11:05 PM by Nate the great in E-Book General | News

The RAND Corporation announced yesterday that it has reduced the suggested retail price of all ebook editions to $9.95. According to Jane Ryan, "our costs are lower for e-books and we want to pass these savings on to the public".

They have about 900 titles available for the Kindle, and have just signed with Sony and Overdrive.

press release via Publisher's Weekly

-------------------
We've heard other publishers say that an ebook costs the same to produce as a paper book. Apparently that's not true. RAND can see the reduced cost of ebooks and other publishers can't. What is RAND doing right that everyone else is doing wrong?

Ongoing discussion here:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48185

03:03 PM by Hadrien in E-Book General | News

Aldiko was released yesterday on the Android Market:

What is Aldiko?

Aldiko is an ebook reading application that runs on any Android phone and which enables you to easily download and read thousands of books right on your smartphone.

Official announcement:

We are excited to announce today the release of Aldiko, our ebook reading application for Android smartphones. Aldiko enables you to very conveniently download from a vast collection of books and read them right on your phone.

Aldiko supports the EPUB industry standard format for reflowable electronic books and lets you fully customize your reading experience (display brightness, font and background color, font size and type, margin, etc.).

We have partnered with Feedbooks to provide seamless access to their huge selection of free public domain books. Aldiko also implements the emerging OPDS standard for content distribution, which will enable us to add even more content in the future.

List of Features
Demo on Youtube

04:50 AM by nrapallo in E-Book Formats | Workshop

GuteBook is a preprocessor for Project Gutenberg ("PG") and PG Australia HTML files (or alternatively the best .txt file available) so as to quickly and easily prepare one or many ebook versions for current ebook readers.

This project was created by Nick Rapallo (nrapallo) and was adapted from the gutlrf.pl code written by FangornUK, 10th Nov 2006 (and as recently modified May 2009).

GuteBook (Windows GUI & Perl script) directly retrieves and converts PG or PG Australia HTML files specified by it's EText-No. or URL. PG Australia ebooks require the URL link to the HTML to also be specified in place of the Input File since there is no direct relationship between the PG Australia EText-No. and its URL. Once the HTML is available, the program fixes/filters many HTML items so as to properly create simultaneously many current ebook formats, including, .epub/.lrf/.mobi/.lit/.imp/.rb versions.

Warning: the GuteBook-gui.exe and GuteBook.exe both access the internet and retrieve PG advanced search/External programs' webpages and individual .zip/.htm/txt files respectively.

To accomplish these ebook creations, GuteBook relies heavily on external programs to facilitate the conversions. It uses calibre's Any2epub/lrf/mobi/lit as well as ETI's eBook Publisher.

Afterwards, picky/advanced users can re-edit/tweak the resulting modified .htm and easily re-create the various ebook formats required via dos batch files.

Now anyone can become a seasoned ebook creator with this easy to use program. So if your results ARE that good, consider contributing them to our EBook Upload forum (in the various ebook formats). Even mobileread.com's "elite" ebook creators may find it useful...

PREREQUISITES:

• Requires calibre installed (for .epub/.lrf/.mobi/.lit) (see http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net/download)
• Requires eBook Publisher installed (for .imp/.rb) (see http://www.ebooksystem.net/support_p...r_download.htm)
• Optionally converts text files if Gutenmark is installed and in path (see http://www.sandroid.org/GutenMark/download.html)
• Optionally a lot of patience

INSTALLATION:

• For the Windows GUI, download the GuteBook-0.5-Installer.zip file, unzip it and execute the enclosed .exe. This will install the Windows GUI program and all other support files.
  
• Added a "stripped-down" version with no Windows GUI and with no Windows Installer for those that don't want/like Windows and/or bloat. Just download and unzip the GuteBook-noGUI-noInstaller.zip file and run the programs/batch files in the 'bin' directory.
  
• Source code (gutebook.pl) and files are now also available at the MobileRead.com Dev Hub.

As always, Enjoy!

EDIT 27-Mar-2011: When using newer versions of calibre, the GuteBook conversion program's rebuild DOS batch file requires you to edit it & prefix any line with "ebook-convert.exe" with "start /w ". Otherwise, the first time "ebook-convert.exe" is invoked is the LAST time it's run...

