Ebook e-distribution

Arthur Attwell


Ebook distribution and the problems of aggregation

The internet, and particularly the ebook industry, is littered with debates about aggregation and monopoly, and in many of those debates the two concepts are confused. Let’s be clear: aggregation is good, monopoly is bad.

For instance, a serious discussion is finally emerging over the Google Books settlement, a discussion that recognises the value of Google’s aggregation of book content and warns about the dangers of giving Google a monopoly over the control of that content, thereby potentially corrupting power (Tim O’Reilly gathers some of the best discussions on O’Reilly Radar, and Chris Castle is interesting in The Register). What are aggregation, monopoly and power in this context?

Google already pretty much controls Search on the internet, and Search is right now the key to power online. The usefulness of Search is a combination of massive aggregation of content and the ability to return good results to the searcher. Google runs this show not only because you and I use Searches to find what we’re looking for, but because every time we search for something, our search gets recorded, forming over time an immense dataset of people’s interests and contexts, often tied to individual users’ online identities. That dataset is then analysed and sold on in the form of contextual advertising, individualised search results, trend analysis and other kinds of analytics. By searching, we’re adding to Google’s brain, it’s knowledge of us as individuals and as a culture. As Kevin Kelly put it in his TED Talks presentation “Predicting the next 5,000 days of the web” in 2007: “who is searching who?” When everyone is using Google, our searches are microscopic components of a much greater view of the world, gathered in Google’s eye. When I search, I’m Frodo putting on the ring, Sauron suddenly alive to my whereabouts. Because of its massive ability to aggregate content and searches for it, Google has immense power. (So far, thankfully, it has no Nazgûl to unleash. I don’t think it will under its current management, but discussions like the one over the Google Books settlement aim to keep that door closed just in case.)

Google does not, however, have a monopoly. It leads Search because no one else does search as well as Google does it, but Yahoo and Microsoft and others do get a little piece of the pie, and no one’s stopping them from trying for more.
So now Google is adding books to its searchable content and therefore the usage stats from book searches to its brain. The settlement adds a new dimension to this: Google will be involved one way or another in the sale of the books listed in its searches as ebooks and perhaps eventually printed formats too. Much of the discussion around the Google Books settlement is about whether the settlement grants Google too much power by law, where till now its power has largely been earned by its ability to aggregate and filter content well. (For instance, the settlement may give Google undue influence over the book registry whose creation the settlement mandates, and in theory Google could list certain books higher in its search results, in relation to Google’s commercial stake in their sale.) Power granted by law starts looking like a monopoly. The settlement must allow for aggregation, but avoid granting any kind of monopoly.
We like aggregation, even if it leads to one company having a lot of power. In print books, Amazon is effectively the greatest aggregator of content and, as such, offers us a one-stop search for most books. iTunes offers the same for music. A one-stop search is not only useful, it’s critical, because in online retail, convenience and speed are half the value you’re selling. The value of aggregation is often worth the risk of corruptible power. But monopoly, imposed by law, is hard to break down and leads to slack business practices. Monopoly is less common in software and online than in physical goods and, when it emerges it’s often stamped out before long (the best example is perhaps the EU’s tough stance on Microsoft’s bundling Internet Explorer with Windows).

A monopoly of any sort in ebooks would be terrible, even if run by Google, the internet’s benevolent dictator. But the ebook industry desperately needs real aggregation. Ebook distribution is highly fragmented, despite the presence of large distributors like Ingram and OverDrive or distributor-retailers like Ebooks.com. As a user, I cannot go to one ebook store and know with any measure of certainty that I’ll find the book I’m looking for. This means that ebook shopping is all browsing-based shopping: browse around till something looks interesting, then maybe buy it. Online shopping, however, is about instant gratification, about search–find–buy in three clicks: no one has time to browse about any more.
Why has this happened? This are several contributing factors and I’m doubtless going to forget some in this list:

Problem: Distributors of ebooks make it expensive for retailers to list their ebooks. By expensive I mean they often charge set-up fees, in addition to a cut of sales. This (a) forces retailers to choose between distributors, at least when starting out, and (b) discourages small start-ups from entering the bookselling market. Solution: We need more automation in the distribution process, something like an open API for retailers to list and sell a distributor’s ebooks. It’s only a matter of time before a distributor drops the retailer set-up fee and provides a quick self-help facility for low-tech retailers, and in so doing encourages a surge in small ebook retailers with instant catalogues. (Interestingly, this is more or less possible already for print books, using a combination of wholesale book suppliers and Amazon’s Marketplace Sellers.)

