eBookGuru.org

I monitor a variety of RSS feeds and I am always on the lookout for news on eBooks and eReaders. This week there seems to be an embarrassment of riches in terms of the number of articles available.

Here is just a sampling of a few of them:

PCMag.com reviews the new Barnes & Noble eReader software for PC, Mac and iPhone and overall rates it 3½ out of 5. It also takes a shot at Amazon and the Kindle, stating that B&N allows you to read titles on devices you already own. It also compares Amazon’s Kindle library (300,000 titles) to B&N’s eBook library (700,000 titles). Overall the B&N appears to be an attractive eBook store alternative to Amazon, and the addition of an eReader from Plastic Logic that promises to start shipping in early 2010 will only make the comparison even easier.

Adding insult to injury to the beleaguered Kindle is a damning article in the New Yorker. The article has some harsh criticism for the device and Amazon’s proprietary format, although to be fair some of the criticism is specific to eInk devices, notably the lack of color and back-lighting. Overall the author does seem positive about eBooks but seems to prefer the Sony eReader for eInk and the Apple iPhone / iPod Touch where color, illustrations, and back-lighting are important.

Another interesting article appeared in IT Canada regarding the EPUB format, which was developed by the Toronto based International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF). It states that the EPUB format

is quickly becoming an e-book industry standard as support from publishers and tech giants such as Adobe Systems Inc., Sony Corp. and Google Inc. continues to grow.

In sharp contrast to Amazons proprietary DRM restricted AZW format, EPUB is an open, non-proprietary, XML based format, in which DRM is optional.

The industry has gone into two camps: Amazon and everyone else … You have Amazon and they’ve got their proprietary, closed standard, DRM, one-source-for-everything (approach) and you’ve got the rest of the world trying to agree on an open standard for which you can have multiple book stores.

There is also the news that Samsung has launched their eBook reader, although it is only available in South Korea for the moment. The device is smaller than a Kindle and will offer some neat features like hand-writing recognition.

Finally there is the possibility of Apple competing against Amazon with the rumored introduction of a Tablet PC. The combination of a Tablet PC and the iTunes store could

blow Amazon and other e-book makers out of the water…

The success of iTunes for music and iPhone applications indicates that there is market potential for eBooks by making eBooks just as easy to download. It goes further to speculate about à-la-carte ordering books, something that already possible through the Shortcovers program from Canada’s very own Indigo Books.

The one thing that none of these articles dispute is that there is a future for eBooks. What this future looks like, how we will be reading eBooks, and what format the eBooks will be available in, are all very good questions. Personally having seen what DRM has done to the music industry, not to mention how Amazon bungled it’s recent recall of illegally published Kindle books, I’m hoping for the success of an open format like EPUB and as many readers as possible.

A Kindle in Every Backpack. This is the title of a proposal by the Democratic Leadership Council that argues that the government should provide students with Kindles. The proposal argues that this could improve education quality and save money.

It’s an intriguing concept but according the proposal traditional textbooks cost $109 per student, rising to $115 per student in 2016. Currently the Kindle 2 costs significantly more than that for the hardware alone, not to mention the cost of the content. The Kindle DX, which is better suited for use as a textbook replacement, costs almost $200 more than the Kindle 2. Admittedly if a Kindle was provided to every student this would result in lower costs but it’s hard to see the economic benefits.

The proposal states that the costs of eTextbook materials would be about $200 initially and then drop to $80 by 2012. Looking at the proposal here and now however, the comparison is an outlay of $499 ($299 for the Kindle, $200 for the eTextbooks) vs. an existing cost of $109 for a difference of $390. It gets even worse if you propose using the Kindle DX, rising to a difference of $580. That’s anywhere from 3½ to over 5 times more costly per student. Or to put it another way for the same cost as equipping a student with a Kindle, you could equip another 3 – 5 students with traditional textbooks.

Don’t get me wrong, I think this is a great idea. I just think that it’s perhaps a little ahead of its time. eBooks are still a nascent market and we really don’t know where the market is going to end up.

Reports of cracked or frozen Kindle screens don’t inspire a lot of confidence in the proposal either. Even investing in the cover for the Kindle doesn’t seem to help, as a recent class action lawsuit against Amazon (see Update below) attests. Given the high cost of ownership, most Kindle owners are very protective of the devices yet they are still having problems. Somehow I can’t see a group of school students, for whom the device would be essentially free, being more careful.

Flexible screens like the Readius could be the answer to this problem but the recent bankruptcy of Polymer Vision, the company behind the Readius, means that it will probably be a long wait before this technology becomes mainstream.

Given that plans are already underway to make the Kindle DX available to University students, it would seem prudent to wait for the results of this pilot program. The pilot program will

…evaluate the impact of the device on the learning experience, determine if faculty delivered the information in new ways, and determine if students approach their reading and assignments differently.

As much as I would love to see kids with Kindles, I think there are too many unknowns. Advances in technology and lower production costs could change the landscape for eBook readers dramatically as more people start to use them. After all, look how long cell phones have been around and how much they’ve changed today as they morph into smartphones. Perhaps the eTextbook reader of the future will be a touch Netbook. To me this makes more sense for students, who would likely use the device for more than just reading. Given that Netbooks are comparable in terms of cost to a a Kindle DX, it’s hard to argue for a single function device, as good as it is.

Still, the very fact that this was proposed is a good indication of the strength of the eBook market. Regardless of how we end up reading eBooks in the future, it seems pretty clear that eBooks and eTextbooks are the future of reading.

UPDATE: Amazon has just announced that they will replace cracked Kindle 2 readers for free.

