From the University of Rochester's Campus Times: … The UR bookstore boasts a new e-reader station where students can explore versions of Barnes and Nobles’ own e-reader, the Nook.  Furthermore, the station highlights new, free software available online that allows students to easily access material from e-Textbook purchases. e-Textbooks have been available at the bookstore since 2004 and students can rent or purchase them at prices similar to those of standard textbooks.  They can also be purchased online at the University bookstore website. Nevertheless, there are many practical problems surrounding the use of e-Textbooks on...

The v3.01 update is now final and ready for download from Amazon servers, for all Kindle 3's.  Apparently, their private feedback was as good as feedback seen on the Amazon forums. See yesterday's original report of the v3.01 update for the details that were in that. At the linked page (above), Amazon also states: ' We're excited to announce that a new, free software update is available for the latest generation Kindle 6" device.  This software update adds the ability to create a new Amazon.com account directly from your Kindle, as well as additional performance...

Amazon wants feedback on an "early preview of the next software update" for Kindle 3 and refers to this update-preview as software update version 3.01. They stress this is offered so that "Customers who want to try this early release of the software and provide feedback can download the update from their servers." Amazon explains that this update will add ' the ability to create a new Amazon.com account directly from your Kindle, as well as additional performance improvements. After installing this update, please share your feedback with us at kindle-response@amazon.com.  We look forward to hearing about...

Within the last 60 days there has been a bevy of announcements of new ereading devices. Amazon announced what is popularly called the Kindle 3 and Sony has announced 3 new models — the 350, 650, and 950. How far behind other makers will be is hard to tell, but the upcoming holiday season should be a good one for device buyers. So the question is this: Is this the time to take the plunge and buy a dedicated ereading device if you don’t already own one? The companion question, of course, is if you own one that is more than...

 Be sure to read the first Kindle 3 Tips and Cautions blog article here. The picture on the left is of my white-bezeled 6" Kindle 3 next to the Graphite 9.7" Kindle DX. The Graphite DX does have a slightly greener tint under certain lighting, but a touch of green can make an image look brighter. Here's the larger image.  Following the larger version is a second, closer shot of the text of both. Further on down the page, I have a tip to get the Kindle text to a closer match with the DX...

While it has been increasingly clear over the past year that Amazon is dominating the market share and price wars among dedicated ebook reader devices, it is now clear that Amazon is also winning its tug of war with traditional book publishers over ebook pricing. Amazon is succeeding dramatically in its efforts to bring an ever increasing number and percentage of all Kindle Store ebooks into its preferred price range between $2.99 and $9.99, inclusive, according to our most recent analysis of the overall pricing composition of the Kindle Store catalog and the "Top 100 Paid" spots on the Kindle Store...

 I’ve spent too many days this summer visiting this page on Amazon’s Kindle store, waiting for the price of the latest book from Charles Stross to drop to $9.99 (as of the date of this post, it’s $11.99). Clearly, it’s not going to happen until the publisher feels it’s notched as many $12 purchases as it can from eager fans who aren’t as price-conscious as I am. But wait a minute! I too am an eager fan, and because of this pricing issue, I ended up reading the book for free. I’m still a fan but now...

 The Kindle for PC app has been quietly updated.  Some have chosen the option to have it updated automatically when they open the program and an update is available. I like to choose the time, but then I didn't get a notice that there was an update waiting to be 'noticed.' I read about it when @MikeCane tweeted it the other day in his inimitable way. See below: So, I went to my Kindle for PC program, still showing a bright, plain white background, chose the menu's install-update option, and got what ...

Over the course of this summer I've read a couple of great Yankees books: Munson and The Bronx is Burning.  The former was read on my iPad and the latter, because it's not available digitally, was read from a dead tree.  After seeing countless references in both to another Yankee classic, The Bronx Zoo, I decided that should be on my reading list too.  Unfortunately for me, that's another book that's not available digitally.  I also was unable to find a copy at the local brick-and-mortars or even the second-hand bookstore, which got...

Cnet has a good interview, done by David Carnoy, with Amazon's Ian Freed, vice president of digital. Here are two excerpts. The first is about market share. Carnoy asks Freed to comment on B&N and Apple saying they each have a 20% market share: Honestly, something doesn't add up because we're pretty sure we're 70 to 80 percent of the market. So, something, somewhere isn't quite working right. I encourage you to do some more research. Obviously, from the beginning of Amazon we've been very metrics-focused and we don't typically throw out numbers we don't firmly believe in....

The Kindle 3 was released to much Amazon fanfare late last week; in the sea of iPad and general tablet news at the moment I wonder how many people have even noticed. My girlfriend didn’t know what a Kindle was until tonight, and I really don’t know how this has happened. I can only assume that I’ve been right every time I thought she wasn’t really listening to me. She’s been mocking my iPad cravings for a little while now (I maintain it’s not iPad-lust (iLust?), but borderline-usable-tablet-lust, it’s just I happen to think that that’s a very narrow category...

As I re-read this recent NY Times article about Google's possible role in the ebook retailer world I started thinking more about how the whole marketplace could shake out. It's important to note that Google Editions is a program that's been talked about for a couple of years but still hasn't materialized. The latest rumor is it will launch very soon...pretty much the same rumor that's been around the last couple of years! Nevertheless, at some point I'm convinced Google will produce an ebook retailing platform and it's sure to have an impact on our industry. Google Editions...