11:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Did you know that libraries pay as much as five times the price you pay for the same e-book? Cory Doctorow recently had a chat with librarians at the annual national conference of the American Library Association, where they were lamenting the fact that libraries had to pay a hefty premium on e-books.

• Libraries pay $60-80 (sometimes more) for a single, newly published e-book
• Libraries have to buy e-books with a proprietary DRM; that in turn requires investing in a proprietary collection-management infrastructure (e.g. OverDrive)
• Despite the additional costs, an e-book can only be lent to one patron at a time. Also, it cannot be sold as used once demand for a title slows down. Another disadvantage: e-books cannot be shared with other patrons through interloans.

Cory mentions the crazy case of HarperCollins, who ruled that an e-book has to be destroyed after it has circulated 26 times.

This has been pitched as having some parallel to the fact that many library books eventually disintegrate and have to be discarded. But this is both wrong and perverse. Wrong because the 26-circulation cutoff bears no relationship to how many times a book can circulate before it falls to bits. It amazes me to think that HarperCollins wants to frame its products as so badly manufactured that they can’t withstand being read 27 or more times. But beyond the factual problems with a 26-circ cap, there is the fundamental perversity of celebrating and importing the limitations of physical media into the digital world. It’s like insisting that electric bulbs be limited to outputting no more than one lumen of light, since that’s all a comparably-sized candle would manage. The fact that books don’t last forever is not a feature to be preserved through the digital transition: it’s a bug, and the sooner we eliminate it, the better.

There is a movement among librarians of the American Library Association to call upon publishers to make their e-books available to libraries at fair prices and fair terms. You can find the campaign here.

Related: NPR - E-Books Strain Relations Between Libraries, Publishing Houses, Author says Libraries "have had their day."

09:18 AM by xg4bx in E-Book General | News

One of the leading lights of the science fiction world, editor and author Frederik Pohl, passed away this weekend after a career that defined the genre for decades.

His granddaughter Emily Pohl Weary confirmed the news.

Pohl was known for his mind-bending, often satirical novels (many co-authored with longtime collaborator C.M. Kornbluth), his editing acumen, his science fiction criticism, and his witty, fascinating blog, which he was updating right up until his death.

http://io9.com/rip-frederik-pohl-the...ict-1241405614

04:36 AM by fjtorres in E-Book General | News

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/micr...eal-8C11063106

Microsoft will buy "substantially all" of Nokia's devices and services business and license Nokia's patents and mapping services in a deal the companies valued at $5.44 billion euros, or about $7.2 billion, the companies announced late Monday.

More details to come.

Pretty much settles who the next MS CEO will be and kills the rumors of an XBOX spinoff.

From CNET:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57...ices-division/

From Microsoft:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/...9-02email.aspx

We announced some exciting news today: We have entered into an agreement to purchase Nokia’s Devices & Services business, which includes their smartphone and mobile phone businesses, their award-winning design team, manufacturing and assembly facilities around the world, and teams devoted to operations, sales, marketing and support.

[image: Maurits Knook / Flickr]

04:26 AM by doctorow in E-Book General | News

At this moment, the Paperwhite cannot be purchased from Amazon anymore - except used.

There are currently no New listings for Kindle Paperwhite, 6" High Resolution Display with Built-in Light, Wi-Fi - Includes Special Offers. However, you can choose a different condition.

There are currently no New listings for Kindle Paperwhite, 6" High Resolution Display with Built-in Light, Wi-Fi. However, you can choose a different condition.

When do you think Amazon is going to introduce the next Kindle (E Ink)?

08:22 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

The NYT has an interesting write up on how Kobo is losing its race against Amazon to dominate the Japanese e-reader market.

Amazon’s victory over Sony and Rakuten, which got into the e-reader business when it bought the Toronto-based Kobo in November 2011, began with aggressive pricing. Amazon sold the Kindle Paperwhite for 7,980 yen, or about $80. Not only was its price about $40 less than it was in the United States, it also matched that of Rakuten’s Kobo and Sony’s PRS-T2. [...]