Problem: Distributors are naively hoping they can become the Amazon or iTunes of ebooks, centralising ebook aggregation to themselves. As long as they’re battling over market share like this, they cannot allow just anyone to sell their ebooks (recently, OverDrive pulled its catalogue from retailer Fictionwise for reasons still unknown but much speculated about). Distributors end up in camps that hamper an end user’s ability to find and buy the ebooks they want. Solution: see point 1.

Problem: Publishers are too concerned about protecting their content with DRM (digital rights management), seemingly oblivious to the music industry’s hard learning experience. DRM adds to distributors’ costs and is almost always detrimental to customers. Publishers’ obsession with security (as opposed to convenience for customers) also forces distributors to gate keep (often with retail set-up fees or laborious registration processes), so that they can monitor the conduct of a manageable number of retailers. Solution: follow Pan Macmillan’s example and start dropping DRM.

Problem: In these early days of digitisation (early for book publishers at least), digitisation companies and distributors often make more money from services to publishers than from ebook sales, so their attention is not focused on competing for end-user ebook buyers. Solution: This is a teething issue and a chicken-and-egg situation: further aggregation of ebook catalogues, easier ebook-buying processes, standardised formats, and inevitable changes in reading habits will create more competition for ebook sales.
Problem: A plethora of ebook formats makes it hard to provide a one-stop shop. Solution: Thankfully the format wars look solved, with only PDF and epub left standing. The next step is solving the DRM debate (or admitting that it’s already over).

The raw power of Google, or an ebook Amazon or iTunes, would provide a useful centralised aggregator of ebooks and would go some way towards solving these problems. But the solutions would come far more easily if we could decentralise aggregation. By this I mean that publishers and distributors could make it possible for anyone to list and sell their books: if anyone could open an online retail store and instantly sell ebooks from any savvy distributor – no set-up fees or overnight processes involved – then we wouldn’t need Google for most of our ebook purchases. All retailers would carry almost all ebooks. And a retail store’s usefulness, and therefore its success, would be determined not by its catalogue but by the convenience and support it offered its customers.

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -
PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Mobile readers

Uing the T-Mobile G1 as an eBook reader

by Chris Gampat posted on January 27, 2009 11:39 am

Recently, a company name atrus123 started to release eBooks for the G1 via the Android App Market. I downloaded Dracula and Alice in Wonderland the other day for a test drive to see how they work and how the G1 functions as an eBook reader.

The G1 works out to be an excellent e-book reader on low power settings providing that you keep your finger on the screen and read fast (or set it to not time out.) The text looks great, even better than E-Ink. Users may set the size of the text depending on their preference. With a dimmed screen, text is still very readable.

Users can always keep their power management settings optimized for reading, but their battery may not last long enough to do other things like making a call. In this case, turning off Wifi, 3G, Bluetooth, and GPS could work to the user’s advantage.

Turning pages is as easy as flicking your finger across the arrows along the bottom of the screen. There is even a sound built in for pages being turned. This can be turned on or off. Don’t flick through pages too quickly though as the app may crash your G1 or make it force quit.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a way to turn the page without using the touchscreen although scrolling through pages can be done with the ball. Users will get a different experience opening up the keyboard and reading the books horizontally. It’s not quite as nice as reading it vertically, but it does allow a user to pause for a longer period of time without having to scroll down often.
Whenever you exit the app and restart the book, you can immediately pick back up from where you were as the app remembers where you left off. This is nice when you need to switch back and forth between IMs, email, or browsing the web if you’d like to look a word up. If not, the books have a table of contents and you can select whatever page you would like to view. Additionally, users can share their opinions about the book with other users.
It’s not all perfect though, the app can be slow to load at times and also can be laggy. Android may also force quit the app at any time for no real reason.

It is extremely pleasing to use the G1 as an eBook reader though, if it is plugged in then users can get even more power to their screen without having to worry about draining battery.
I’m not sure if this is a problem with the touchscreen or the app, but sometimes scrolling through a page can be a pain to do. The app (or the screen) doesn’t always seem to be very responsive. My guess would be that it is the app as it can be faulty at times.
The main drawback to using your G1 as an eBook reader is (as I’ve mentioned) battery drainage. It isn’t terrible, but if you’re using the power manager app you’ll steadily start to see the power level go down.

There are only three eBooks out at the time of writing this article for the G1: Dracula, Alice in Wonderland, and Call of the Wild. All of these books are public domain, so that means that more public domain titles should be coming to the G1. As far as other books go, we have yet to see if they will be available for download in the App Market as the market only allows for free downloads.

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

2009 Year of the eBook

Is 2009 finally the year that the eBook comes of age?

