support ePub.

In other Sony news, it has a partnership with Overdrive to start offering library digital downloads compatible with the Sony reader. This means that Sony will offer the epub format to library patrons. I have asked whether this Sony/Overdrive relationship will mean that Harlequin will start offering epub as well.

Bookseller also confidently reports that Sony will be offering a wireless device at the end of the year. Sony has announced a press conference for the 25th of August. I’m getting a little excited about this.

Edited to add: Forgot to mention that ScrollMotion is bringing in app purchase to the iPhone. It will be the first iPhone book app to take advantage of this, as far as I know. Scroll Motion has overpriced its individual apps so it will be interesting to see what the pricing is for the books via in app purchase.

The Book Oven talks about its new open platform for authors who want to publish on their own. Authors can upload content and other folks can come along and proof and edit the work.

Speaking of self publishing, Stephen Covey has decided to forego an established publisher and will self publish an entire line of short books under the name “Insight Series.” Covey went with Rosetta Books. It sounds like there will be print versions as well, but who the retailers will be I’ve yet to read.

A district court looking at RealNetworks DVD copying software ruled that it was unlawful under the DMCA but leaves open the issue of whether consumers can make copies regardless of the DMCA for their own personal use. Via Gizmodo.

IASPR, a scholarly journal and association devoted to the genre, has a seminar underway in Brisbane Australia. Here’s some local coverage.

Talking Alot Blog argues that commentary on the web can inform publishers about its readership and that part of analyzing data is separating dross from the wheat. In other words, yes, there is some mean, stupid comments out there but there are also important comments.

The meme out of the 2009 BEA was that it was a dying or dead trade show. People are already trying to see how it can be saved. Penguin floated the idea of having consumers attend but only at off site locations.

While some smaller publishers favor selling books to consumers on the convention floor, no major houses (and no booksellers) PW spoke with support the idea, and Fensterman has vetoed the notion. "The reading public won’t be coming into the [Javits] tent anytime soon," he said.

Thursday Links Round Up: Rupert Murdoch Is Unhappy

Jane — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:17:55 +0000

In the ereading category:

Sony officially announced its two new ebook readers to be available at the end of the month. The more affordable device has a 5″ screen, no external memory card, 512 internal MB on board (that will allow you to load over 500 books depending on the format), and will come in colors of pink, cool blue and silver with a $199 price tag. This link from the LA Times blog has a picture of the pink one and it is cute. The upper end device is $299, has an external memory slot, a touchscreen, and the ability to take notes with a stylus. There is no light and no online connectivity. The prices of new releases and NYT Bestsellers will match Amazon’s pricing at $9.99. My advice if you buy a Sony Reader? Try to buy epub format. Sony reads it and so do other devices like the iPhone.
Gizmodo has the likelihood of an Apple Tablet release at 90% with a September announcement date and a November release date. I’m saving my pennies (okay, more like my dollar coins, but yes, I am getting one if it is in the the $699-$799 unsubsidized range).
Shortcovers has announced that its pricing for new release hardcovers and NYT bestsellers will be reduced to $9.99.
Rupert Murdoch, who is losing money like its on tap at a college kegger, is going to charge for all its online content in 2010. Also, he might break with Amazon over its revenue sharing practices and Amazon’s refusal to provide the name of the subscribers.
Speaking of HarperCollins, I have been super frustrated with the fact that EOS is pricing its digital books at a premium ($14.99) given the price of the same book in mass market ($7.99). I emailed HarperCollins about this and they said that they would need to hear more consumer feedback on the pricing issue so, please, readers email Eosbooks@harpercollins.com to let them know your pricing concerns. It’s helpful to provide examples. Pass this information along please.
Jim Baen’s Universe will cease publication due to the lack of subscribers.

In the business category:

HarperCollins announced that it had another dismal quarter to wrap up an equally dismal year. HC ended the fiscal year on a 20.6% decline in revenue which it blames on the weak market for book sales. HarperCollins is looking forward to the fall when most of the big books are supposed to be published. If the first quarter of the next fiscal year performs down as well, things could be very bad for Harper.
Last January, I thought it would be neat if there were vending machines in malls for book buyers. Booktopia 2 apparently had this same idea and will be placing up to 200 book vending machines in shopping centres, hospitals and other places (which I can’t read because I don’t subscribe to Bookseller + Publisher). The kicker is that Booktopia 2 is doing this in Australia.
An article in the NY Observer suggests that if you aren’t a big name author and your manuscript is late, your publisher might be asking for its money back. It’s a cautionary tale and one that wonders why being on time has been something of an anomaly.