But Amazon wasn’t winning just because of price. It also gave consumers another reason to prefer the Kindle. “The reason for the Kindle’s success in Japan is the same as it was in America,” said Munechika Nishida, author of “The Truth About the E-book Revolution” and a technology analyst. “The Amazon Web store is the easiest to use, the easiest to understand.”

The current market shares according to Tokyo-based MM Research Institute:

• Amazon: 38.3 percent
• Kobo/Rakuten: 33 percent
• Sony: 25.5 percent

Many of you have noticed that Kobo is currently revamping its online e-book store. Could this be the key for a successful fight against Amazon's market dominance?

[image: Haruhiko Okumura / Flickr]

06:37 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

John Scalzi has taken the best novel honors at this year's Hugo Awards for his work, Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas. The Hugos are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society, since 1953.

Winners of this year's Hugo Awards:

• BEST NOVEL: Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas, John Scalzi (Tor)
• BEST NOVELLA: The Emperor’s Soul, Brandon Sanderson (Tachyon Publications)
• BEST NOVELETTE: “The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi”, Pat Cadigan (Edge of Infinity, Solaris)
• BEST SHORT STORY: “Mono no Aware”, Ken Liu (The Future is Japanese, VIZ Media LLC)
• BEST RELATED WORK: Writing Excuses Season Seven, Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler and Jordan Sanderson
• BEST GRAPHIC STORY: Saga, Volume One, written by Brian K. Vaughn, illustrated by Fiona Staples (Image Comics)
• BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM: The Avengers, Screenplay & Directed by Joss Whedon (Marvel Studios, Disney, Paramount)
• BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM: Game of Thrones, “Blackwater”, Written by George R.R. Martin, Directed by Neil Marshall. Created by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss (HBO)
• BEST EDITOR, SHORT FORM: Stanley Schmidt
• BEST EDITOR, LONG FORM: Patrick Nielsen Hayden
• BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST: John Picacio
• BEST SEMIPROZINE: Clarkesworld, edited by Neil Clarke, Jason Heller, Sean Wallace and Kate Baker
• BEST FANZINE: SF Signal, edited by John DeNardo, JP Frantz, and Patrick Hester
• BEST FANCAST: SF Squeecast, Elizabeth Bear, Paul Cornell, Seanan McGuire, Lynne M. Thomas, Catherynne M. Valente (Presenters) and David McHone-Chase (Technical Producer)
• BEST FAN WRITER: Tansy Rayner Roberts
• BEST FAN ARTIST: Galen Dara

Link

Congrats to all the winners!

[via Pat's Fantasy Hotlist]

05:43 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Roughly one day before the official Sony PRS-T3 unveiling, the guys at Librista managed to get their hands on a retail package of this new e-reader. We wish we had anything new to report other than what we've already mentioned in previous leaks, but we don't.

At least now we have some very nice hands-on photos to look at.

Update: And now we also have a video. Kudos again to Librista!

06:15 AM by pdurrant in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

Just a reminder that if you want to buy Baen's October 2013 Bundle, six SF/Fantasy books for $18, you only have FOURTEEN days left to buy it. The bundle will come off sale sometime on the 15th September, and the full bundle can be downloaded by those who've bought it sometime from the 16th onwards.

The total cost of the individual books is about $52. So if you don't already have any of the books in the bundle, that's a saving of 65%!

The books in the October bundle are:

• 1636: The Devil's Opera by Eric Flint and David Carrico
• Treecat Wars by David Weber and Jane Lindskold
• Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs by Mike Resnick and Robert T. Garcia
• In Space No One Can Hear You Scream edited by Hank Davis
• Swords of Exodus by Larry Correia and Mike Kupari
• Phoenix Rising by Ryk Spoor