For too long it has been regarded as the spotty faced upstart but now with slicker software and greater distribution channels it appears to have finally grown up.

Caffeine Nights Publishing is pleased to announce the publication of its first eBook. Tripping is now available in electronic format and available to download from www.cnpublishing.co.uk and a number of Internet bookstores. Caffeine Nights Publishing have used the latest page turning software for their eBooks to give the reader as real an experience as they can have while reading from a screen.
The publication in this format follows the Kent based company's announcement last year that their books will be available later this year to download direct to mobile phones. Darren E Laws, author of Tripping, is excited with the prospect of these digital editions. 'I am pleased that we are being innovative with our books and looking at new delivery platforms. It does seem that 2009 might well be the year eBooks finally come of age and be accepted in the mainstream. More and more people know of devices such as the Kindle from Amazon and Sony's eReader, and the technology available now to make eBooks is definitely bringing another level of experience to readers everywhere. Multimedia aspects such as video and audio/mp3 files will broaden the whole book reading experience.

'One of the key benefits eBooks brings is also an environmental bonus with trees being spared the axe and thousands of road miles of transportation being removed from the equation. eBooks also bring a price benefit and in these times of economic worry readers can still subscribe to their favourite authors at a fraction of the price as many eBook are up to 50% cheaper than their paper equivalent. Many publishers are also offering parts of the books for free as tasters.Tripping is now available for only £3.99 with the first 30 pages free-ENDS-Caffeine Nights PublishingBased in Kent and publishing contemporary and crime fiction. We aim to make you laugh, thrill you, scare you, have you on the edge of your seat with your fingers gripping the pages tightly, but most of all, we want to entertain you with fiction aimed at the heart and the head-

Editorial Enquiries for Caffeine Nights Publishing & Darren Lawsinfo@cnpublishing.co.ukwww.cnpublishing.co.

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -

PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

iPhone once again

Shortcovers to make an ebook reader out of iPhone

Shortcovers is a division of the Indigo Books & Music based in Canada.

The company has announced that they are soon going to launch their application on the Apple App Store which would enable the iPhone users to read books on their mobile devices.
The application would provide access to content such as books, short stories and other written works.

The app would be free. The company aims to generate by charging 99 cents a chapter. The first chapter of these books would be free to let the user device which ones are worth reading.
The company said: “People aren’t reading less, they are reading differently. Their attention spans are shorter.”

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -
PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

I curse DRM

DRM Screws Users Again: eBooks About To Disappear Due To DRM Provider Shut Down
from the don't-buy-anything-with-DRM dept.

Around here, it's basically preaching to the choir, so most of you probably recognize this already, but buying anything with DRM on it is basically asking for trouble down the road. The latest example? An eBook seller named Fictionwise has realized that one of the companies that provides DRM for some of its books has announced that its shutting down at the end of the month. Because that DRM has to check in with an authentication server that's no longer going to be there, everyone who "bought" (really: incorrectly thought they bought) eBooks that used this DRM will discover that the books they paid for no longer work (Update: as noted in the comments, this DRM doesn't authenticate every time -- just any time you try to move the content to a new device. Also, Fictionwise is working to get replacements and has done so for many of the eBooks impacted already).

It's as if a publisher could retroactively erase the text from within a physical book that you bought. Since Fictionwise is just passing on the eBooks from third party aggregators, it has no means of replacing the "disappeared" eBooks. Has anyone found any thing that DRM is actually good for yet?

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts
-PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Wi-Fi eBook Reader

E-Book connectivity should be free within existing plans unless some high usage metric is exceeded.

It should support Wi-Fi gracefully. Most people use these things in their own homes, in coffee joints and in other places where Wi-Fi is available. And it appears that Amazon.com is working on a Wi-Fi Kindle.

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

What is MiBook?

TECH TEST: MiBook is cheap, colorful e-book reader

Electronic books are the persistent wallflowers of the gadget world.

Consumers have snubbed them again and again in favor of a 500-year-old technology: ink printed on paper.Mindful of the dominance of paper, devices for reading electronic books so far have focused on providing an experience that's as close to traditional books as possible. But there is one that takes a completely different tack, so different that it brings into question the definition of "book."This is the MiBook (pronounced "my book"), a book-sized white slab with a 7-inch color screen. Its "books" are memory chips with instructional videos.

There are books available on cooking, home projects, gardening and child care.For instance, the "Amazing Party Food" book shows the steps to making 150 different dishes, including a raspberry souffle, accompanied by voiceover from the MiBook's speakers. After each step, the video pauses, waiting for you to hit a button and go on to the next one.

