Ebooks

The Wrong War Over eBooks: Publishers Vs. Libraries

In the first of two parts about the new realities of publishing and public libraries, Forbes contributor David Vinjamuri discusses whether the right battle is being fought:

"The solution to the current pricing problem lies in understanding that the argument publishers and libraries are having is the wrong argument. It is based on the paradigm of the printed book and as such presents a series of intractable challenges for both publishers and libraries. By changing the model for pricing an eBook, both parties could find a clear and equitable resolution to the current impasse."

E-Reader Privacy Chart, 2012 Edition

Who's Tracking Your Reading Habits? An E-Book Buyer's Guide to Privacy, 2012 Edition
See the chart here

The holiday shopping season is upon us, and once again e-book readers promise to be a very popular gift. Last year's holiday season saw ownership of a dedicated e-reader device spike to nearly 1 in 5 Americans, and that number is poised to go even higher. But if you're in the market for an e-reader this year, or for e-books to read on one that you already own, you might want to know who's keeping an eye on your searching, shopping, and reading habits.

Unfortunately, unpacking the tracking and data-sharing practices of different e-reader platforms is far from simple. It can require reading through stacked license agreements and privacy policies for devices, software platforms, and e-book stores. That in turn can mean reading thousands of words of legalese before you read the first line of a new book.

unglue.it trying to unglue book on becoming a librarian

The site unglue.it has a few more books they are trying to unglue. One is - So You Want to Be a Librarian. See unglue.it for more details.

What Makes Dickens a Lousy Running Buddy? .

Reading while running or exercising can have unexpected results.

"We've found the vast majority of our readers are multitaskers. They listen while they do something else," says Michele Cobb, the association's president..."

"For Mr. Flood, a novel's tension and action can also influence the senses during a run. "When I was listening to 'Game of Thrones' and somebody was being chased through the woods by a group of marauding knights, it was fun to be running through the rolling prairies here," says Mr. Flood."

See: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323353204578129202490992958.html?KEYWORDS=dickens

What Can Publishers Learn from Indie Rock?

The lessons of Indie Rock for the publishing industry are pondered in a post at The Scholarly Kitchen,
"Whenever you buy a record from just about any indie band, it comes with either a CD or with a card that contains a URL and a download code so you can get a digital copy at no additional cost...
If implemented in the right way, publishers could kill two birds with one stone: they could support a mechanism for downloading e-books purchased in conjunction with hardcovers that not only makes their best customers happy and extends the life of hardcover sales, but that actually fosters competition in the ebook marketplace."

Much-trumpeted survey proves the opposite of what the surveyors seem to think it does

Do library eborrowers also buy ebooks?

Well, stop the presses. OverDrive, the leading aggregator providing libaries with ebooks, and Library Journal have done research that proves that they do.

The survey results are interpreted as evidence that the big publishers are making a terrible mistake being cautious about making ebooks available for library lending. And it is being reported that way. By one outlet after another, although one made the point that the publishers aren’t listening.

Full blog post here

LISTen: An LISNews.org Program -- Episode #222

This week's episode starts off with a brief economic discussion and then heads into a news miscellany. Believe it or not, LISTen has now been around for five years as of this week.

To cheat and spoil the last lines of this episode:

This episode came to you from the south shores of Lake Erie. This program first originated from metro Las Vegas. Where might it come from at this time next year?

Related links:

Download here (MP3) (Ogg Vorbis), or subscribe to the podcast (MP3) to have episodes delivered to your media player. We suggest subscribing by way of a service like gpodder.net. Support and subsistence items for the production team can be purchased and sent from here via Amazon, as always.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/.

More thoughts on libraries and ebook lending

Mike Shatzkin --- On Thursday of this week, I’ll be at the Charleston Conference appearing in a conversation organized by Anthony Watkinson that includes me and Peter Brantley. Brantley and Watkinson both have extensive backgrounds in the library and academic worlds, which are the milieux of most attendees at this conference. I don’t. I am being brought in as a representative of the trade publishing community. Watkinson believes that “the changes in the consumer area will break through into academic publishing and librarianship.” I am not so sure of that.

Full blog post at The Shatzkin Files

iPads set to take over from books in school libraries, principal says

Seems Like A Bad Idea...

Principal of Madison Park Primary David Lawton said books would become a "thing of the past".

"The day has arrived - iPads are here ... look out books," Mr Lawton told the News Review Messenger.

"School library budgets are being lowered and our budgets for technology are higher, so it's only a matter of time before technology takes over from the traditional way of teaching.

Turns Out When Random House Said Libraries 'Own' Their Ebooks, It Meant, 'No'

Turns Out When Random House Said Libraries 'Own' Their Ebooks, It Meant, 'No, They Don't Own Them'

"That means they don't want to worry about having the company they bought their books from suddenly lock them out of their collection for reasons they won't explain. It means they want to be able to move those ebooks from platform to platform without permission. It means they want to be able to lend those ebooks to a friend. Some smaller publishers get this, provide DRM free ebooks, and make it easy for this to happen. Random House, on the other hand, doesn't seem to understand the issue at all."

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