Suppose buggy-whip makers had owned the early plants that made automobiles. They might have overpriced the horseless carriages to protect sales of the horse-driven variety.And that's just about the case with e-books. Despite the rise of some fine independent publishers of e-books only, the traditional houses still do figure. And often they're not so keen on seeing e-books appear at the same time as paper editions and undercut prices. What's more, even some e-book independents may charge hardback prices. I wish that publishers of all kinds would read NetWorker's recent post to the eBook Community list:...just because book junkies...

Grace Lee over at the spiffy-looking Handheld Librarian has put together a nifty little podcast primer....

"E-Ink announced on Tuesday that Intel has invested an undisclosed amount into the display company." - ZDNet via eBookAd....

A grumpy writer for the Phoenix New Times has complained about video-blogging and podcasts from people without The Face or The Voice. Hey, that's probably most of us--which is the whole point of the V&P scene: many to many.But let's see what Mr. New Times can write about Rochelle, aka the Raccoon of Tin + Raccoon fame, who promises me that her podcast will be on the way in the next three months.She has both The Voice and The Prose for a do-it-yourself NPR essay act--and a video-ready face. Even before I made a not-so-suble suggestion about podcasting, Rochelle...

"Every digital rights management scheme we've encountered does little to quell actual piracy and succeeds only in eliminating legally protected uses. DRM systems are expensive to put in place and that cost is passed on to the consumer." - About DRMBlog.com, in the new DRMBlog.The TeleRead take: I loved a comment in the blog's entry Rent, Lease, or Buy--Which Model Is Best for You?If I buy a CD player, every CD will work in it. If I buy a television, it will work with all cable companies in my country. If I buy an FM radio it works with...

If you doubt the need for the cost-savings of e-books, take a look at stats from ALA.In the past two years library budgets have been cut in the U.S. by at least $109 million--even though library use is dramatically up over the last ten years. That's something to ponder during National Library Week (April 10-16).Best to fund libraries better, of course, but e-books, however, also can help. Too bad ALA-prez-elect Michael Gorman is an anti-e-book Luddite.Also useful would be avoidance of wasteful Hollywood-bought requirements such as the broadcast flag, which the ALA, to its credit, is fighting. (Found via...

Details via eReader for Symbian at eReader.com. (Thanks to PDA eBooks List.)...

"Personally, I take the view that if a song, movie, book, etc. is DRM'd then it isn't truly mine." - Slashdot reader in When Would You Accept DRM?The TeleRead take: I'll rent DRMed books in proprietary formats. I myself try not to be buy them. This is just me--on a limited budget. I'm eagerly looking forward to the OpenReader era when I can own e-books for real even if they're DRMed. Today's proprietary DRM helps makes permanent ownership impossible....

Rochelle, who on a more clueful planet would be a regular NPR audio essayist, should check out a story in the Raleigh News & Observer on podcasting.The lead example? An audio essayist in Durham, North Carolina, who bought a $17 microphone and now has 400 subscribed listeners. In listenership Mur Lafferty is no competition for All Things Considered, but still an example of the possibilities of the media--even if she probably overpaid for the mike. Heard a sample essay from Mur. Watch out, NPR! As in Rochelle's case, I hope Mur keeps plugging away.My favorite podcaster: Brian RussellMy favorite...

"A Japanese site entitled All You Can Read Paperbacks and launched in 2003 already suggests 150 e-books. The success of the new cell capability seems guaranteed, considering the over 50.000 subscribers to this website only." - E-book enabled mobile phones? in Softpedia, via eBookAd.The TeleRead take: The story goes on to say: "Surprisingly enough, several surveys indicate that most users take advantage of this offer in order to read classical novels, previously abandoned during school, and that they find that the small displays not only induce less fatigue, but they also enable them to read in darker conditions, for...

The Anne Arundel County Library in Maryland reports growing interest in e-books and audio books. (Via HometownAnnapolis.com)...

Ourmedia.org is down right now--after having been swamped. Clearly some nonVIPs, non-"newsmakers," want to exchange content.Why, then, are Michael Gartenberg and certain other members of the media elite so eager to cling to their notion of consumers as mere couch potatoes? Didn't the failure of the original Prodigy teach something? Prodigy was oriented toward shopping, not true interactivity, despite all the corporate misuses of that word."We write, you consume"Oh, well. It all goes along with the we-write/you-consume tabloid from the Washington Post, where in-depth local news actually seems to be frowned upon. Was this dreck allowed when Kay Graham...