Is it still a book if it's a chip with videos on it? That depends on your viewpoint. But it's quite possible to consider it a book if it does what a book used to do.The MiBook, from Ohio-based startup Photoco Inc., is also considerably cheaper than Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle or Sony Inc.'s Reader, which start at $300. The list price for the MiBook is $120, but it's available for as little as $75 online, including two books. Extra books are $20 each.The MiBook lacks the single greatest feature of the Kindle, which is wireless access to Amazon's e-book store, for near instant buying gratification. But both the Kindle and the Reader are limited by their "electronic ink" screen technology. It consumes very little power, but it can't show colors, and doesn't even do a good job of showing photos in shades of gray. Video is out of the question, because the display is very slow to update.The MiBook uses a very conventional liquid-crystal display. Since it uses much more power than electronic ink, the MiBook is designed to be used at home, connected to a power supply. It has a fold-out stand, so it can be placed upright on a kitchen counter, and comes with a small remote.But it also has a rechargeable battery, so it can be used untethered. Curiously, though, there's no indicator to tell you how much juice is left in the battery, or when it's fully charged. The manufacturer says the MiBook can show video for two hours on a charge, and cursory tests support that.The books are Secure Digital memory cards, used in digital cameras and other gadgets. The slot on the MiBook will accept SD cards with pictures, music, text and homemade videos on them, meaning it can double as a digital picture frame and music player, or even, yes, as a regular e-book reader.Sadly, the MiBook fails to fulfill its potential here, because its screen is of poor quality. Nothing looks really sharp, and it flickers.

This doesn't matter so much when showing video -- the screen is certainly no worse than an old tube TV set -- but the idea of reading a novel or even a short story on it is unappealing. Family pictures don't look very good either.Still, we can't dismiss the MiBook, particularly at $75. Despite its lack of buzz, it's certainly the most interesting e-book reader to come out since the Kindle, which is harder to get thanks to an endorsement by Oprah. The MiBook could be a good gift for someone who wants easy-to-follow directions for cooking or home projects.With a better screen and some attention to the battery issue, the MiBook could have a better shot. With a color screen, it will never have the battery life of the "serious" e-book readers, but it would last for some hours of reading around the house or on the commute. And is it too much to ask for Wi-Fi? That would open it up to book downloads from the Internet, and let it work as an Internet radio player. Oh, and keep the price under $100. Please, Santa. I'll expect it in your bag next year.

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Perfect eBook reading

Another eBook reader- BeBook: phones work better

The race to produce the favorite dedicated eBook reader is going strong with word of the release of the BeBook Reader. This reader has the standard fare with some corner cutting to keep the price down. It is going up against a gaggle of readers, not the least of which are the two major ones, the Sony Reader and the Amazon Kindle.

We have long been ebook lovers and have tried nearly every dedicated reader to come along but don’t use any of them in the real world. We still find our phone to be the perfect eBook reading platform simply because it’s already with us everywhere we go. We have long used Windows Mobile phones, Blackberries and currently the iPhone to consume massive amounts of the written word.

BusinessWeek is becoming aware of this phenomenon given a recent article they published on the same subject. The author points out the same thing we’ve been saying for years:
Adam Parks is an avid reader of digital books. But you won’t find him downloading the 20 or so titles he reads each year onto an electronic book device like Amazon’s Kindle. Instead, Parks flips through pages—Web-site design manuals and Sun Tzu’s The Art of War are recent favorites—on his trusted iPhone.
Parks is one of a growing number of people getting their book fix via mobile phone, a method he considers more convenient than using a dedicated e-book reader like the Kindle or Sony’s Reader Digital Book. “I travel a lot in Asia and in the U.S.,” says Parks, a marketing executive who resides in Palm Beach, Fla. “If you are running from airport to airport and from city to city, bringing an extra piece of equipment loses some of its value.”

We couldn’t agree more and every new dedicated reader we try gets put up on the shelf in short order. Devices like the Kindle or Sony Reader provide a better reading experience with the bigger screen no doubt, but the phone is always in the pocket when reading time presents itself. Plus you don’t have a major disappointment when you travel and discover you left the Kindle at home. The phone is always available to sit down and relax with a good book.

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -

PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Armand's book on hypertextuality

Exploring the boundaries of one of the most contested fields of literary study - a field that in fact shares territory with philology, aesthetics, cultural theory, philosophy, and even cybernetics - this volume gathers a body of critical writings that, taken together, broadly delineate a possible poetics of the contemporary.

