Publishers increase investments in e-book technologies

Alexander Turcic · 01-12-2007, 05:19 AM

The Wall Street Journal is reporting (only to its subscribers, not to us) that HarperCollins Publishers has bought an equity stake in NewsStand Inc., a distributor of digital editions for newspapers and magazines. NewsStand is also parent company to LibreDigital, who specialized in online sales and marketing of e-books, from digitization to display.

Furthermore, the article states that HarperCollins is starting to offer competitors to use its digitizing technology for a license.

Other publishers who invested in e-book technologies recently include:

CBS Corp.'s Simon & Schuster, who is constructing its own digital warehouse, expecting to have more than 12,000 digital titles by year-end
Bertelsmann AG's Random House Inc., who is in the ongoing process of creating a digital archive for its backlist and newly published titles in the late 1990s.

NatCh · 01-12-2007, 11:37 AM

This is very welcome news, indeed. The two obstacles have been lack of decent hardware and lack of e-material to read even if we had decent hardware.

I've long thought that if one gave the other would follow, and it looks like that's whats' starting to happen.

The iLiad and the Reader may go down as the products that cracked the dam. Certainly e-ink has figured largely in this.

yvanleterrible · 01-12-2007, 12:06 PM

Here here!

Moonraker · 01-12-2007, 12:38 PM

I am happy to hear this good news. I hope the iLiad and the Sony go down in history for their achievement and join the others on the list of literary stepping stones.

Caveman drawings
Clay tablets
Papyrus and parchment scrolls
The Gutenberg printing press

If it wasn’t for progress we would still be eating grasses and raw meat and live in caves until the ripe old age of 26

Quote:

"Everything that can be invented has been invented." — Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.

Steven Lyle Jordan · 01-12-2007, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NatCh

The iLiad and the Reader may go down as the products that cracked the dam.

See, I would've said that about the Wall Street Journal. Making major dailies like WSJ, NYT, Washington Post, and other popular periodicals available as e-editions for readers, is a great promotional tool for the readers. So far we've had local papers try e-editions... but wait until internationally-renowned papers start trying it in a wider scale.

Oh, yeah: Comfy little cubbyhole, isn't it?...

RWood · 01-12-2007, 04:40 PM

This is great news. Now the feeds to Sony CONNECT and othr DRM houses will be better quality and faster. Perhaps the downloads can start on the same day the book is released in stores. (Maybe even sooner.)

Think of the demand if the next Harry Potter is available on CONNECT a week before it arrives in the stores. Every Reader on store shelves all over the world would be sold out.

01-12-2007, 05:19 AM	#1
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 18,171 Karma: 14021202 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Too many to count here.	Publishers increase investments in e-book technologies The Wall Street Journal is reporting (only to its subscribers, not to us) that HarperCollins Publishers has bought an equity stake in NewsStand Inc., a distributor of digital editions for newspapers and magazines. NewsStand is also parent company to LibreDigital, who specialized in online sales and marketing of e-books, from digitization to display. Furthermore, the article states that HarperCollins is starting to offer competitors to use its digitizing technology for a license. Other publishers who invested in e-book technologies recently include: CBS Corp.'s Simon & Schuster, who is constructing its own digital warehouse, expecting to have more than 12,000 digital titles by year-end Bertelsmann AG's Random House Inc., who is in the ongoing process of creating a digital archive for its backlist and newly published titles in the late 1990s.

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01-12-2007, 11:37 AM	#2
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	This is very welcome news, indeed. The two obstacles have been lack of decent hardware and lack of e-material to read even if we had decent hardware. I've long thought that if one gave the other would follow, and it looks like that's whats' starting to happen. The iLiad and the Reader may go down as the products that cracked the dam. Certainly e-ink has figured largely in this.

01-12-2007, 12:06 PM	#3
yvanleterrible Reborn Paper User Posts: 8,616 Karma: 15446734 Join Date: May 2006 Location: Que Nada Device: iPhone8, iPad Air	Here here!

01-12-2007, 04:40 PM	#6
RWood Technogeezer Posts: 7,233 Karma: 1601464 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Virginia, USA Device: Sony PRS-500	This is great news. Now the feeds to Sony CONNECT and othr DRM houses will be better quality and faster. Perhaps the downloads can start on the same day the book is released in stores. (Maybe even sooner.) Think of the demand if the next Harry Potter is available on CONNECT a week before it arrives in the stores. Every Reader on store shelves all over the world would be sold out.

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