03:05 PM by igorsk in E-Book General | News

For a change, the Ukrainian company LBook is not doing E-Ink. The-ebook.org reports:

The new device is not an ebook reader as one would expect, but a tablet PC. 12.7mm (1/2") thin device will run Windows 7. It will have a touch screen and use multi-touch technology.

Technical details:
CPU: Intel Atom Z530 1.6G 512KB L2 533MHz
RAM: DDR2 2GB
HDD: 120GB
Screen: TFT LCD, 8.9" wide, LED, 16:10, 1024x600
Wireless: Bluetooth, WiFi, (3G option available)
Expected battery life: 4 hours.
Weight: 670g

Expected retail price: $350-375
Street date: March 2010

06:07 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

If you can't count anymore on getting special attention by waving around a mainstream e-book reader, how about you try this little beauty straight from China. Dubbed GS601 E-ink, it looks different from any other reading device I've seen so far. Aside from that, the specs look rather mundane:

• Display: E Ink, 6-inch 800x600
• Size (in mm): 160x116x9
• Weight: 1kg (if true, it'd make it the heaviest e-book reader ever)
• Internal Memory: Flash?
• External memory: 1GB-16GB
• Connectivity: USB 2.0
• Battery: Lithium-Polymer 3.7V 1000mA
• Lifetime: "up to 20hrs" reading time or 16hrs audio playback
• Formats supported: TXT, DOC, PDB, PDF, JPG, BMP, MP3, WMA, APE, FLAC, AAC, WAV, OGG

When I tried to figure out the price through the order page, it would say zero yuan, so it doesn't seem to be available yet. Or, it's just a very good price.

Link to the product page: GS601 E-ink

Thanks to Lee for the tip!

11:14 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Where do users commonly get their pirated e-books from? NYTimes columnist Randall Stross asked himself the question and so he hired an antipiracy organization from California to do a search on how many e-book copies of Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol" were available free on the Web. They came up with 166 copies on 11 different sites; 102 of the copies were located at Rapidshare.

In case you don't know, Rapidshare is a hugly popular one-click hoster with headquarters in Switzerland, claiming to have storage capacity of several petabytes.

The Association of American Publishers agrees with the findings that Rapidshare is the big daddy for illegally sharing e-book content.

"As far as we can tell, RapidShare is the largest host site of pirated material," Mr. McCoyd [executive director at AAP] said. "Some publishers are saying half of all infringements are linked to it."

And Rapidshare's response? A spokeswoman said that her company wasn't responsible for content uploaded by its users, and that it's the publishers' responsibility to send take-down requests, requiring a link to each individual download address ("it's left to the publishers to find all instances of a given book title on RapidShare’s servers").

Rapidshare's advice to the publishers: to "give away most of their content for free" (as the popular rock group Nine Inch Nails did).

Read the full article: Will Books Be Napsterized? (registration required)

Thanks to Tim for the hint!

06:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Week in Review

Gosh we've talked a lot this week. Here's your weekly round up of MobileRead's events.

E-Book General - News and Commentary

• RUMOR: Kindle coming to the UK next week
• Windows "everywhere" may boost e-books
• Simon & Schuster introduces the "Vook" : read it and watch it
• Top Ten September library ebook downloads
• Refurbished Sony PRS-505 for 179,99 EUR (Germany)
• Why the Digital Revolution is Missing the Big Picture

E-Book General - Reading Recommendations

• October 2009 Mobile Read Book Club Vote

10:53 AM by Nate the great in E-Book General | News

I found an interesting editorial over at The Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jessie..._b_306881.html

Here is a part that caught my eye:

Now, I can sit in front of my computer for hours and read blogs, websites and multi-thousand word news articles. But when it comes to reading books, I just can't. I'm not sure if there's something wrong with me, or it's just that books themselves have an appeal that goes beyond the skeleton of words and paper. I don't mind lugging five paperbacks with me on a two-day trip, and there's something oddly enjoyable about scouring your shelf for the right five books, because heaven forbid you run out of reading material during those 48 hours. My shelves are lined with books -- read and unread -- and I have hundreds more in creased storage boxes. I pine for the day when I have enough shelves to house every one of them. I love physical books, love the weight, love the texture, love the feel. Yes, I am that guy in the bookstore picking up every new hardcover, who finds that books with a rough front make him feel fancy.

He just doesn't get it. When I go on a trip I don't have to pick only 5 books to take with me; I bring my entire collection. The right 5 books? Hah. Try the right five hundred books.

05:41 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

This Sunday, October 4th, Thalia is going to sell refurbished units of the Sony PRS-505 that were previously used by Thalia employees. Each unit has been fully tested, has undergone thorough quality checks, and comes with original packaging.

Apparently there is only limited availability, so if you are interested, make sure to bookmark the following page to visit next Sunday:

http://www.thalia.de/shop/sony/show/?ProvID=10903884

Thanks to MobileReader beam for the tip!

05:33 PM by Nate the great in E-Book General | News

Overdrive tracks ebook and audiobook downloads for the libraries it supports, and it just released Top Ten lists for September. (There are actually 8 lists.)

Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series has the top 4 slots on the juvenile fiction list. I knew she was popular but I hadn't realized she was that popular. James Patterson has 3 slots, one on adult fiction and two on juvenile fiction. And The Lost Symbol was the most downloaded book during September (of course).

Adult Fiction

• The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown
• Alex Cross's Trial, by James Patterson, Richard DiLallo
• Devil in Winter, by Lisa Kleypas
• Because You're Mine, by Lisa Kleypas
• Vision In White, by Nora Roberts
• Black Hills, by Nora Roberts
• Again the Magic, by Lisa Kleypas
• The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho
• Dead and Gone, by Charlaine Harris
• Brighter Than the Sun, by Julia Quinn

Juvenile Fiction

• Eclipse, by Stephenie Meyer
• New Moon, by Stephenie Meyer
• Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer
• Breaking Dawn, by Stephenie Meyer
• The Angel Experiment, by James Patterson
• Coraline, by Neil Gaiman, Dave McKean
• Prom Nights from Hell, by Meg Cabot, Stephenie Meyer, Kim Harrison, Lauren Myracle, Michele Jaffe
• 3 Willows, by Ann Brashares
• School's Out--Forever, by James Patterson
• Nightfall, by L. J. Smith

There are also lists for Juvenile and Adult Nonfiction ebooks, as well as another 4 lists for audio books. Dan Brown and Stephenie Meyer also top the audio book fiction lists.

10:21 AM by zelda_pinwheel in E-Book General | News

The latest foray into multimedia e-Books comes from Simon & Schuster, and they're calling it the "Vook". According to an email I got today,

An entirely new concept, a vook blends text and video into a single, complete story.

With a vook you can:

Read your book
Watch videos that highlight key moments in the story
View visual how-to's
Connect with authors and other readers

You can purchase a vook to view on any computer or iPhone and iPod Touch. No special software is required. Enjoy it anytime, anywhere.

Titles available include :
Promises by Jude Deveraux
The 90-Second Fitness Solution by Pete Cerqua with Alisa Bowman
Embassy by Richard Doetsch
Return to Beauty: Old World Recipes for Great Radiant Skin by Narine Nikogosian

Get more information on their site here.

I've not tested out any Vooks myself, but for educational works, this is a direction I think we'll see more of which could bring a whole new dimension to textbooks. How-to manuals as well could benefit, as well as books like musician biographies or books about the cinema. So what say the early adopters ? Pointless gimmick, or promising innovation ? Are there any Vooks you'd be interested in (available or not) ?