Amazon: eBooks Outsell Print Books on Christmas Day

Amazon.com recently reported that it sold more ebooks than physical books on Christmas, a first for the company. The online retail giant also announced that its Kindle ereader has become the most gifted item in the company's history, but didn't provide specific sales numbers.

Read more at Yahoo! News.

Microsoft, Yahoo, Amazon to Oppose Google Book Scanning Settlement

Not surprisingly, some of Google’s chief competitors – Microsoft, Yahoo, and Amazon – have joined the Open Book Alliance, opposing the October 2008 legal settlement which would allow Google to digitize and sell millions of books.

The Alliance, headed by the non-profit Internet Archive, has expressed concern about “serious legal, competitive, and policy issues” surrounding Google's book scanning project.

Google reached a settlement last year with the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers over a copyright infringement lawsuit filed against the Internet search giant in 2005. Under the settlement, Google will pay publishers and authors $125 million. In exchange, the company will resume scanning copyrighted, out-of-print books, and provide up to 20% of the text on-line at no charge, under its Google Book Search program.

In addition, the settlement creates a method for how Google, publishers and authors will share the profits of digitized versions of printed books. The company will take 37% of the revenue, leaving 63% for publishers and authors.

In a statement, Google responded to the latest news saying: "This sounds like the Sour Grapes Alliance. The Google Books settlement is injecting more competition into the digital books space, so it’s understandable why our competitors might fight hard to prevent more competition."

Microsoft, which entered into a 10-year Web search partnership with Yahoo! last month that set the stage for a joint offensive against Google, also had a project to create a vast digital library but shut it down recently. Online retail giant Amazon is a major player in the electronic book sector through its popular e-reader, the Kindle.

The settlement still needs the approval of a US District Court judge, who is to hold a "fairness hearing" on the deal in New York on October 7.

For more background, read Learn More about the Google Book Search Settlement.

[via Yahoo! Tech]

Kindle 2: To Buy or Not to Buy -- That Is The Question.

Earlier this year, Amazon released the Kindle 2 and according to the website TechCrunch, 300,000 have already been sold. If you are thinking about purchasing a Kindle 2 but haven't quite made up your mind, you may want to read the article, 10 Reasons to Buy a Kindle 2 ... and 10 Reasons Not To. This article contains some useful and practical information that may help you decide.

For additional information about the Kindle 2, check out Honeymoon Over for Kindle 2? , EBook Readers Compared; Selection Grows , Kindle 2 Reviewed , and More Kindle 2 Reviews

How Much Are People Spending on eBooks?

EarlyWord blog reports that Amazon founder Jeff Bezo says the company’s Kindle ebooks now represent 35% of the total print sales of those same titles at the web retail site. That’s an increase from 13% just a few months ago. Amazon currently carries 275,000 titles for the Kindle.

How much are ebook sales contributing to publishers’ bottom lines? The ebook news Web site, Teleread, analyzed stats from Association of American Publishers, showing ebook sales accelerating rapidly in 2008, but estimates they “ will still only represent 1/2 of 1 percent of book industry sales,” for the year, growing to 6% over the next five years.

[via EarlyWord]

Amazon's Kindle DX Debuts as Newspaper, Textbook Reader

As widely rumored, Amazon has announced a new, larger version of the Kindle, the “Kindle DX.”

Amazon is promoting the new Kindle as a textbook reader and has deals with publishers Cengage, Pearson, and Wiley. Amazon is also working with several universities to make the device available to their students in the fall. However, the $489 price tag may limit student usage, unless the cost is subsidized.

The device is also aimed at newspaper readers and will allow people to share personal documents. As the Wall Street Journal puts it, this “underscores Amazon’s ambition to turn the device from a niche gadget to a more mass-market electronic reader.”

The Kindle DX is currently available for pre-order. Amazon is not giving an exact delivery date, saying it will be “this summer.”

First impressions of the new device all popping up all over the Web:

• The New York Times, First Impressions of the New Kindle DX
• PC World, Kindle DX: First Impressions of the Large Doc Reader
• CNN Money.com, Amazon’s Newest Kindle Takes Aim at Newspapers
• The Wall Street Journal, Amazon Debuts $489 Kindle DX

[via EarlyWord]

Amazon Offers Grants for Cloud Computing

Amazon, the online retailing website, is offering educators, researchers, and students the chance to apply for free access to its hosted cloud computing services. Cloud computing stores data away from your computer. This allows you to work with massive amounts of data that would jam a regular desktop computer.