In these essays, the most interesting and distinguished theorists in the field renegotiate the contours of what might constitute "contemporary poetics," ranging from the historical advent of concrete poetry to the current technopoetics of cyberspace. Concerned with a poetics that extends beyond our own time, as a mere marker of present-day literary activity, their work addresses the limits of a writing "practice" - beginning with Stephane Mallarme in the late nineteenth century - that engages concretely with what it means to be contemporary. Charles Bernstein's Swiftian satire of generative poetics and the textual apparatus, together with Marjorie Perloff's critical-historical treatment of "writing after" Bernstein and other proponents of language poetry, provides an itinerary of contemporary poetics in terms of both theory and practice.

The other essays consider "precursors," recognizable figures within the histories or prehistories of contemporary poetics, from Kafka and Joyce to Wallace Stevens and Kathy Acker; "conjunctions," in which more strictly theoretical and poetical texts enact a concerted engagement with rhetoric, prosody, and the vicissitudes of "intelligibility"; "cursors," which points to the open possibilities of invention, from Augusto de Campos's "concrete poetics" to the "codework" of Alan Sondheim; and "transpositions," defining the limits of poetic invention by way of technology.

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today

Benefits of eBooks

What are the benefits of eBooks


1. PORTABILITY
It's always convenient to carry your handheld computer with you. Whenever you're at the dentist office, waiting at a café, on a weekend getaway, even at home -- you can open your book and pick up where you left off.

2. FLEXIBILITY
Want to read that book on your Windows or Macintosh computer too? Well, of course you can.

3. YOU CAN'T LOSE YOUR BOOK
What do you do if your paper book was ruined because Johnny spilled his milk all over it, or because Rover suddenly decided it was his new toy? Since eReader.com maintains your personal library on our servers, you can always reinstall your eBooks without charge at any time.

4. READ IN THE DARK
Have you had much success with those small lights that attach to a book? What a pain. However, your handheld computer has a built-in backlight so you can be engrossed in your eBook instead of fiddling with the position of a teeny tiny book light.

5. YOU'VE GOT 10 BOOKS IN YOUR POCKET
Storing multiple eBooks on your Mobile Device or PDA doesn't make it heavier or bulkier! Whenever you wish to take a short break from The Power of Positive Thinking in Business, just open up the latest Stephen King novel -- your personal favorites are always with you.

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -

PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Companion eBook for a paperBook

Author of the upcoming book The Power of Less Leo Babauta offers now a companion ebook that's free to download now.

Thriving on Less—Simplifying in a Tough Economy tells you how to do just that.

The 27-page PDF describes advice garnered from Babauta's own journey from clutter, debt, and scarcity to a simpler, frugal lifestyle that focuses on the essentials and cuts away the extras. Like Babauta's popular Zen Habits blog, this book offers calm, peaceful straight talk that makes the super-busy and overwhelmed think "I want to live like that." Looks like a great preview of what's to come in his print volume, which gets released in four days. Think Babauta's approach is possible in today's world or too idealistic? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Free Ebook: Thriving on Less - Simplifying in a Tough Economy

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -

PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Mobile-ready version of Gutenberg content

Project Gutenberg, the longtime home of free eBooks on the web, has just introduced a mobile-ready version of their hosted content.

Called PG Mobile, or Project Gutenberg's Mobile Edition, the software transforms the plain text of the files on the Project Gutenberg web site into a format that can be read easily on mobile devices with small screens.

About PG Mobile

In case you're unfamiliar, Project Gutenberg is a volunteer effort where contributors digitize, archive, and distribute cultural works. Because of copyright law and restrictions, the majority of the site's content comes from public domain books. Unbelievably, the project was created in 1971, when founder Michael Hart keyed in The United States Declaration of Independence and informed the first 100 internet users.
Given the popularity and ubiquity of mobile phones, it's somewhat surprising that Project Gutenberg didn't already have a mobile edition until now. We suppose it's better late than never, though. And considering the vast size of their catalog, any effort to transform the books into mobile formats was surely not something they took lightly.

The PG Mobile software is based on the common Java file format (JAR) readable on nearly all handsets. The mobile books are downloaded as a Java applications and can be installed either using WAP (over the air), Bluetooth, serial connection, infrared, or data cable. There's no size limit to how many you can store - you are only limited by the storage capabilities of your handset. To access these books, just visit Gutenberg.org and click on the JAR link to have the mobile book installed on your phone.

What, No iPhone App?