I've successfully used this revised code within that DOS batch file, namely:

rem Convert .htm to Sony .epub
start /w ebook-convert "28700-h\28700-h.htm" "Paul Creswick - Robin Hood.epub" --title "Robin Hood" --authors "Paul Creswick" --publisher="Project Gutenberg" --chapter "//*[name()='h2']" --output-profile=sony

rem Convert .htm to Sony .lrf
start /w ebook-convert "28700-h\28700-h.htm" "Paul Creswick - Robin Hood.lrf" --title "Robin Hood" --authors "Paul Creswick" --publisher="Project Gutenberg"

EDIT: added some samples of EText-No. 28700 (Robin Hood by Paul Creswick) produced in under a minute with its (non-verbose) output results:

Command Line
============

"C:\Program Files\GuteBook\bin\gutebook" 28700 --1200 --1150 --lrf --epub --keepzip --keephtm
--pbfirsth1 --imgsrc

GuteBook (version 0.5) Copyright (C) 2009 Nick Rapallo (nrapallo)
Getting "28700" HTML file from Project Gutenberg Website...
Fetching 571.5KB...
Extracting files...

Book Title : Robin Hood
Author : Paul Creswick
Illustrator: NC Wyeth
Released : May 6 2009 EBook 28700
Language : English

Cleaning "28700" HTML...
Wrote cleaned HTML "C:\Program Files\GuteBook\28700\28700-h\28700-h.htm"

REVISIONS:
v0.5 - June 22, 2009
- For GUI users: if (blank) file called 'calibreold' (no .ext) exists in install directory,
then use v0.5 (stable) calibre instead of new v0.6 (beta/release) calibre;
non-GUI users can use the new switch '--calibreold' in lieu of a file called 'calibreold'!
- better allowed installation to different location than default "C:\Program Files".
- improved direct download of PG Australia ebooks. Allowed local cached copy to
be retained using --keepzip or --keephtm; avoids subsequent PGA website downloads.
- implemented creation of eReader .pdb when using calibre v0.6 (beta)
- fixed handling of single dash ("-") options
- improved print statements feedback
- better handling of PGA metadata within .htm
- better handling of important/necessary text after "THE END" but before PGA blurb.
- allowed existing .txt CHARSET to be used for generated .htm meta content-type
- better handling of --pbnofirst when <h1> already used as a pb tag
- misc. PGA .htm fixes for color and removed fixed fontsize for <p> and <table>

v0.4 - June 10, 2009
- added ability to directly download PG Australia ebooks using their EText-No. AND URL link
to the .html placed as the Input file.
For example, use: --PGnum 1547A & http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks07/0700941h.html
Note that downloading .zip is fine, but .txt is not yet fully functional
- improved Custom Perl Search and Replace functionalilty. Still need to use "\ for any "
however due to dos limitation can't use ^ yet!
- minor code/html fixes.

v0.3 - June 4, 2009
- add "start" anchor when the PG preamble is retained
- remove any stray <br>'s from metadata.
- fix GUI options loading; now properly remembers the 'search' and 'replace' strings.
The user must ensure that any " or / are escaped by \ within those strings.
- simple PG title page added when --cover (GUI: 'Extract cover') specified (would be better to
take a snapshot of this as a "cover" image)
- option '--imgsrc' (GUI: 'Keep <img> src only') now removes "width" elements from
within preceding <div class=figcenter> which caused images not to be centered in .epub's

v0.2 - June 3, 2009
- removed unwanted blank page at start in .lrf caused by use of tags '<pre></pre>'
- minor GUI / files cleanup

v0.1 - June 2, 2009
- initial public release

Previous downloads: v0.3 .pl (103); GUI (40); noGUI (24)

07:36 PM by Nate the great in E-Book General | News

Astak announced today that it will be the new North American distributor of the Hanlin V5 (aka Bebook Mini). The V5 has been rebranded as the Pocket Pro, and has a retail of $199. It should be available in about 2 months.

The Pocket Pro will come with support for Adobe DRMed Epub. Fictionwise eReader is also offered as an option.

07:05 PM by weatherman in E-Book General | News

From an article in the NY Times today;

"At a panel of authors speaking mainly to independent booksellers, Sherman Alexie, the National Book Award-winning author of “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” said he refused to allow his novels to be made available in digital form. He called the expensive reading devices “elitist” and declared that when he saw a woman sitting on the plane with a Kindle on his flight to New York, “I wanted to hit her.”"

