Effect of Kindle on Sony's Content Offerings - Page 13

vivaldirules · 10-09-2008, 09:17 AM

Agreed, JJ. I already own more paper and ebooks than I will ever read. But the book I really want to read at any given moment isn't necessarily included in that library. When there's a book I want to read, I want it and it doesn't matter if there are other books already in my queue. That's like saying there are other movies showing, so why do you insist on seeing the one you really want to see right now. Now replace movies with cars, restaurants, spouses, jobs, etc. And if the book is available but not in ebook form, I'm much less likely to buy it (else why did I buy my Reader?). I'm sure most people here have similar opinions to varying degrees.

Also, if potential buyers of ebook readers realize that most of the books they really want to read are not available, why would they want to pay hundreds of dollars for one except to play with it? I'd like this technology to become ubiquitous and one of the requirements, it seems to me, is that most of the books that people want to read are available for it. We're not even close to that, yet.

vivaldirules · 10-23-2008, 07:42 AM

In the past two weeks Sony have added about 1100 new titles (a 2.1% increase) and now have about 53,742 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 91 new ebooks per day to their store since Sept., 2007. The greatest percentage increases in the past two weeks are in the categories of Travel (up 7.9%) and Technology (up 7.1%).

In the same period Amazon have added 5800 new titles (a 3.1% increase) and now have about 190,481 ebooks for sale for the Kindle with an average of 299 new ebooks per day added to their offerings since November.

Below is a plot of the total number of ebooks available from these two vendors since I began tracking them in September of last year.

Dave Berk · 10-23-2008, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vivaldirules

In the past two weeks Sony have added about 1100 new titles (a 2.1% increase) and now have about 53,742 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 91 new ebooks per day to their store since Sept., 2007. The greatest percentage increases in the past two weeks are in the categories of Travel (up 7.9%) and Technology (up 7.1%).

In the same period Amazon have added 5800 new titles (a 3.1% increase) and now have about 190,481 ebooks for sale for the Kindle with an average of 299 new ebooks per day added to their offerings since November.

Below is a plot of the total number of ebooks available from these two vendors since I began tracking them in September of last year.

For those of us who don't own a Kindle (and can't) this is just depressing.

DaleDe · 10-23-2008, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Berk

For those of us who don't own a Kindle (and can't) this is just depressing.

Sony is planning on 100,000 by the end of the year. That will help a bit.

Dale

vivaldirules · 10-23-2008, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Sony is planning on 100,000 by the end of the year. That will help a bit.

Dale

To reach that goal, Sony will have to make available an average of 660 new ebooks per day until the end of the year beginning today. That compares to their average of 91 to date. I'm pretty skeptical.

rhadin · 10-23-2008, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Berk

For those of us who don't own a Kindle (and can't) this is just depressing.

Dave, I don't find it depressing. To me it doesn't matter if the Kindle has 1 quadrillion books available and Sony has 50,000 or vice versa -- neither does me any good if they don't have the book I want at the price I am willing to pay (forgetting, for the moment, about DRM).

Dave Berk · 10-23-2008, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rhadin

Dave, I don't find it depressing. To me it doesn't matter if the Kindle has 1 quadrillion books available and Sony has 50,000 or vice versa -- neither does me any good if they don't have the book I want at the price I am willing to pay (forgetting, for the moment, about DRM).

But that's exactly the point. I see books I want on the Kindle store every day (Don't ask me why I go there. Masochism

). Usually it takes them a few days to appear on places like BoB, but - there's always a price difference! Sometimes just a few dollars more, sometimes over 10$... Converting it into my local currency, that's a large difference...

I want those books

pilotbob · 10-23-2008, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Berk

But that's exactly the point. I see books I want on the Kindle store every day (Don't ask me why I go there. Masochism

). Usually it takes them a few days to appear on places like BoB, but - there's always a price difference! Sometimes just a few dollars more, sometimes over 10$... Converting it into my local currency, that's a large difference...

I want those books

It's easy to buy Kindle books... just join the Kindle ebook shopping club. It only cost $359 for lifetime membership. Once you are a member you can buy as many ebooks as you want. The membership will pay for it self more quickly if you buy more books more often.

BOb

Lemurion · 10-23-2008, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pilotbob

It's easy to buy Kindle books... just join the Kindle ebook shopping club. It only cost $359 for lifetime membership. Once you are a member you can buy as many ebooks as you want. The membership will pay for it self more quickly if you buy more books more often.