In our world, it's perhaps hard to imagine that someone would choose to launch a Java-based app instead of (or perhaps prior to?) an iPhone version. However, that choice was certainly made based on the fact that Java runs on billions of phones worldwide where Apple, although strong in terms of revenue and growth, only represents 2.3% of the global handset marketshare.
However, iPhone readers already have several options for accessing eBooks on their mobile phones, including the popular Stanza eBook reader (iTunes link) as well as the other options we noted before. The trick is delivering that same access to large parts of the world where literature and educational materials are less available than they are for us. That's clearly what Project Gutenberg hopes to do with this mobile offering, and we have to applaud them for that.

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -

PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

2009 Year of the eBook

Will 2009 be the year of the eBook?

Will 2009 see mass market adoption of electronic book readers such as the wonder that is the Sony Reader?

For those of us on TechRadar that have had the pleasure of living with a Sony Reader in 2008, we can only hope that the coming years will see these wonderful gadgets find their ways into the hands of the millions of avid readers worldwide.

Robert McCrum, respected literary editor of The Observer, is also a huge fan of the e-book, posing the basic (but fundamentally vital) question this week: "will people carry on buying books?"
"Framed like that, it's a no-brainer," writes McCrum.
ePoetry and human DNA
"Of course we can't stop reading. Of course there'll be a market for books. But what kind of books?" is what McCrum wants to know.

"People who read books will not give up the habit of spending a modest sum on a highly praised new novel or a fine new collection of poems any more than novelists and poets will stop writing fiction or composing verse. The marginal cost of all these activities is comparatively slight, and the passion for narrative, and for poetry – well, it's part of our DNA."

On an even more positive note, McCrum adds that: "Digitisation has yet to affect book consumption, but it will eventually. Ebooks are here to stay."

The "iPod moment" for eBooks

While TechRadar largely agrees with McCrum's assertion that e-readers are currently "the kind of gizmos the trade will use to lighten its load (literally)" and that "the reading public has yet to make the switch" he is surely bang on the money when he claims that "the iPod moment" for books, while it has not yet occurred, is on the near future horizon.
"Again, none of this will be bad for writers. The delivery system will change, but the need for "content" (ghastly term) will be as strong as ever, perhaps stronger: the signs are that we turn to good books for consolation in tough times."
Thank goodness for that then! Books aren't going away. They are just going to get better, cheaper and become far more widely available to greater swathes of humanity than ever before.
Long live the electronic book revolution !

By Adam Hartley

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -

PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

eSlick

The eSlick will sell for $229 when it first goes on sale in January from Foxit's site (and eventually in retail stores), then for $259 afterward.





It is about the size of a medium paperback, but at 0.4 inches, it's much thinner. Its 6-inch, 600-by-800-pixel "electronic paper" screen is made by the same company that makes the Kindle's; it has the same easy-on-the-eyes, grayscale reflective screen (light is reflected off of words and images on the screen, rather than blasted at you with a backlight). You can resize text, and the device will reflow your document (rather than simply magnifying what's on the screen). Those are all features that make the Kindle such a great device on which to read books, magazines, blogs, etc.



Available in black, gray, or white, the device will have 128MB of internal memory, plus USB and an SD Card slot (it'll come with a 2GB card, too). Because its screen draws very little power, battery life should be extremely long; Foxit says it'll go for 8,000 page turns between recharges; it recharges via either USB or an included AC adapter. It uses an embedded Linux operating system, too.
However, at least in its initial version, the eSlick won't have wireless connectivity, so you won't be able to sync newspapers or blogs unless you convert them first on a PC (using included PDF conversion software, which Foxit is better known for) and copy them over manually. It'll read PDFs and text files, and you can convert any printable document for viewing using the PC-based software. You can download digital books, of course, from online libraries and eBook stores, and transfer them to the eSlick.



You can also play MP3s on the eSlick; it has a headphones port and ships with a set of headphones. Foxit says it anticipates adding wireless, an even better screen, and/or perhaps content syncing in a manner similar to AvantGo at some point in the future.
But until then, the question is whether you'd be okay with firing up your computer in the morning, culling your own content, converting it to a eSlick-readable format, and transferring it yourself. At least that process is free; automatic newspaper delivery to a Kindle costs at least $10 per month--each. Blogs cost $1 to $2 per month--each. At least with the eSlick, you don't have to email your own documents to yourself, as you must with the Kindle.
I like reading electronic books, and doing so on a lightweight device that I don't have to hold open, without eyestrain, would be a great thing. For books and my own documents, it doesn't matter whether the device I use has wireless capability, so if that's your anticipated use, the eSlick might be a great inexpensive alternative to the Kindle.



