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Oct 24 / 10:51pm

Kindle to support book lending

In addition to expanding on Amazon's "Buy Once, Read Everywhere" philosophy, The Amazon Kindle team added:

Second, later this year, we will be introducing lending for Kindle, a new feature that lets you loan your Kindle books to other Kindle device or Kindle app users. Each book can be lent once for a loan period of 14-days and the lender cannot read the book during the loan period. Additionally, not all e-books will be lendable - this is solely up to the publisher or rights holder, who determines which titles are enabled for lending.
via amazon.com

Those terms are very similar to the Nook's.

Lending once for 14 days is certainly better than the current policy, but it still falls short of "paper" books (though I still prefer eBooks over paper most of the time).

Given the smaller number of Kindle books that do not support Text-to-Speech, I'm guessing those numbers will mirror the lend rights.

Filed under  //  Amazon   Kindle   ebooks  
 
Mar 31 / 6:25pm

WSJ: Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins to Set Own Prices on Amazon

The new pricing model mirrors deals the two publishers struck with Apple for the iPad earlier this year. Under what is called the "agency model," some new best sellers will be priced at $9.99, but most will be priced at $12.99 to $14.99. Many older titles will be priced at less than $9.99.

"Our digital future is more assured today than it was two months ago," said Brian Murray, chief executive of HarperCollins Publishers. Mr. Murray said the deal with Amazon followed a month of negotiations. He added that he felt the agreement was "fair" for both sides.

via online.wsj.com

They had a much dimmer digital future now than before the Kindle came out. eBooks have been around for a long time (Peanutpress became Palm Reader which became eReader). I started reading eBooks on my first Handspring Visor in 2000. The publishing industry wasn't very concerned (or interested) in the market.

It's funny how a successful product (and lessons learned by the RIAA) can revise the party line and spark "me too!" deals.

Filed under  //  Amazon   ebooks  
 
Dec 3 / 10:31am

Jeffrey P. Bezos on the Kindle -- NYTimes

Barnes & Noble claims on its Web site that the Nook has several advantages over the Kindle — for one thing, a Nook book can be lent to friends. You can forward the text to another user.
The current thing being talked about is extremely limited. You can lend to one friend. One time. You can’t pick two friends, not even serially, so once you’ve loaned one book to one friend, that’s it.

What do you say to Kindle users who like to read in the bathtub?
I’ll tell you what I do. I take a one-gallon Ziploc bag, and I put my Kindle in my one-gallon Ziploc bag, and it works beautifully. It’s much better than a physical book, because obviously if you put your physical book in a Ziploc bag you can’t turn the pages. But with Kindle, you can just push the buttons.

What if you dropped your Kindle in the bathtub?
If it’s sealed in a one-gallon Ziploc bag? Why don’t you try that experiment and let me know.

via nytimes.com

Jeff's right on the Nook. I was excited about the ability to "share" books. Since it's only a one-time deal (and only for 14 days), it quickly loses its appeal.

I'm tempted to try the Kindle in the bath experiment. If it's sealed in a Ziploc bag and then gets wet, I wonder if Amazon will replace the device.

Filed under  //  Amazon  
 
Oct 17 / 4:17pm

Why the International Kindle Will Change the Book As We Know It - WSJ.com

On Monday, the Kindle 2 will become the first e-reader available globally. The only other events as important to the history of the book are the birth of print and the shift from the scroll to bound pages. The e-reader, now widely available, will likely change our thinking and our being as profoundly as the two previous pre-digital manifestations of text. The question is how. And the answer can be found in the history of earlier book forms.
via online.wsj.com

I'm all for the Kindle, and the wireless content delivery internationally is killer, but I don't know if it's enough to be a milestone in the book's history.

Filed under  //  Amazon   ebooks