Grant applications are available through Amazon’s Web site. Amazon says its cloud services are already being used at Harvard University and the University of Oxford. For example, Oxford scientists at the Malaria Atlas Project — an effort to map the geography of the disease in order to drive prevention strategies — use Amazon’s services to store, share, and analyze data.

[via The Chronicle of Higher Education]

Ebooks and the Future of Reading and Writing

Two interesting reads about the fledgling ebook revolution, and how it may change the way we read, think, and act.

In the first, How the E-Book Will Change the Way We Read and Write, Steven Johnson, writing for the Wall Street Journal online, tells about the “aha” moment he experienced one of the first times he used Amazon’s Kindle ebook reader:

I knew then that the book's migration to the digital realm would not be a simple matter of trading ink for pixels, but would likely change the way we read, write and sell books in profound ways. It will make it easier for us to buy books, but at the same time make it easier to stop reading them. It will expand the universe of books at our fingertips, and transform the solitary act of reading into something far more social. It will give writers and publishers the chance to sell more obscure books, but it may well end up undermining some of the core attributes that we have associated with book reading for more than 500 years.

There is great promise and opportunity in the digital-books revolution. The question is: Will we recognize the book itself when that revolution has run its course?"

In the second, Curling Up With A Good Screen, Jacob Weisberg, writing for Newsweek, asks: “Why should a civilization that reads electronically be any less literate than one that harvests trees to do so?”

He answers himself that it shouldn’t:

When it comes to literature, I'm optimistic that electronic reading will bring more good than harm. New modes of communication will spur new forms while breathing life into old ones. Reading without paper might make literature more urgent and accessible than it was before the technological revolution, just as Gutenberg did.”

[Thanks to Troy Librarian Constance Doherty for passing on the WSJ article.]

Honeymoon Over for Kindle 2?

When it was first released, Amazon’s new Kindle 2 ebook reader received many positive reviews (and here).

However, more recently, the honeymoon seems to be over as users have begun to complain about the readers' screen resolution, and the terms of Amazon accounts.

[via Wired, ars technica]

Win a Kindle 2

Would you like to own a Kindle 2, Amazon’s latest generation ebook reader? Publisher Harper Collins, blog CrunchGear, and thriller author Andrew Gross are giving one away.

The Kindle 2, which retails at $359, holds 1,500 ebooks. It is lightweight, ultra-thin, and completely wireless. You can now download books from your Kindle2 anytime, anywhere.

Five second place winners in the contest will receive an autographed paper copy of Gross’ latest novel, Don’t Look Twice. You can read the first few chapters here.

Then go to the contest page to enter. The contest ends on April 20.

If you win, bring it by the the Technology desk at the Library. I would like to see it at work.

Federation for the Blind Criticizes Decision to End "Text-to-Speech" Feature of Kindle 2

When Amazon released its Kindle 2 ebook reader earlier this year, it was immediately criticized by the Authors’ Guild and publishers who claimed that they reader's "text-to-speech" function violated their “performance” rights under copyright law. The authors and publishers claimed the Kindle cut into their markets for professional read audiobooks.

Amazon quickly buckled in the face of pressure and withdrew the feature, allowing publishers to decide on which books the feature in enabled.

Now, according to boingboing.net, the Reading Rights Coalition and the National Federation for the Blind are protesting at the offices of the Authors Guild, to let the Guild know that its successful campaign to remove the text-to-speech feature from the Kindle has hurt blind people and undermined their ability to access a wide variety of works in a more-accessible form.

Amazon Releases Kindle eBook App for iPhone

Amazon has released a Kindle ebook app for the iPhone, which allows users to read books already purchased through their Kindles, buy new ebooks from their phones, and access Amazon’s 240,000-title catalog even if they don’t own a Kindle.

Chris Gaylord rounds up the pros and cons in Kindle on the iPhone, from the Christian Science Monitor.

Amazon Modiftes Kindle 2's Text-to-Speech

Amazon has decided to modify the text-to-speech feature of its Kindle 2 ebook reader, after complaints from publishers who claim that the feature cuts into their market for professionally-read audio books.