But I think the Kindle--as expensive as it and its subscriptions are, and as flawed as it is (in its initial version)--set the ground rules for this kind of device. I'm too cheap to pay its multiple monthly subscriptions, but with the way that newspaper outfits are going, we may all be forced into reading the news on Kindle or Kindle-like devices one day very soon.

From PCWorld

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -

PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Geographic browser on classic works of literature

Classic works of literature to be browsered .

Gutenkarte is a geographic text browser to help readers explore the spatial component of classic works of literature derived from the Gutenburg projects.
Project Gutenberg claims to be the first and largest single collection of free electronic books (eBooks).

“Gutenkarte downloads public domain texts from Project Gutenberg, and then feeds them to MetaCarta’s GeoParser API, which extracts and returns all the geographic locations it can find. Gutenkarte stores these locations in a database, along with citations into the text itself, and offers an interface where the book can be browsed by chapter, by place, or all at once on an interactive map. Ultimately, Gutenkarte will offer the ability to annotate and correct the places in the database, so that the community will be able construct and share rich geographic views of Project Gutenberg’s enormous body of literary classics.”

Gutenkarte was developed by MetaCarta - well known for its unique technology that combines traditional text (keyword) search with powerful geographic search so you can find content about a place and view the results on a map. You can read more about O’Reilly Radar article on Gutenkarte and its Geo annotation of Gutenberg texts. You can always volunteer to proofread Project Gutenberg Ebooks.

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -
PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor
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Etat des lieux Livre numérique Décembre 2008

Les supports de lecture de livres numérisés se multiplient et les catalogues s'allongent. Nous sommes résolument entrés dans l'ère du livre numérique...du moins aux Etats-Unis et au Japon ! Car sur le vieux continent, les éditeurs continuent de faire de la résistance et Europeana, le projet de bibliothèque virtuelle, est toujours en panne... L'Europe va-t-elle encore perdre une guerre mondiale, sur le terrain du numérique ?

Le carton des personal readers

Le Wall Street Journal l'annonce : Sony rafle la mise avec son Sony Reader vendu à 300 000 exemplaires depuis sa mise sur le marché américain, en octobre 2006. Avec près de 3 millions d'e-books téléchargés pour 57 000 titres disponibles sur le portail maison, Sony espère proposer 100 000 ouvrages d'ici à la fin de l'année.
Idem du côté de l'iPhone qui s'enrichit d'une nouvelle application conçue par l'éditeur Penguin. Cet outil permettra aux utilisateurs l'accès à des versions électroniques enrichies de certains classiques du catalogue de l'éditeur sans toutefois qu'ils puissent accéder à l'ensemble du catalogue. En parallèle, Random House, autre éditeur majeur transatlantique, s'associe à Stanza, l'application de lecture de e-books la plus répandue sur iPhone, pour offrir de télécharger gratuitement l'intégralité de certains titres. Et la maison d'édition Houghton Mifflin lance ScrollMotion, une autre application de lecture numérique.

Malins, les éditeurs américains ont compris que la révolution numérique est inévitable et qu'ils doivent trouver le moyen d'en profiter. En prenant l'initiative, ils contrôlent l'intégrité de leurs titres et peuvent utiliser le e-book comme un outil promotionnel. Bref, en donner un peu pour finalement gagner beaucoup.

L'Europe à la traîne

Ce que ne semblent pas comprendre les éditeurs européens. Outre le fiasco d'Europeana, qui prolonge son chômage technique jusqu'en janvier, la résistance purement idéologique au niveau de l'offre risque d'être pénalisée par une demande inéluctable... qui ira voir ailleurs!
De leur côté, la Fédération des éditeurs européens (FEE) a fini par se positionner vis à vis de l'accord que Google a négocié avec les éditeurs américains. Le dit-accord ne concernant pas uniquement les Américains, mais aussi les ayants droit européens des ouvrages présents dans les bibliothèques américaines et numérisés par Google, la FEE a rappelé que "si les ayants droit ne demandent pas à sortir de l'accord, ils abandonnent toute possibilité de poursuivre Google pour ses activités de numérisation, même en Europe." La FEE fustige ainsi l'introduction du principe de "l'opt-out" dans l'accord, qui "affaiblit significativement les régimes existants de droits d'auteur et contraste fortement avec les solutions européennes, particulièrement le projet Europeana", que la FEE soutient ardemment !

Des initiatives existent cependant, notamment en France, avec l'accord Sony-Hachette-la Fnac et le projet autonome de Gallimard de numériser son catalogue et de le rendre accessible sur son site de librairie en ligne.

(par Mélanie de Fluctuat.net)

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -

PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Fighting domination of Kindle and Sony's reader

There are currently two eBook readers fighting for domination of the high-tech literary scene: the Amazon Kindle and Sony's line of readers.