But it isn’t everything. Often usability trumps price. Most Linux based operating systems are free but witness the paucity of Linux desktops compared to Windows and Mac Systems. As of May 2009 Windows commands 88% of the market share for operating systems.

The same applies to eBook readers. The Cool-er eBook reader from Coolreader was the brainchild of Niel Jones who created the Cool-er when he tried to buy an out-of-stock Sony eReader. He immediately saw the market potential of eBooks and decided to capitalize on it.

While I applaud the effort to bring down the price of eBook readers, it only works if you are getting value for your money. While the $249 price of the Cool-er is less than the $299 price of the Kindle, the value isn’t quite as alluring as it was less than a week ago when the Kindle was $359. When you factor in the cost of books that you can use on the Cool-er and other intangibles such as user experience, the Cool-er isn’t really that much of a bargain. In fact Wired magazine states in a product review of the Cool-er that

The up front fee for the Kindle or Sony Reader is greater yes, but they more than make up for it in robust content, extra features, and superior hardware.

One thing is for certain – we are getting closer to the sub $200 price point that I referred to in an earlier post where sales of eReaders will start to really take off. In fact I expect that this will likely occur earlier than the mid 2010 to 2011 timeframe predicted by Forrester Research. In less than a year and half, the price of the Kindle has dropped by 25% or $100 from it’s original starting price of $399. While I would be pleasantly surprised to see an eBook reader reach this price point before the end of 2009, I really don’t see it happening. If it does, then I would certainly caution potential purchasers to heed that ancient Latin saying caveat emptor or buyer beware.

I recently came across an article on CNET about the shortcomings of the Kindle and how these short comings represent opportunities for competitors to exploit.

“Competitors will attack Amazon’s market position Read the rest of this entry »

With the resurgence of the popularity of eBooks in the past few years, there
has also been a resurgence of devices specifically made to read digital books.EBoo
ks can obviously be read on your PC, and if you own a Palm device, or an advance
cell phone (Blackberry, iPhone, etc) it is also quite simple to keep your eBooks
with you. The problem with reading on your PC is that it keeps you in one place
(the exception being a laptop). With the smaller handheld devices the small
screen size can be a problem for some people.

An eReading device fills that gap between the two extremes with a book-sized
gadget specifically made for reading. Most of these devices have paper like
displays, high contrast screens so that they can be read under any lighting
conditions, and most can display many different document formats. If it is within
your budget to spend $349 +, then it will be well worth your investment when
you have one device that allows you to take your whole collection of 10,000
ebooks with you where ever you do.

#1 BEBOOK Reader

Our top pick eReading device is the BEBOOK. The BEBOOK weighs in at 7.3oz (220g)
and is about the size of a thin paperback novel. With this particular reader
you can display many types of documents, and it even allows you to listen to
audio books in MP3 format (or music while you read). The device comes with software
pre installed for the most popular types of eBooks. It has Mobipocket, Palmdoc,
a PDF, and more. It has a high contrast screen that can be read even in the
sunlight, and it has the most paper-like look when you read.

The BEBOOK tops our list because of its price and its features. It beats out
the kindle simply because it can display more document types (without the need
for conversion) and it can play music where the Kindle can’t. When compared
to the iLiad, the price it what sets it apart. The BEBOOK will set you back
about $349, where the other devices we list cost more.

Document Types: pdf, mobi, prc, epub, lit, txt, fb2, doc, html, rtf, djvu,
wol, ppt, mbp, chm, bmp, jpg, png, gif, tif, rar, zip, mp3

Dimensions: 220g – 184mm x 120mm

Display: 600 x 800 6″ E-Ink Screen

Click learn more about BEBOOK – Our Top Choice for eReading Devices

#2 Amazon’s Kindle eBook Reader

The next eReading device on our list is Amazon’s Kindle. Now I know some of
our readers will likely shout out saying “hey, Kindle is the best eBook
reader out there”. I would agree with that assessment if it wasn’t for
three factors. First – the screen doesn’t have the contrast that the BEBOOK
does, and it can be harder to read under direct sunlight. I could get over that
though, if it wasn’t for the next two problems.

Kindle only supports Kindle books. With 220,000 books in the Kindle store,
many of which are the latest bestseller, you would think that this is enough.
For many it isn’t though, and to read that PDF book, the MobiPocket book, or
any other document type you have to covert it to Kindle format first. BEBOOK
I have millions of books immediately available, and I don’t have to convert
them. For the tech savvy conversion may not be a problem, but for the average
person it’s simply a pain.

I will say that the Kindle has come along way since it’s first versions. It
can support other formats (through conversion) where it couldn’t at first, and
it isn’t as bulky as the first releases were. It also has wireless downloads
where the BEBOOK doesn’t. With that, and with a company like Amazon backing
the device, it does beat out all of the other eReaders that didn’t even make
our list, and it is worth the money that you spend on it.

Click to Learn More about Kindle: Amazon’s Wireless Reading Device

#3 The iLiad Book Edition

The last eReading device I want to discuss is made by iRex Technologies, and
it is
iLiad Book Edition. Now feature for feature no other eReading device can
compare to the iRex lineup. They have cutting edge technology, more realistic
page turning, better screens, more memory, and in reality they are the most
advance eReaders on the market today. The least expensive iLiad would have taken
first place except for one factor – price!

Yes the iLiad is an excellent piece of technology. No other eReading device
can even come close as far as features are concerned. But with the cheapest
iLiad costing $599USD it’s simply too expensive for an eReader. You could buy
a small form factor laptop for less money, and for a little bit more you could
buy a handheld PC.

Personally I wouldn’t spend this much on an eReader when I could get a device
that does so much more for the same price. To it’s credit though, the iLiad
does what it was meant to do, and it does it well.