Effect of Kindle on Sony's Content Offerings

[vivaldirules]

In the past two weeks Sony have added about 1500 new titles (a 2.9% increase) and now have about 55,286 ebooks for sale for the Readers (the sum of books in all categories which includes roughly 3500 double-counts). They have added an average of 92 new ebooks per day to their store since Sept., 2007. The greatest percentage increases in the past two weeks are in the categories of Manga and Graphic Novels (now 26 titles up from 16) and Juvenile Fiction (up 18%).

In the same period Amazon have added 5000 new titles (a 2.6% increase) and now have about 195,426 ebooks for sale for the Kindle with an average of 300 new ebooks per day added to their offerings since November of last year.

[Valloric]

Originally Posted by vivaldirules

In the same period Amazon have added 5000 new titles (a 2.6% increase) and now have about 195,426 ebooks for sale for the Kindle with an average of 300 new ebooks per day added to their offerings since November of last year.

Man, Sony is getting hammered.

[vivaldirules]

Originally Posted by Valloric

Man, Sony is getting hammered.

I think they should get hammered, I'm speaking now of being hammered in product sales, if they don't change their ways. I can't imagine why anyone would want to buy a Reader if they have the option to instead buy a Kindle for which there apparently will always be a better selection of books.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by vivaldirules

I think they should get hammered, I'm speaking now of being hammered in product sales, if they don't change their ways. I can't imagine why anyone would want to buy a Reader if they have the option to instead buy a Kindle for which there apparently will always be a better selection of books.

I still say that the Reader is better for actually reading. I've stopped buying books in the Sony store and have bought quite a few via Amazon. However, the only books that I read on my Kindle, as opposed to my 505, is the topaz format books. Fortunately, only 4 of the 40+ books that I've bought from Amazon have been in the Topaz format.

[coleman]

It's not just the selection that's a problem it's the cost. Though I guess that's at least partly the publishers fault, Sony is either not working that hard or is just getting boned by them.

I bought a softcover book in the book store today, it was the standard 8$. The same book for Kindle was around 50 cents cheaper. The same book from the Sony store was about 17$. Seriously, I can't justify that kind of price difference just to read it on my reader. And all the other books by this author were reasonably priced, or at least at price parity with the softcovers.

[mgrunk]

Just to chime in - my frustration is two fold - I don't like the store interface - it's slow and and I want the ability to browse - it's just too slow to browse - I don't necessarily buy just from a title mentioned or author - I love going to a bookstore and looking at the covers, reading the backs and selecting. For whatever reason, fictionwise best emulates that experience.

And, the books at Sony are too expensive.

I would move over from fictionwise to the Sony Store if both problems were addressed. And, I'm just curious as to why Sony is in the book selling business? Is it really profitable? I love the Reader, just not the software / store. I understand the Kindle model - Amazon was the go to place for books, so now they have a reader and the content together. But, I guess I don't exactly understand the connection between Sony and e-books.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by mgrunk

And, I'm just curious as to why Sony is in the book selling business? Is it really profitable? I love the Reader, just not the software / store. I understand the Kindle model - Amazon was the go to place for books, so now they have a reader and the content together. But, I guess I don't exactly understand the connection between Sony and e-books.

Sony is a consumer electronics manufacturer. They saw a market for a dedicated ebook reader, and produced one. But an ebook reader is useless without books to read, so they had to develop a storefront where you could purchase them, and acquire books you could buy to read on it.

Sony's future plans, according the the President of the Reader division are to be extremely open. Support for ePub as a format in one move in that direction, and wifi support is planned, but not tied to a single provider as is the Kindle's Whispernet service. We'll see how it works out.

Is the ebook selling business profitable for Sony? I have no idea. It wouldn't surprise me if they had longer term plans of getting out of ebook sales once the pieces were in place to let users buy titles they could read on their Sony Reader elsewhere. But meanwhile, Sony has to be in the ebook retailing business, simply so that there are books you can read on the Sony Reader.
______
Dennis

[vivaldirules]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

....simply so that there are books you can read on the Sony Reader.

That's right. All twelve of them.

