Comments on: 2009: E-books’ ‘interesting times’ http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/2009-e-books-interesting-times/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:30:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Marilynn Byerly http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/2009-e-books-interesting-times/comment-page-1/#comment-1150374 Marilynn Byerly Sat, 05 Dec 2009 19:30:16 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/12/05/2009-e-books-interesting-times/#comment-1150374 Probably the most important news has been the war for control over content for without content, none of the other news matters. Here are some of the things that have happened this year. Amazon's attempt at a closed Kindle system failed, and they are opening up the Kindle to other sources of ebooks. Other ebook readers and distributors have fought back against Amazon's dominance of the market. Amazon's Kindle's text-to-speech feature raised an uproar because Amazon was grabbing a right they hadn't contracted for, and they were forced to drop TTS. Amazon has controlled the ebook price by imposing the $9.99 price point on most ebooks, and other distributors are following along. Publishers are grumbling, but they seem resigned to the price. Google attempted to control content by trying to make all books, no matter what the copyright status, available for free on the web. Publishers and authors have fought them back on this issue. Google declared "dibs" on books out of copyright and orphaned copyright books, but publishers, other distributors, and author organizations have screamed foul and are fighting it in court. Many of the epublishers who have been around for years are being acquired by other epublishers. The latest acquisition is Hard Shell Word Factory by Mundania. Probably the most important news has been the war for control over content for without content, none of the other news matters. Here are some of the things that have happened this year.

Amazon’s attempt at a closed Kindle system failed, and they are opening up the Kindle to other sources of ebooks.

Other ebook readers and distributors have fought back against Amazon’s dominance of the market.

Amazon’s Kindle’s text-to-speech feature raised an uproar because Amazon was grabbing a right they hadn’t contracted for, and they were forced to drop TTS.

Amazon has controlled the ebook price by imposing the $9.99 price point on most ebooks, and other distributors are following along. Publishers are grumbling, but they seem resigned to the price.

Google attempted to control content by trying to make all books, no matter what the copyright status, available for free on the web. Publishers and authors have fought them back on this issue.

Google declared “dibs” on books out of copyright and orphaned copyright books, but publishers, other distributors, and author organizations have screamed foul and are fighting it in court.

Many of the epublishers who have been around for years are being acquired by other epublishers. The latest acquisition is Hard Shell Word Factory by Mundania.

]]> By: Laura Conrad http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/2009-e-books-interesting-times/comment-page-1/#comment-1150357 Laura Conrad Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:12:14 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/12/05/2009-e-books-interesting-times/#comment-1150357 Chris says, "Fictionwise came out with an eReader for Blackberry (though its promised Linux port apparently has not yet materialized)." Not to discourage Linux ports, but the Windows ereader works fine under wine. Chris says, “Fictionwise came out with an eReader for Blackberry (though its promised Linux port apparently has not yet materialized).”

Not to discourage Linux ports, but the Windows ereader works fine under wine.

]]> By: Dan e. Bloom http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/2009-e-books-interesting-times/comment-page-1/#comment-1150351 Dan e. Bloom Sat, 05 Dec 2009 13:17:12 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/12/05/2009-e-books-interesting-times/#comment-1150351 Chris, there was a key sentence in Pogue's column which I read two weeks ago: "Slowly, the concept of reading pixels instead of print seemed less and less unusual. ..." He wrote: "reading pixels" and compared it to reading "print".....he might have started a new way of speaking about reading on screens. I wrote to him right away back then and told him it was a great turn of phrase. "reading pixels" -- i like the ring of it! Chris, there was a key sentence in Pogue’s column which I read two weeks ago: “Slowly, the concept of reading pixels instead of print seemed less and less unusual. …”

He wrote: “reading pixels” and compared it to reading “print”…..he might have started a new way of speaking about reading on screens. I wrote to him right away back then and told him it was a great turn of phrase. “reading pixels” — i like the ring of it!

]]> By: Felix Torres http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/2009-e-books-interesting-times/comment-page-1/#comment-1150339 Felix Torres Sat, 05 Dec 2009 09:49:22 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/12/05/2009-e-books-interesting-times/#comment-1150339 I'd argue the single most significant event of the year was Sony dropping their proprietary DRM in favor of Adobe's ADEPT ecosystem. Without Sony in their pocket, Adobe would be nowhere, as I doubt the second-tier vendors would've signed up otherwise. And we wouldn't be having a DRM war. I’d argue the single most significant event of the year was Sony dropping their proprietary DRM in favor of Adobe’s ADEPT ecosystem. Without Sony in their pocket, Adobe would be nowhere, as I doubt the second-tier vendors would’ve signed up otherwise. And we wouldn’t be having a DRM war.

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