There's about to be a third:
The iRex Digital Reader 1000S boasts the largest screen of the bunch at 10 inches and even uses a Wacom touch surface as its primary input method. It doesn't have a 3G card like the Kindle, but it's definitely got a lot of tech inside. It does, however, retail for a suggested $750..
The Kindle runs around $360 while the Sony's run from $300 to $400 depending on the model. While many people avoid reading nowadays, an eBook reader is a great high-tech way to get your literature on.

The iRex does not have access to an eBook store, but will display many formats. Amazon and Sony both have eBook stores that work for their respective devices.

Personally, I own this Sony eBook Reader and absolutely love the thing.

It's simple and does what I need it to do: display books. The Kindle's 3G and keyboard is fun and all, but I'm not an impulse book buyer. I don't need to buy books on the go. The Kindle's internet features are redundant for iPhone owners like myself and the battery life is much lower than the Sony.
This iRex reader just feels like overkill. A 10" screen seems great, but that's pretty large for a convenience device. The Kindle and Sony's are sized well and can easily be tucked into a laptop case or small bag.
Do you have an eBook reader? Which one?

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -

PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Ebooks and mobiles

It seems that e-book readers are going to be technology’s next big thing.

With the Kindle being named Oprah’s favorite gadget and other e-book reading devices battling for pole position, the e-book reader is populating daily culture. But who wants to pay that much money for a dedicated reading device that is admittedly limited and still has no true standard format?

Insert iPhone. We all know that the iPhone does a great job in converging multiple devices, why not add being an e-book reader to its capabilities? Obviously we won’t have any e-ink technology in the iPhone but the e-book readers in the iPhone, Classics and Stanza, offer ease of use and a great free selection—plus you don’t have to plop down an extra 400 dollars to read a book !

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -

PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Ebooks from Random House for iPhones

Since the Kindle is sold-out, maybe you can read books on your iPhone.

Free eBooks, are now available for iPhone or iPod touch from Randon House and Ballantine.Random House and Ballantine will be the first major book publishers to make full-length books available for free on iPhone through Lexcycle Stanza, Apple iPhone and iPod Touch book reader app.

The authors list includes Alan Furst, Julie Garwood, Charlie Huston, David Liss, Laurie Notaro, Arthur Phillips and Simon Rich. The initial offerings will be drawn from each author's backlist and will include excerpts for any new hardcovers coming in 2009. Stanza users already have access to a public domain library which sees nearly 40,000 downloads a day.

Random House is providing links to retailers like Amazon, Barnes and Noble.com, Borders.com, Powells.com and IndieBound.org to encourage readers to purchase more books by these authors.

"A free eBook is a great way to sample a new writer, and help spread the word," says Charlie Huston, whose novels 'Caught Stealing', 'Six Bad Things', and 'A Dangerous Man' will all be available on Stanza.

"Besides, it's good to give things away. They're books. We write them for people to read them." Random House and Ballantine titles will be available beginning today to all iPhone and iPod Touch Stanza users. Stanza for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch is available as a free download from the iTunes App Store or from http://www.lexcycle.com/.

Penguin is offering Penguin 2.0 and Penguin Mobile. There is a Penguin US iPhone application, as well as website for mobile phones. The app can download the app from iTunes here, or just visit the mobile-optimized site.

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -

PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Incredible Kindle sold-out !

The Kindle eBook reader is sold-out and won't be available until February of next year.

Hey didn't Kindles sell-out last year also? Mmmnn, it seems strange in such poor economic times that so many people shelled out $359 bucks for Kindles. Maybe Amazon wants to blow them out so that there is more demand for the new version due out next year.The Amazon website says: Price: $359.00 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping.

Details Availability: Expected to ship in 11 to 13 weeks. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.Due to heavy customer demand, Kindle is sold out. Please ORDER KINDLE NOW to reserve your place in line. We prioritize orders on a first come, first served basis. This item will arrive after December 24. Note that Kindles cannot currently be sold or shipped to customers living outside of the U.S.

There's probably no need for gift wrap this year. However, there are independent sellers on Amazon selling used Kindles for $500 or more. At it's one year anniversary, 250,000 Kindles were sold. Kindle texts account for 10 percent of Amazon's book sales.The Sony Style Store may have sold-out/recalled the Xperia X1 but they do offer their eBook readers that come with 100 free "classic" books for $299 and $399. Books are downloaded through a USB Cable.

eBook readers

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Kindle Sold-Out - Sony eBook Readers Alternative Choice.

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Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -

PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor