New Additions to Connect Store?

[Michele]

I'm wondering whether anyone has noticed any significant amount of new additions to the Connect Store. I keep checking for new offerings, but am not really seeing any.

Also, does anyone know of a site or blog or somewhere that Sony communicates with its customers about its progress or intentions regarding the Connect Store?

[Slava]

Not really, the page with new releases hasn't been updated for at least a week, may be more.

[Michele]

Right, that's where I've been looking, but I'm pretty sure that toward the beginning I was seeing additions that weren't listed there. I wouldn't be surprised if the list didn't reflect the reality. I haven't seen that list change since the beginning.

Maybe the early additions I saw were really corrections of errors revealing existing content.

[Bob Russell]

Didnt Jane say something about new releases for publishers coming on, say, a couple of particular days each month? Maybe there is a similar frequency wrt ebooks?

[ChrisAllenFiz]

The specials end on 17th don`t they? They may update then.

Still, shocking support so far really.

[da_jane]

All the major entertainment providers put out their releases on Tuesdays. Music, DVDs and books. For books, most releases happen on the first Tuesday of each month or the last Tuesday of each month. A bookstore can get a book in the store before then and put it out on the shelf unless the publisher has bought a "street" date or a "lay down" date. If a bookseller puts out a book that is has a street date before the street date, they can get "punished" by not getting the books on time in the future or being fined or some such crazy thing like that (think JK Rowlings). These street dates are to facilitate an author getting on a bestseller list.

For ebooks, however, there is no early release date (except S&S and Harper Collins have recently instituted early releases on a few select ebooks). So each books street date for publication is abided by for the e-release. On the publisher ebook websites, you can generally download those ebooks at 12:00 EST of the release date.

Certain publishers release some books throughout the month for big time authors. I.e, Janet Evanovich gets released in June, about the third Tuesday in June, IIRC.

Ereader.com is excellent about getting the new releases out each Tuesday. Fictionwise, because of some stupid business model, puts out new releases on Monday so they are always a week behind in getting books out.

I have no idea what Sony is doing. I haven't seen updates to its "new book" section although it did announce in a timely fashion the winners of the Quill Awards which were released last week. That is the only update I have seen on the Connect store. HTH

[Michele]

I went to Ereader.com just now for the first time, but (due to my inexperience) I can't tell what the file extension of their books is. Are these .LIT files that we can reformat?

[Bob Russell]

Originally Posted by Michele

Ereader... file extension of their books...

eReader uses their own format and DRM, which is different from .lit, .pdf, mobipocket and others. One advantage of eReader DRM is that it is unlocked by your credit card number. So there's no chance of "using up" licenses when, say, you have to rebuild your PC or buy a new one, etc. And if you trust someone enough to give them your CC#, they can technology-wise read your books. Obviously that's a very limited group of people so it pretty much eliminates any chance of piracy. On the other hand, you can only read the books on eReader software which is not available on e-ink devices, and if they ever go out of business, new devices will never be supported for reading those books.

I think we will find that if Sony can work out their pricing issues and successfully continue to add content, people will in general be okay with that. One needs to remember that it's not the best way to build a library (you can only read the books on the Sony reader or future Sony devices that support the same format), but for getting books to read on a great device that you don't plan to keep around afterwards, it's not too bad. You can't give the book away when you're done, but you do get to read it in e-ink.

But that does seem to depend on seeing pricing glitches worked out a continual flow of new content...

[Michele]

I was hoping that Connect would add more books to broaden its offering, not necessarily newly released books. Theoretically that could occur anytime, not on new release dates.

[Bob Russell]

Ah. Broadening the store content with existing ebooks could happen with any timing, couldn't it? I guess the publishers may be looking to see how sales go before adding additional titles that aren't new. I'm sure if sales are good, there will be big incentive to add more titles.

[Slava]

But without books ppl like to buy sales wont be good

So, Egg or Chicken ?-)

[ultim8fury]

Right now the sales figures will look fairly healthy, thanks to the $50 credit. Sony can easily show publishers that people who bought a reader are spending at least $50 on books almost straight away. That should lead to more content, very clever move by Sony to kick start the cycle.

The real tell will be when all the credit has run out. How many people come back and keep shopping at the connect store.

[Leaping Gnome]

I definitely will keep shopping there, as long as they add more books that I want to read.

[NatCh]

That's going to be the key for me too, LG.

[Slava]

New books have been added :-)

The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini
$11.20

Imperium
Robert Harris
$13.59

Thirteen Moons
Charles Frazier
$14.36

Jimmy Stewart
Marc Eliot
$14.36

Blood and Thunder
Hampton Sides
$14.36

1491
Charles C. Mann
$7.96

The Tree
Colin Tudge
$14.36

Prisoners
Jeffrey Goldberg
$14.36

Insecure at Last
Eve Ensler
$14.36

The Good Guys
David Fisher
Bill Bonanno
$4.79

Fleshmarket Alley
Ian Rankin
$4.79

Cinnamon Kiss
Walter Mosley
$14.36

Blink
Malcolm Gladwell
$13.56

Cell
Stephen King
$13.59

Saving Graces
Elizabeth Edwards
$14.36