From the blogworld:

SBTB has the second entry up of Doc Turtle’s blog a long of J.R. Ward’s Dark Lover. It’s funny but painful if you liked the book (like me).

and finally, from Gizmodo, possibly one of the greatest inventions of our time.

Thursday News Links: More Digital

Jane — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 20:06:28 +0000

Kindle sales are now being counted toward bestseller numbers. I hope this goes a long way toward pushing publishers to get their act together and release ebooks in a timely fashion.

Slow web loading speed can be a greater deterrent than anything and can overcome great features or content. This is something I struggle with at Dear Author – the trade off between widgety goodness and fast loading pages. I think it’s a battle I’m losing right now and plan to relaunch at the end of the year, a better faster Dear Author.

Teleread reports the Sony 700 is no longer available through the French store. Mike Cane noticed that the Sony 700 and Dark Blue Sony Reader 505 are gone from the US site. Does that mean the Gen 3 Sony Reader can’t be too far behind?

Twilight is turning ComicCon into a girlfest of sorts as teens descend upon the conference to catch glimpses of Robert Pattison who is scheduled to be on the New Moon Q&A panel.

Wall Street Journal writes about the digital buyer remorse when she finds out the books she bought, she doesn’t really own (which is why I crack the DRM on every book I buy even though it violates the DMCA)

Is the system of patronage returning to the arts? More musicians are producing their work under their own label and getting start up money from successful artists and investors. It’s possible with the rise of digital books that authors as profit centers may grow in both practice and acceptance.

A Tale of Two Technologies: A Mac User's Experience With The Sony Reader

Janet — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 18:00:21 +0000

: Sony Reader in Red

There are those people who own and covet many different types of devices simply for the love of the technology. I am not one of those people. Not that I dislike technology; I am, in fact, easily seduced by the lure of a cool new gadget. But my technological promiscuity is a result of happenstance more than anything else. I got my first ereading device (that wasn’t my laptop!), a Treo 650, because I wanted an ereading device that could also function as a phone, and the Treo was pretty compatible with my Mac. Then, more recently, I got an iPhone because a dear friend of mine upgraded from the first generation device to the G3, and she generously gave me her old phone (and I use the term "old" loosely, as it looked like a brand new phone!). And my Sony reader came to me because of Jane and Ned’s (and SB Sarah’s) ingenuity and interest. So here I am with four ereading options, none of which is perfect, but all of which offer certain unique strengths.

Because I am a Mac user, I am constantly having to adjust to the fact that the ereading market is not set up to accommodate easily my technological needs. I can read some docs on my Mac laptop and my iphone and my Treo that I cannot read on my Sony. Other documents cannot be read on my Sony or my Mac or iPhone, while others can only be read on my Sony but cannot be downloaded to the device from my Mac. This is frustrating, frankly, more so because I do not understand why Mac users are still marginalized in this new technological development. I realize that if I got a Kindle, I could simply download books from the device, but then I’m still locked into format and device, as well as vendor, which makes it, ironically, the least attractive option for me at this point.

While I understand that Apple represents a proportionately small percentage of the PC market, I have the sense (totally anecdotal) that a number of Romance readers online use Macs, and I frankly wonder whether the percentage of Mac users in this community isn’t significantly higher than in the population at large. And I further wonder whether the company that creates a device that works as smoothly with the Mac as with the PC won’t make a mint by being the only dedicated Mac-friendly ereading device. While that market has not yet been filled by Apple itself, in something as potentially revolutionary as the iPhone, I am totally baffled and disappointed by the lack of hardware options for Mac users. Because with the way things are now, the minute Apple comes out with a dedicated ereading device, I am so there! As it is, I am very grateful for the existence of Calibre, which has, single-handedly, transformed my initial experiences on the Sony from okay to great because it so fundamentally helps me translate between the Sony and the Mac. For those Mac users who do not have easy access to a PC and who want to experience the Sony reader, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of Calibre. That it was developed independently, though, highlights again how little Mac users are thought about in the ereading device market.