I couldn't believe this when I read it. I was offended on several different levels, but most of all I was just really aghast at the level of ignorance and stupidity on the part of this author, especially as an author of young adult fiction. Worse yet, when given a chance to correct himself on his own blog, the only thing he apologizes for is the idea of hitting a woman;

"I should have edited myself. I should have said, "I saw a man on the airplane reading a Kindle and I wanted to hit him." In this way, my joke becomes about my true object of fear, distrust, and anger---the Kindle---and not about the gender of the person reading the Kindle."

I personally will be dropping a line to his current publisher, and I hope other Kindlers and those who read books on other electronic devices will too;

Hanging Loose Press
231 Wycoff St.
Brooklyn NY 11217
212-206-8465
info@hangingloosepress.com

02:47 PM by katysax in E-Book General | News

For those of us who have been guessing when the Kindle DX would be available. Amazon has now announced that the first units will ship on June 10th.

02:02 PM by Hadrien in E-Book General | News

From Engadget:

You may not know who Taiwan-based Prime View International is but the makers of the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader sure do. See, PVI is the company that builds the electronic paper displays for the world's most popular ebook readers. Now, it's also the expectant owner of US-based E Ink and all the associated patents that come with. The deal, if approved by government regulators, is expected to close by October.

11:53 AM by zelda_pinwheel in E-Book General | News

According to this article from the New York Times, one of the biggest events at the recent BookExpo was the announcement that Google intends to implement a system to enable publishers to sell digital versions of their newest books direct to consumers through Google.

Google appears to be throwing down the gauntlet in the e-book market.

In discussions with publishers at the annual BookExpo convention in New York over the weekend, Google signaled its intent to introduce a program by that would enable publishers to sell digital versions of their newest books direct to consumers through Google. The move would pit Google against Amazon.com, which is seeking to control the e-book market with the versions it sells for its Kindle reading device.

Google’s move is likely to be welcomed by publishers who have expressed concerns about Amazon’s aggressive pricing strategy for e-books. Amazon offers Kindle editions of most new best sellers for $9.99, far less than the typical $26 at which publishers sell new hardcovers. In early discussions, Google has said it will allow publishers to set consumer prices.

We've got plenty of questions about this new development, like whether there will be regional restrictions on sales, whether the books will be locked into a drm-scheme (and if yes, which one?), which formats will be available, and whether the books will be necessarily tied to a browser or whether standard formats like ePUB will also be available which can be read on a dedicated device:

Mr. Turvey said that with books, Google planned to sell readers online access to digital versions of various titles. When offline, Mr. Turvey said, readers would still be able to access their electronic books in cached versions on their browsers.

(...)

Mr. Turvey said Google’s program would allow consumers to read books on any device with Internet access, including mobile phones, rather than being limited to dedicated reading devices like the Amazon Kindle. “We don’t believe that having a silo or a proprietary system is the way that e-books will go,” he said.

Since Google has already adopted the ePUB format for its partnership with Sony, we're hoping they'll follow through in this program as well.

It will also be interesting to see the prices proposed. Google intends to allow publishers to set their own prices; but "Mr. Turvey said that Google would probably allow publishers to charge consumers the same price for digital editions as they do for new hardcover versions. He said Google would reserve the right to adjust prices that it deemed “exorbitant.”" If Google really is hoping to take on Amazon with this move, as seems plausible, publishers will have to make some big adjustments in their pricing policies. It will be very interesting to see what Google considers "exorbitant" prices, and how they will adjust them.

Given that one of the biggest hurdles facing widespread adoption of e-books is still the overall dearth of content (although Amazon has been making progress in that area), this could be the best news of the year, if it's implemented wisely.

And making content available and easy to find should also help to limit illicit file-sharing of books, which would conveniently knock out another argument against going digital often presented by publishers and authors alike.

We'll be keeping a close eye on this, and if all goes as planned, we should know more soon: Google plans to go live with this project by the end of 2009.

UPDATE : in a related article on Computerworld:

In a move that seems to target Amazon.com's Kindle business, Google said in a statement that it wants to build and support a "digital book ecosystem" to allow its partner publishers to make their books available for purchase from any web-enabled device, whether it is a PC, a smart phone, a netbook or a dedicated reading device, the company said.

That sounds very promising.

Thanks to eagle-eyed MR member anurag for spotting the news.

Related : Sony Partners With Google To Bring More Than 500,000 Books To The Reader

Please join the ongoing discussion here.