I spent this weekend at the excellent BookCamp Vancouver 2009 unconference, where I moderated a group discussion on “The State of the Electronic Book”. The session description:
Devices such as the Amazon Kindle, the Sony Reader, the Stanza iPhone application, and many others are changing how people access books and (more importantly) how authors reach readers. This session will provide a brief background on the current state of the market, an introduction to the technology, and a guided discussion on the ramifications of this disruptive development for publishers, authors, and readers alike.
For those of you that missed the session, I’ve recorded a version for your enjoyment:
Barnes and Noble’s has been building the anticipation of its impending e-reader device for quite some time now, but Gizmodo has released some of that tension today with pictures of the new device.
Bottom line: it’s still a black-and-white screen device, but has a multitouch screen, and runs on Google’s Android platform. See the Gizmodo article for more pictures.
Amazon.com dystopian nightmare has come to a close. Today, the company settled the class action suit brought against it for deleting copies of “1984″ from users’ Kindles. The cost? A mere $150,000.
The real victory in this settlement is the stipulations Amazon made, stipulations which may go a long way to address users’ concerns over the company’s apparent ability to remotely delete books from Kindle devices. Specifically Amazon stipulated it will not remove books in the future, unless:
the consumer requests it or fails to pay;
it is required by a court or regulator to do so; or
it’s necessary to protect to Kindle or the network.
In what might appear to be a story from the past, Google is partnering with On Demand Books, the makers of the Espresso Book Machine. The Espresso Book Machine does what it says on the tin: it makes books. Feed it a digital file, and in less than five minutes, you can have a “library quality” (I’m somewhat dubious of this claim) book, complete with real dead-tree pages. On Demand Books has now obtained the rights to print books from Google Books’ archive of public domain titles. See for yourself:
While you can’t argue with the ability to print rare, out-of-print books anytime you like, it seems like a move in the wrong direction. And at $100K for the Espresso Book Machine, it’s unclear who will be in a position to purchase the device – after all, any sizeable book seller is already scheming to either build an e-reader of their own, or partner with a device manufacturer.
Am I missing something? Who is the real target market for this device?
I’m excited to announce that starting today, Google Books will offer free downloads of these and more than one million more public domain books in an additional format, EPUB. By adding support for EPUB downloads, we’re hoping to make these books more accessible by helping people around the world to find and read them in more places. More people are turning to new reading devices to access digital books, and many such phones, netbooks, and e-ink readers have smaller screens that don’t readily render image-based PDF versions of the books we’ve scanned. EPUB is a lightweight text-based digital book format that allows the text to automatically conform (or “reflow”) to these smaller screens. And because EPUB is a free, open standard supported by a growing ecosystem of digital reading devices, works you download from Google Books as EPUBs won’t be tied to or locked into a particular device. We’ll also continue to make available these books in the popular PDF format so you can see images of the pages just as they appear in the printed book.
This announcement expands the availability of Google’s public domain books beyond its partnership with Sony. It’s clear that Google, like Barnes & Noble, is now pursuing a multi-pronged, device-independent approach to establishing itself in the e-book market. A million titles sounds like a good way to entice users to explore their offering – they only question is if that exploration will translate into an ability to sell other, non-public domain books.
Again, one has to wonder what publishers like Penguin and other purveyors of classic literature think of this move?
I remember the thrill of the “choose your own adventure” books from my childhood. My favorite was a time-traveling series in which you got to be various famous people throughout history (for me, I preferred being Miyamoto Musashi). Now, publisher ChooseCo is going to revitalize the genre, as well as update it for the Kindle and iPhone – another great example of the possibilities of these new devices.
Even if Amazon were to promise not to do it again (as part of a settlement with Gawronski, say) it won’t be possible to un-ring that bell. Amazon now will undoubtedly face demands (and perhaps court orders) in future copyright disputes to use its powers to zap the offending files en masse, thus turning unwitting Kindle users into legal cannon fodder. The capability could also land Amazon in the middle of the brewing controversy over software “kill switches,” which may soon come complete with subpoenas from the Federal Trade Commission and “invitations” to testify before Congress.
Spotted by our friends at BoingBoing: a funny video illustrating one of the major disadvantages of the Amazon Kindle (or any e-reader for that matter) versus its analog predecessor:
You mean you can’t re-sell books you buy via the Kindle? Oh noes! Yes, it’s truly a publisher’s dream – charging again and again for the same bits. Makes me wonder: what’s the book equivalent of The Beatles’ “White Album”?
It appears that the PR fallout from Amazon’s deletion of copies of “1984″ from users’ Kindles isn’t over yet. Amazon.com is now being sued by a high-school student in Seattle who had annotated his copy of “1984″ as part of a summer homework assignment. When Amazon deleted the student’s copy of “1984″, it also rendered the student’s notes worthless – and now the student is launching a class-action lawsuit:
We appreciate Amazon.com’s newfound contrition, but words are not enough, explained Jay Edelson, the lead attorney for the class action. Amazon.com had no more right to hack into peoples Kindles than its customers have the right to hack into Amazons bank account to recover a mistaken overpayment.
Indeed, the ability to remotely delete items from users’ devices potentially has dire implications on a free society. This lawsuit may have far-reaching effects on any network-connected device, and result in a clearer definition of users’ rights over their devices and content.
In what might appear to be a story from the past, Google is partnering with 
Interead, makers of the Cool-er e-reader device, is arriving a bit late to the Google Books party. The company is 
I remember the thrill of the “choose your own adventure” books from my childhood. My favorite was a time-traveling series in which you got to be various famous people throughout history (for me, I preferred being