I know this is supposed to be a post about my experiences with the Sony, but I needed to make clear that there is just a different context for me than for the other DA reviewers, and that the context impacts my experience in positive and not so positive ways. The challenges are, as I have said, primarily in format, download, and conversion (device and format compatibility issues, in other words). And I am still struggling with this, not only in learning how to optimize my understanding of Calibre to work with the Sony, but also in strategizing a way to get Windows on my computer so I can authenticate my reader at the Sony site, use the Sony store, and set up Adobe Digital Editions on my reader so that I can access the books I read on my Mac in that format. So in that sense, I am probably a lot farther behind my fellow reviewers in utilizing my Sony to its fullest.

That said, let me tell you about all the things I love about my Sony, because there are things I love so much that I am dedicated to figuring out how to make the Sony my primary reading device.

First of all, most of all, there is the e-ink. As someone who had been reading ebooks on other devices before I received my Sony, I thought I understood what I was in store for with the Sony. Not so. I did not expect the crispness, clarity, lack of glare, and most of all, lack of stress on my eyes that the Sony allowed. I can literally read for hours upon hours and not get the least bit eye fatigued, which is amazing, since I routinely put a lot of strain on my eyes. By the end of the work day I often feel like my eyes are filled with sand and my head with rolling rocks. And yet, if I pull out the Sony to get a few chapters of pleasure reading in, I can log a lot of pages without even noticing how much time is passing. In fact, the experience of reading on the device is superior to that of reading paper pages, which have a glare I never noticed until I had the pleasure of the e-ink.

As for the device itself, as a left-handed reader, I appreciate the way the buttons and switches are positioned. I often hold my reader with my left hand, using my thumb to navigate through pages with the left-handed toggle, which is very, very convenient for me. And if I get tired of doing that, I can easily use my right hand to turn pages using the small buttons on the right hand side of the reader. I an easily turn the device on and off with my right hand using the top switch, and because the weight of the reader is evenly distributed through the device, I can hold it in either hand without either hand or wrist getting disproportionately tired or sore. My longish nails sometimes overshoot the right hand page buttons, making me hit one of the numbered buttons, but hitting the little "menu" button disengages me from the search function easily. I have yet to experience any significant problems with the positioning or the functioning of the buttons, and I am especially fond of the bookmarking button, which is easily accessible with my left thumb as I’m holding the device with that hand. I do wish the 505 had some kind of underlining or highlighting function, as I sometimes forget what I’m bookmarking a page for (and I hate hate hate hate taking notes while I’m reading fiction), but it’s certainly not a deal-breaker for me. Ditto with the slow page turning, which I frankly only noticed after others started commenting on it. Yes, a more rapid page change would be welcome, but since I’m generally not racing through a book, it’s not terrible.

My only real points of curiosity about the 505 have to do with the charging and the case. First, as others have mentioned, it’s inconvenient to charge the device with the USB cord and not be able to use it at the same time. And I don’t understand enough about the technology to know why this has to be. Yes I could buy the wall adapter, but I haven’t yet been willing to spend the money. As I use the reader more, that might change. Second, I wish the case had a pocket inside, as well as storage for an SD card besides the slot on the machine itself (or for the dummy piece that comes in the slot when you receive the reader). Quite honestly, it’s taken me a while to get used to the whole cover thing, because while I understand the need to protect the reader from being banged up or scratched, the cover just feels clunky and superfluous while I’m reading. It just doesn’t seem to me that there’s a natural marriage between the device and the cover. And the color of the cover is far, far less attractive than the color of the reader itself.

But those are small inconveniences in the face of the impressive e-ink presentation of the Sony, the beautiful red color of the device, the ease of functionality while reading, and the generous size of the screen, which easily beats every other device I use except for my laptop. I look forward to using the reader more as I adapt further to the technological necessities of conversion and Windows accessibility, and I hope against hope that someday we Mac loyalists will not be second-class citizens in the ebook revolution.