05:50 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Even while uncertainties remain, the market for flexible displays is ramping up, according to iSupply market analysts. The worldwide flexible display market is US$5 million in 2006, the analysts said, and it will increase significantly to US$338 million by 2013: a year-on-year grown rate of 83.5%. Competition is also expected to intensify in the next few years as more big players enter the market. But there are uncertainties as to how the market for flexible displays will evolve:

• When glass-based versions begin to gain market traction, flexible versions can seem like a distraction;
• Huge amount of investment required in manufacturing infrastructure;
• What will end users really do with flexible displays? A "killer app" is not evident (well, except the perfect e-book device we've been waiting for years to come).

Related: E-paper shipments set for growth

[via NE Asia Online]

05:07 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book Readers | Sony Reader

If you want to believe Sony CEO Howard Stringer, the Sony Portable Reader is going to be a huge success. Here is the relevant excerpt of an interview he gave to technology columnist Walt Mossberg during the WSJ D conference last week:

Mr. Mossberg: Let's talk about the Sony Reader, which is a new and quite different e-book device. ... This is not just a device. You have to pull off something sort of akin to iPod and iTunes with this, where you have a device people like, at a price they will pay, and very good software on the computer to handle it and then a good service with a lot of content where the DRM [digital rights management] isn't too intrusive.

Mr. Stringer: You're right, that's a lot of pieces to put [together], that sort of end-to-end model that Gates was saying no one wants, but everyone does, actually. I've put my name on this damn thing. I'm a reader. I know that's an odd phenomenon these days, but I carry books all around the world, so when I saw this I fell in love with this device. The fact that you can store 80 books on this and more on the memory stick, the fact that its battery life is seven-and-a-half thousand pages, which means about 25 books. ... The publishers love this ... Dan Brown [author of "The Da Vinci Code"] endorsed this at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Mr. Stringer: He was in love. ... I have to do a kind of Steve Jobs salesmanship job, which is a fairly intimidating thought. My colleagues in Japan don't believe I can make this work in the United States because they actually don't think Americans read. ... But I think the demand for this [is huge]. I get called every day about it.

Mr. Mossberg: There has to be a lot of content there.

Mr. Stringer: There's plenty of content. We've got thousands of books. I'm not worried about that. I'm really worried about -- can I create a business model where the demand is great enough to create the numbers? Part of Sony's problem is, in order to sell almost anything, you're talking about building a demand for millions of things, always millions, not thousands.

Of course Sir Stringer forgot to address the other part of Sony's problem - the company's insistence on 'standards' which no one else either wants to or is able to use.

Thanks to Liviu_5 for the tip!

04:28 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom is a book written by Prof. Yochai Benkler, in which the author describes how through the emergence of the Internet patterns of information and knowledge have changed and how this change can either limit or enlarge the ways people can create and express themselves. The book is available as a $25.20 hardcover or as a free download.

[via TeleRead]

04:14 PM by Alexander Turcic in More E-Book Readers | iRex

A little info tidbit may have leaked out as to why iRex is delaying the release of its much anticipated iLiad reader. Not with a bang but a whimper the company changed the product specification (PDF), effectively reducing the amount of available Flash memory by almost 45% (new: 128MB) and removing any signs of support for SD memory cards. On the positive side, iRex engineers seem to be working on supporting a wider range of e-book file formats.

Thanks to our keen readers sammykrupa and haasisoft for pointing out the differences.

01:01 PM by Bob Russell in E-Book Readers | Alternative Devices

Kevin Tofel has been providing some very interesting ongoing updates on his experiences with a Samsung Q1 UMPC device. Everything from unpacking to usage scenarios is there at JKOnTheRun for our vicarious pleasure.

Among his first experiments with usage scenarios is an article about a topic that is near and dear - what it's like to read on the Q1 with Microsoft Reader. Yes, I know, nobody seems to like that reader because of the abominable version of DRM. But the article is very interesting, as is the whole idea of reading on a UMPC.

Kevin says, "...my impression is that this might be the perfect screen size for reading an eBook as it closely resembles the size of a paperback book." He would like to see a higher resolution, and we would all like to see better battery life. But he makes note of how it's a lot more convenient to turn pages on a UMPC than on an active digitizer screen like those built into the typical tablet PCs, because you can just use your finger instead of the special stylus.

My own impression is that UMPCs will be excellent for e-book reading, but the battery life needs to improve. Look for it to become popular for reading once the next generation of lower power CPUs come out. Screen resolution will improve with time as costs come down. And one of these days, UMPCs might even come with future versions of e-ink.

10:10 AM by Bob Russell in Archive | Portable Audio/Video

Pocket Tunes Deluxe can do a lot more than you think it can. It is a really cool music player for PalmOS devices, and I want to open your eyes to some of the possibilities and give you the information that you need to get started. Plus, there is still active development still continuing, so the future is also looking very bright. Note: Some features require a broadband connection on a device such as the Treo.

