11:18 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book Readers | Apple Devices

Starting next quarter, Stanza, the well-known e-book reading software for the iPhone, is going to support DRM-protected ePub and PDF documents.

From the press release:

Lexcycle, the company behind the award-winning Stanza electronic book reader for the iPhone and iPod Touch, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Adobe(R) to license PDF and EPUB rendering technologies as well as support for Adobe's eBook content protection technology. The integrated technology will allow Stanza users to enjoy eBooks sold or loaned by any retailer or library, who distribute eBooks protected with Adobe Content Server 4. ...

Starting next quarter, Stanza will be able to read EPUB and PDF files secured with Adobe's content protection technology from Adobe Content Server 4. The EPUB format has gained significant traction among major trade book publishers and industry groups such as the Association of American Publishers (AAP). With the upgrade, Stanza users will be able to purchase or borrow Adobe eBooks from the hundreds of retailers, academic and public libraries who distribute Adobe eBooks worldwide.

Thanks to Nick for the news!

12:28 AM by flumbo in E-Book Readers | Apple Devices

eReader V2.0 for iPhone was released last night. Adds autoscroll, margin control, line spacing control and color theme support.

Nice upgrade.

jkOnTheRun has the details.

09:51 PM by Nate the great in E-Book Readers | Amazon Kindle

My opinion on the K2 can be summed up simply. If you are getting it as your first Kindle, you will probably be happy (except for the joystick). If you already have a Kindle, then I see no reason why you should upgrade. The K2 is only an incremental improvement on the original.

The K2 does have several nice features. I really like the TTS. I've used MSReader for a number of years; the voice it uses is at best grating. The K2 has a significant improved voice with both genders and 3 speeds. Even though it is nice, the people who could benefit most probably cannot use it. It's possible for a blind person to activate the TTS by memorized keystrokes. However, I do not find it feasible that a visually impaired person could navigate the menu and select a specific book. This reduces the TTS to a fringe benefit, instead of a main feature.

I also like that they fixed the keyboard. The original keyboard was apparently designed with a Blackberry user in mind; it was really a thumb board. The page turn and other buttons have also been changed; they depress on the inside edge. This will significantly reduce the annoying accidental page turns.

The screen refresh and battery life are both somewhat improved over the original. I was quoted two weeks battery life, and 20% faster page turns. True, they did effectively double the battery life, but will you benefit from it? I would not gain anything. I have a pattern of charging my Kindle every Sunday night. I will still charge every Sunday, just to be safe.

The K2 does have some shortcomings. In spite of what Amazon has said, I still think it was a mistake to drop the SD card. I liked being able to remove the card and insert it into the card reader in my laptop. I don't always have the correct cable with me, so the SD card was a guarantee that I could still add content at any times. And no, I don't want to send it over Whispernet; I don't always have a connection.

That brings me to the USB cable, which I regard as a blunder. Using the same connection for power and data isn't the problem. The problem is that Amazon dropped the USB mini-B plug in favor of what I'm told is a micro-USB plug (thanks tompe). I'm told this will be the new connection for cell phones. Even so, I regard this plug as funky bizarre non standard plug because none of my other devices use one. If I got a K2, I would have to carry around this cable to be used on exactly one device, and a second cable for my other devices.

I also have serious doubts about the joystick. I did not find it easy to use. But I really only used it for about an hour. I look forward to hearing the opinion of the first K2 buyers.

One final note: The battery is not replaceable. This hasn't bothered me on most devices, and I suspect that you would never need to replace the one on the K2. But I do agree with the those who at least want the _option_ of replacing the battery. I do think that having the option available is important. This is a point you should consider before buying the device.

P.S. I very specifically avoided commenting on the changes in the design of the case between the original Kindle and the K2. There is a quagmire of fugly original versus Applish K2 arguing that I refuse to be dragged into.

P.P.S. I left out a number of things like folders, as well as other ways that the two devices are identical. If both devices possess or lack a feature, then I saw no need to mention it.