BOb

The problem with joining the Kindle ebook shopping club is not simply the $359 buy-in, but also the fact that people outside the US cannot buy one.

pilotbob · 10-23-2008, 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lemurion

The problem with joining the Kindle ebook shopping club is not simply the $359 buy-in, but also the fact that people outside the US cannot buy one.

I know some people that have... so it is possible.

BOb

dhbailey · 10-24-2008, 04:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vivaldirules

In the past two weeks Sony have added about 1100 new titles (a 2.1% increase)

Really? How are you measuring that? Each week I get a "New Releases" email from Sony, and I always go to the web-site and click on "New Releases" and get 4 pages of about 25 titles each page. And I notice that many of them are the same from week to week.

vivaldirules · 10-24-2008, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dhbailey

Really? How are you measuring that? Each week I get a "New Releases" email from Sony, and I always go to the web-site and click on "New Releases" and get 4 pages of about 25 titles each page. And I notice that many of them are the same from week to week.

David, I think the New Releases are probably the new books Sony thinks that most people will be interested in buying. I'm sure it doesn't include obscure technical texts, etc. The total number of books that I've been reporting is obtained by going to each category and searching for all book in that category. I then sum these up for all categories and report that every couple of weeks. The 1100 new books is the difference since my last report.

DaleDe · 10-24-2008, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vivaldirules

David, I think the New Releases are probably the new books Sony thinks that most people will be interested in buying. I'm sure it doesn't include obscure technical texts, etc. The total number of books that I've been reporting is obtained by going to each category and searching for all book in that category. I then sum these up for all categories and report that every couple of weeks. The 1100 new books is the difference since my last report.

An interesting way to get a total is to simply type "the" in the keyword search and hit search. This morning I get 50997 hits. This may be removing the duplicates.

Dale

vivaldirules · 10-24-2008, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaleDe

An interesting way to get a total is to simply type "the" in the keyword search and hit search. This morning I get 50997 hits. This may be removing the duplicates.

Dale

Thanks, Dale. I've also been doing a single search on 'a' to get a similar number. All are quick ways to verify that, in fact, Sony sells ebook Readers for the Sony Bookmobile and that if people want to buy an ebook reader for the main library instead, they should buy a Kindle. That is, unless Sony gets off their "content is inconvenient" attitude and accepts that "content is king" and starts making books available to us to buy. Sorry. I'll come down out of my rage soon, I think.

DaleDe · 10-24-2008, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vivaldirules

Thanks, Dale. I've also been doing a single search on 'a' to get a similar number. All are quick ways to verify that, in fact, Sony sells ebook Readers for the Sony Bookmobile and that if people want to buy an ebook reader for the main library instead, they should buy a Kindle. That is, unless Sony gets off their "content is inconvenient" attitude and accepts that "content is king" and starts making books available to us to buy. Sorry. I'll come down out of my rage soon, I think.

I used to use "a" but it results in a smaller number. Hopefully the attitude is changing over at Sony.

Dale

10-23-2008, 07:42 AM	#182
vivaldirules When's Doughnut Day? Posts: 10,059 Karma: 13675475 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Houston, TX, US Device: Sony PRS-505, iPad	In the past two weeks Sony have added about 1100 new titles (a 2.1% increase) and now have about 53,742 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 91 new ebooks per day to their store since Sept., 2007. The greatest percentage increases in the past two weeks are in the categories of Travel (up 7.9%) and Technology (up 7.1%). In the same period Amazon have added 5800 new titles (a 3.1% increase) and now have about 190,481 ebooks for sale for the Kindle with an average of 299 new ebooks per day added to their offerings since November. Below is a plot of the total number of ebooks available from these two vendors since I began tracking them in September of last year. Attached Thumbnails

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10-09-2008, 09:17 AM	#181
vivaldirules When's Doughnut Day? Posts: 10,059 Karma: 13675475 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Houston, TX, US Device: Sony PRS-505, iPad	Agreed, JJ. I already own more paper and ebooks than I will ever read. But the book I really want to read at any given moment isn't necessarily included in that library. When there's a book I want to read, I want it and it doesn't matter if there are other books already in my queue. That's like saying there are other movies showing, so why do you insist on seeing the one you really want to see right now. Now replace movies with cars, restaurants, spouses, jobs, etc. And if the book is available but not in ebook form, I'm much less likely to buy it (else why did I buy my Reader?). I'm sure most people here have similar opinions to varying degrees. Also, if potential buyers of ebook readers realize that most of the books they really want to read are not available, why would they want to pay hundreds of dollars for one except to play with it? I'd like this technology to become ubiquitous and one of the requirements, it seems to me, is that most of the books that people want to read are available for it. We're not even close to that, yet.

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