I wasn't going to post right away about this information because I wanted to experience more of it for myself first, but I want to get this great information out rather than procrastinate. These descriptions assume you're using a Treo, but if you have wifi you should be able to do the same things. Similarly, you can probably do some of this with a Pocket PC, but you'll have to experiment to see what works.

COOL SCENARIOS FOR USING POCKET TUNES DELUXE

1) Listen to audiobooks borrowed online from your public library!

The instructions are available in the following two knowledge based articles.
How do I use Audiobooks from Net Library with Pocket Tunes?
How do I use Overdrive with Pocket Tunes?

In the US, there are many public libraries that now offer audiobooks from either the NetLibrary or Overdrive services. Most Pennsylvania libraries have the NetLibrary service, and residents of Pennsylvania can get a card from the main Carnegie Library. I believe non-residents can even join for a fee, but you'll have to check the library site for details.

Unlike most other music software (well, at least the versions I've tried), you can also easily bookmark your exact spot to come back to later, even if it's in the middle of a track. If you press the 'M' on the keypad, it will add a bookmark. So if you're listening to a book and you have to run, press the 'M' and Pocket Tunes adds a bookmark immediately, then press 'Z' to stop the track or the center button to pause and off you go.

2) Purchase and listen to audiobooks

If you want to keep your audiobooks, or you don't have access to a library with online audiobook loans, then you can always just purchase your audiobooks and listen to them on PT. Here are a couple of sites that sell them...

SoundsGood
AudioBookClub

Of course, if you are buying your content, then you will also want to check out the very popular Audible.com.

Note:Audible is an alternative solution, independent of Pocket Tunes.

3) Listen to streaming radio stations on the web

Believe it or not, there are oodles of free radio stations for you to listen to over the internet. Don't expect cd quality, but they are plenty good for general listening. You can probably find many of your local stations, and even better there are streams with just about any genre of music. Here are some of the sites that you can listen from:
Shoutcast
StreamCenter for PDAs
Live365

4) Listen to xm satellite radio via the web

You need a subscription to the xm radio satellite service, with an email and password account. But many people have xm radio, so it's probably there just waiting for you to listen to. The main xm radio web site probably has a login you can use from a Treo, but there is also this XM Mini mobile login.

Correction: As was pointed out in the article comments, this is played using Kinoma player not Pocket Tunes.

5) Listen to your home music collection from your Treo

You'll need a internet connection on both your home computer and your Treo, of course, but this is a cool way to stream from your home music collection.

The software you will want in addition to PT Deluxe is called GLOOnet. It not always be free, but seems to be in beta right now. Your playlists may not work remotely on the Treo 700p, but you can play folders and albums with no problems.

The download and really simple instructions are available here. You install the software on your PC (and Java if you don't already have it.) You'll have to give an email address to register for the service. Then you add folders of music to the server, start the server and connect the service. That's it for the PC side. On the Treo side, you login here, and then browse your music! So simple and easy. You can play individual songs or albums by choosing the right level to click on the little "play" arrow.

This setup is not supported by NormSoft, and there is an issue with playlists vi GLOOnet on the 700p, but don't let that stop you from taking advantage. Note that this is significantly more appropriate in most cases than Avvenu because it doesn't force you to download the music files. You just stream to the device, and can even set the bitrate for the quality you want.

6) Listen to podcasts, and automatically sync the content with iPodder or iTunes

Basically, once you have a specific folder that iPodder or iTunes sends to, set a Windows Media Player AutoPlaylist up to look at that folder and every time something is added or deleted, the playlist is updated by Windows Media Player. Then when you sync your 700p, Windows Media Player will update the Podcasts removing the deleted ones, adding the new ones and changing the Playlist accordingly. Because the Playlist is automatically sent to your device as well, you can play your podcasts by just playing the playlist!

If you want to stream the podcasts, you can use the very popular RSS feed reader, QuickNews, in conjunction with Pocket Tunes.

I'm very much looking forward to trying all this out myself. Certainly, it's not a comprehensive list of the things you can do with Pocket Tunes, but it's some of the neatest things that you might not know about. I'd also like to make a special point of profusely thanking Dave at NormSoft for all the time and information and clarifications that he provided me to make this article possible. Any errors or inaccuracies are entirely my own fault, and I'm sure will be covered in the thread discussion. Enjoy!

04:08 PM by Bob Russell in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

Dear Author has compiled a list of e-book publishers and vendors that includes many of the mainstream publishing houses that we complain so much about. They may frustrated us with formats, DRM and high prices, but at least they're in the game and trying.

Via TeleRead.

07:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Week in Review

Feast your eyes on some of the discussions from this week at MobileRead...

Elsewhere on the Net
eReader 10% discount through June 6
Fictionwise 25% discount on any e-book purchase
Where to get batteries for your old e-book reader

Formats and Conversion
Microsoft e-book DRM revisited

In the News
ANA offering e-books to First Class travellers
BookFob - cripple DRM on a chain
E-paper shipments set for growth
Free OLD 411 information
New Zealand mobile phone rates not high because of costs

iRex iLiad
iRex iLiad not before September 2006 for consumers

Sony Reader
Sony Reader demoed at WSJ's D conference