06:14 PM by TadW in E-Book General | News

What sounds like some sort of paradox is a challenging editorial by Bobbie Johnson on the Guardian's Tech blog. Bobbie believes that the Kindle will never be some kind of iPod of books, because:

To put it less glibly, the publishing industry isn't being forced to confront a radical shift in consumer behaviour caused by technology, because that scenario just is not happening. Customers aren't forcing the issue by choosing to abandon books and read pirated text instead. And this means the problem isn't there to be confronted.

You may counter that it took many MP3 players to come out before the iPod finally changed the market. Does that analogy work for e-book readers? Bobbie thinks not.

But unlike the music business - who saw those lost customers head straight to Napster, Kazaa or Gnutella - the average book reader isn't turning to legally dubious sources for their novels, or meeting up with book dealers on street corners to pick up copies of the latest bestseller. If they want to share files, they can get somebody to lend them a copy, or go to a place for sharing this information that's wholly supported by the industry (you might know them as libraries).

Personally I believe the biggest problem with his argument is that, if analysts and CEO Jeff Bezos are to be believed, Kindle readers already sell very well -- and that despite the fact that it may be more difficult or impossible to fill an e-book reader with pirated content.

And since we're already talking about the Guardian, check out this earlier article in which they gave extra mentioning to the Kindle 2 image leak.

02:52 PM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Announcements

For no other reason than we're just in a particularly generous mood (well, and to have our Kindle forums kick off in style), we're giving away Amazon's latest e-book reader, the Kindle 2. If you are ready to take this lovely device into your own hands, here's what you need to do.

Winning is simple...

First leave a short comment below stating that you want to enter this contest. Then head on over to our Kindle forums and start participating. Join in or initiate interesting Kindle discussions. Share your own Kindle experiences (if you have any). Helping others is always smiled upon, and a definite trump card. Found a great Kindle accessory? Share it with us. So, basically, anything related to the Kindle you can think of and that could be helpful to others is welcomed!

Some more details:

• To enter, leave a short comment below stating that you want to enter this contest
• You may enter only once
• Participate in the MobileRead Kindle forums
• The contest begins today and ends on March 9th 2009, at 11:59 PM EDT
• One winner will be selected in a random drawing amongst the eligible entries
• One winner will receive one (1) Amazon Kindle 2 (currently valued at $359), shipped directly from Amazon
• Only US residents for this giveaway (sorry folks, but I promise there will be more contests)

Good luck, and let the party begin!

PS: Even if you don't want to or cannot participate, we appreciate if you could share this giveaway with your blogging buddies and pals on Twitter, Plurk, Facebook, etc.

11:28 AM by Patricia in Miscellaneous | Lounge

"The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act is intended to protect children by mandating the testing of toys and other children’s products for lead. Good idea, right? But the law is vaguely-worded, and as written requires the testing of books for lead as well. This expensive and destructive testing could have serious implications for bookstores and libraries. Alternatives to testing include banning children under 12 from libraries to keep them safe."

http://www.sarahgoslee.com/2009/01/2...-the-children/

According to Forbes:

TSince the law does not exempt books, children's' sections at libraries and bookstores will, at minimum, face price hikes on newly acquired titles and, at worse, may have to rethink older holdings.

After all, no one has the slightest idea how many future violations lie hidden in the stacks and few want to play a guessing game about how seriously officialdom will view illegality. "Either they take all the children's books off the shelves," Associate Executive Director Emily Sheketoff of the American Library Association told the Boston Phoenix, "or they ban children from the library."

Ebook, anyone?

10:14 AM by wallcraft in E-Book Software | Reading and Management

FBReaderJ is an e-book reader for the Android platform. It is a clone of the FBReader book reader written in Java.

The new 0.2.3 release fixes the previous problem with slow zip and epub decompression. Currently, the only ebook formats supported are (DRM-free) oeb, epub, and fb2.

06:07 AM by daffy4u in E-Book Readers | Amazon Kindle

Steve Jobs Bullied Record Execs Into iTunes Deal on Christmas Eve (Gizmodo)

The article recounts how Steve Jobs used the power of the iTunes Store to force the record companies to go DRM-free.

This is what I believe Jeff Bezos has in store for ebooks. He's already using Amazon's power to get books converted and to lower the price (on Amazon anyway). Once Amazon reaches it's own "tipping point" they'll be able to go DRM-free and open the door to other readers.