How much for the book?

With the rise of the kindle and alleged decline of publishing, The Guardian has an interesting article entitled The true price of publishing.
This looks at the argument of why hardbacks are so expensive in comparison to e-books, pointing out:-

publishing is a business that incurs high fixed costs. And it's this, to return to my initial question, that accounts for the high price of (indeed the very existence of) hardbacks. The publisher needs to maximise revenues in order to defray its outlay. Some people are prepared to pay top dollar to have the premium product – a hardcover copy that comes out, crucially, months before other versions. So it makes sense for the publisher to offer it to them.

Anyhow, worth a look if you have time.

First impression of the Amazon Kindle

I was recently around a friend who has a new Amazon Kindle. I know that much has been written on the Kindle, so I wanted to see what the fuss was about.
Firstly, it is very light and easy to put in a (large) pocket. Its easy to use and the look and feel is nice. The battery life is excellent. Its easy to buy new titles.
My problems with it. First off, when you turn the page, it has to reformat and flickers, which I think may cause eye strain (but I'm no expert). Also I prefer the paper format, and enjoy the look and feel of books.
Anyhow, short and sweet.

Scottish Libraries first to have ebook dowloads

South Ayrshire have become the first in the country to offer a free downloadable "ebooks" service. Link to the interview is here.

The social library.....

(Found via here. The Wall Street Journal has an article entitled Libraries Have a Novel Idea. It looks at how the Internet Archive is:-

Starting Tuesday, a group of libraries led by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit digital library, are joining forces to create a one-stop website for checking out e-books, including access to more than a million scanned public domain books and a catalog of thousands of contemporary e-book titles available at many public libraries.

and that:-

To read the books, borrowers around the world can download and read them for free on computers or e-reading gadgets. Software renders the books inaccessible once the loan period ends. Two-thirds of American libraries offered e-book loans in 2009, according to a survey by the American Library Association. But those were mostly contemporary imprints from the last couple of years—say, the latest Stephen King novel.

But the more interesting news is that the internet archive has set up Openlibrary.org

[which] goes a step further by opening up some access to the sorts of books that may have otherwise gathered dust on library shelves—mainly those published in the past 90 years, but of less popular interest.

If you take an item out, only one copy is available due to copy right restrictions. My main concern though (via a friend mentioning it). If you have a digital copy, could you not just make another another digital copy? Isn't it just trying to put an analogue answers to a digital world?

Definitely would check the two articles.

Librarything discussing ebooks

I expect this is too late, but Tim Spalding on his Librarything blog has an interesting article entitled Reading alone: How ebooks will kill the smallest libraries. An interesting argument which concludes with these lines:-

But if something is gained, something will definitely be lost. The list of ebook "externalities" is long: the death of physical bookstores, the wounding or death of traditional public libraries, the concentration of retail power in a few hands, surrendering your reading history to corporations, privacy and censorship issues in undemocratic states, leaving your books to your kids, lending books to friends, showing off, subway voyeurism, etc.

Depressing reading.

Ebooks from the British Library....Free

(Found via here). It seems the British library is going to be offering more than 65,000 19th-century works of fiction are to be made available for free downloads by the public from this spring. More information can be found here.

Apple Ipad to take on Kindle/Sony Reader

As mentioned previously, Steve Jobs has released the long awaited Apple tablet, the iPad. It looks like a large Iphone to be honest. But the big news for libraries and book fans is the ibook application. Some are saying its the future of publishing.
What I loved was Jobs saying the Amazon Kindle had done a good job, but Apple had Five of the largest publishers — Penguin, Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan and Hachette. Oh, how like Steve Jobs to damn by faint praise.

BBC discusses our love of paper and not e-readers

The BBC has a great article on its website entitled Page-turning passion. The article discusses how many people have been saying 2010 will be the year of the e-reader.
Lisa Jardine looks at how users of paper books use the object and makes a very interesting point when she says:-

Gabriel Harvey sums up productive reading, in a neat black hand and with his usual practical-minded concision, in the margins of a fashionable contemporary manual on family conduct:

This whole book, written & printed, of continual and perpetual use: and therefore continually, and perpetually to be meditated, practised, and incorporated into my body, and soul. Better any one chapter, perfectly and thoroughly digested, for present practice, as occasion shall require: than a whole volume, greedily devoured, and rawly concocted."

And don't forget that critical ingredient for "continually and perpetually meditating and practising" on a book - the sharing of it with friends. Passing your online-purchased books to others is something few e-reader manufacturers are even prepared to consider.

New York times aricle on Apple Islate article

As many of you may know (or ignore to know) I am an apple fan boy, I read this New York Times article discussing Apple's alleged Islate.
The article was interesting when it stated the following:-

The iSlate will do lots of that stuff too, as well as basic computing. Critically it will also act as an electronic reader, like Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s Reader.

Many people like their e-readers (not least because they save them from having to haul around books, newspapers and magazines) but I’ve yet to meet anyone who loves them. That’s the key. If a really great e-reader appeared, the market would explode. The e-reader is waiting for a killer product, just as the MP3 player was before Apple’s Ipod. Apple didn’t invent the MP3 player, it made such a sexy one that many more people wanted to buy it. That’s what it is promising to do again.

BBC and book piracy

Over on the BBC website, they have an article entitled Are we due a wave of book piracy? Coming as it does with other discussions on the subject, such As Tim Spalding's article and other bloggers comments, its another interesting look at the problems and advantages of e-books.

Guardian poll on the Kindle in the UK

(Found via here) The Guardian yesterday had a poll and discussion on the Kindle coming to the UK. The comments section point out the DRM problems that face Amazon (1, 2 & 3). Worth a read, but I can't see where the Poll is on this though.

Ebooks and publishing

The Guardian has an article entitled For digital books, the story's just starting. Worth a look if you wish to see the failures of publishers to take it seriously on board.

Story via Panlibus

Panlibus has an interesting article that the itouch and iphone has a new piece of free software to make it into a portable ereader.

It says:-

As reported by Forbes.com, a free to download software add-on for a mobile phone is already outstripping the potential of Amazon’s flagship eBook Reader. Stanza from Lexcycle is freely downloadable from the Apple App Store:

Wow, I can't afford it but i'm so tempted. The article looks at the effect on the Amazon Kindle. Well worth the read. I real want one.