Amazon will allow publishers the right to choose whether to disable the text-to-speech feature on “a title by title basis.”

Read The New York Times report of this decision.

Jon Stewart and Jeff Bezos on Kindle 2

Amazon's Jeff Bezos appeared on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show on February 23, the day the Kindle 2 began shipping.

Take a look.

[via Christian Science Monitor blog]

More Kindle 2 Reviews

Two more reviews of the Kindle 2, Amazon's second generation ebook reader.

Kindle 2: a Nifty, Costly Second Act, from Detroit Free Press.

The Kindle: Good Before, Better Now, from The New York Times.

Kindle 2 Reviewed

Now that gadget geeks have had their chance to take a look at Amazon's new generation e-book reader -- Kindle 2 -- released two days ago, the Christian Science Monitor blog has gathered some early reviews:

Review round-up: Amazon Kindle 2

Amazon Announces Kindle 2

Amazon has announced the release of Kindle 2, a new, updated version of its popular e-book reader. To celebrate the new reader, the company also announced that author Stephen King has written a Kindle-only novella – Ur – specifically for Amazon.

The Kindle 2 is slimmer (.36”), lighter (10.2 ounces), and sleeker, and has a longer battery life than the original. It can hold more than 1,500 books, and can convert any text to audio, so it can "read" books to you.

However, the Kindle 2 still cannot use e-book formats other than Amazon's.

The Kindle 2 will start shipping February 24.

To read more, see Wired.com’s Amazon's Kindle 2 Slims Down, Adds Audio.

Are You Ready for Video Books?

HarperCollins Publishers announced yesterday their publication of a "video book" edition of Jeff Jarvis' What Would Google Do?

From the HarperCollins press release:

"Advances in digital technology and distribution are creating exciting and new opportunities for book publishers and authors every day," said Brian Murray, President and CEO of HarperCollins Publishers. "Part of our mission is to help authors find new and complimentary ways to present their ideas to consumers through multiple platforms, formats and channels. A video edition of Jeff's book is a terrific example of a new product that is both a viral marketing tool and hopefully a new revenue stream."

You can see a 2 minute sample of this title through Amazon.com here. Is this just a gimmick? A good companion to print material? Just another name for "lecture" or "documentary"? Leave us a comment and let us know what you think!

Kindle 2 eBook Reader to Be Released Soon

According to several technology blogs, Amazon will announce its new Kindle 2 eBook reader at a February 9 press conference at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City.

Writes Techcrunch: “It’s a longer device but not as thick as the original Kindle, and fixes some of the button issues that plague users (like accidental page turns)... If our sources are correct, the new Kindle will be quite a bit nicer than the original model. It was originally described as being what the iPod Touch was to the original 1st gen iPod - a quantum leap in gadget styling and technology.”

We've followed the growth of eBooks and their readers on The Tech Desk. Will the Kindle 2 be as big a hit as its predecessor?

Stay tuned.

From Monty Python, A Valuable Lesson in Selling the Product

Just a few months after British comedy troupe Monty Python put all of its material free on youtube, mashable.com is reporting that sales of Monty Python DVDs sold on Amazon, have increased 23,000%. Mashable notes that Monty Python’s DVDs climbed to the #2 spot on Amazon’s Movie’s and TV Bestseller List.

The Python crew knew what they were doing. In launching the youtube channel, they said, “We’re letting you see absolutely everything for free. But we want something in return. None of your driveling, mindless comments. Instead, we want you to click on the links, buy our movies & TV shows and soften our pain and disgust at being ripped off all these years.”

Devindra Hardawar, writing on slashfilm.com, makes an interesting observation about this success:

“Could it be, despite all of the [recording industry’s] clamoring about piracy killing their business, that free and less restrictive content is actually the answer to their woes? We’ve seen other entertainment artists have similar success with free content… Offering a certain amount of content for free (as we see on Hulu, Last.FM, and countless other sites and services) seems like one of the best ways to convince consumers to actually pay for media.”

Amazon Kindle: The End of the Local Newsstand?

The Amazon Kindle is a wireless, portable reading device with instant access to more than 185,000 books, blogs, newspapers and magazines. Entertainment Weekly editor, Rick Tetzeli challenged himself to use the Amazon Kindle as his only source of books, newspapers and magazines for two months. The result? Read it here.