Sorry, I'm bad.

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

but not tied to a single provider as is the Kindle's Whispernet service.
______
Dennis

Whispernet *can* be used by other providers if they work it right. Ask Fictionwise, Feedbooks and MobileRead.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by mgrunk

I don't like the store interface

I agree that the interface is terrible. But I stopped using Amazon as my primnary pbook source years ago because I found its changed interface to be horrible, unwieldy, and unmanageable. I've since stopped buying from Amazon for other reasons. I much prefer the Barnes & Noble interface and now buy all my pbooks from B&N.

Originally Posted by mgrunk

For whatever reason, fictionwise best emulates that experience.

Several times I have tried to buy from Fictionwise but have been frustrated by its system, and have never bought a book from Fictionwise. I admit that I don't like the micropay system, which doesn't help matters. But I also don't find the Fictionwise interface any better than the Sony one. Each has significant faults and could be better designed.

Originally Posted by mgrunk

And, the books at Sony are too expensive.

This depends on what you are looking for. I agree that Amazon is generally cheaper than any other ebook retailer, but then Amazon seems to have no qualms about selling books at a loss, something that other ebook sellers do not do (and for good reason) with the consistency of Amazon. But my experience is that Sony is very competitive with Books on Board and Fictionwise, often selling books at a lower price than either.

The advantage that Fictionwise has is with the micropay system, which results in a future discount. But that requires buying into the Fictionwise system, something I have not yet been convinced to do.

If you compare the Fictionwise straight retail price with the Sony straight retail price, Sony is very competitive.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

It wouldn't surprise me if [Sony] had longer term plans of getting out of ebook sales once the pieces were in place to let users buy titles they could read on their Sony Reader elsewhere.

I think, Dennis, you are correct for the long-term. The biggest threat to the ebook marketplace is dominance by a single device maker with a closed format. If other devices follow Sony's lead and adopt the ePub standard, giving book publishers a single standard format, then I believe Sony will move away from the book-selling business and concentrate on its strength, the reading device. In this instance, it will be easier for ebook retailers to be more competitive with Amazon withoiut having to sell at a loss.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I still say that the Reader is better for actually reading. I've stopped buying books in the Sony store and have bought quite a few via Amazon.

When you buy a book from Amazon to read on your Sony, what format do you buy it in? Presumably you need to convert it. Aren't the books DRMed?

[pwalker8]

Some books are DRMed and some are not. There is a script that allows you to deDRM azw books, so that's pretty straight forward. Once it's deDRMed, I use Calibre to change it to lrf format. So, the author gets his money, the publisher gets their and I get to read the books that I purchased in a format that I want, so everyone's happy. And, just to be clear, I don't share books that I have purchased with others or upload them to pirate sites. I'm a firm believer in the idea that if you like reading books, then you really need to pay the authors so they keep writing books.

[rawlus]

i spent a long time hemming and hawing over whether or not to get a kindle, an iliad a cybook or the ereader. finally settled on the kindle. bottomline, the software works, the store is second to none, the selection is vast and getting exponentially bigger by the month and it is primarily about the content.

my past experiences with sony have left me with a bad taste in my mouth. while they are a consumer electronics giant, their software development/quality control leaves alot to be desired. i was an early adopter of sony'd mini-disc format, the format was great, the software that synched the device, withi which you converted your cds and/or bought online was dreadful. their rootkit fiasco was also dreadful. their issue i think is that in addition to being an electronics giant, they are also a content creator - and this creates an internal conflict of interest which tends to make them make poor decisions when it comes to DRM and consumer-enabling software solutions. they build software to satisfy their own lawyers and bean-counters instead of the consumer.

so i tend to avoid sony products now.

it would have made more sense if sony made a product that worked with the amazon store. building their own store and own proprietary format and then going up against amazon for cripes sake is absolutely foolish IMHO.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Some books are DRMed and some are not. There is a script that allows you to deDRM azw books, so that's pretty straight forward. Once it's deDRMed, I use Calibre to change it to lrf format.

So did you join the Kindle book club just to purchase ebooks for your Sony?

BOb