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KINDLE

Coming to Your Kindle: Library Books

Reading e-books from the library is easy — unless you own a Kindle.

Amazon’s dedicated e-reader is not compatible with library e-books, leading many new e-reader buyers who are interested in borrowing e-books from the library to purchase a Nook from Barnes & Noble instead.

But Amazon said on Wednesday that it would change its policy later this year, creating a new feature that would allow Kindle customers to borrow e-books from more than 11,000 libraries across the country. Amazon will work with OverDrive, a large provider of e-books to public libraries and schools.

“We’re excited that millions of Kindle customers will be able to borrow Kindle books from their local libraries,” Jay Marine, director of Kindle at Amazon, said in a statement.

E-book use in libraries has been growing at a rapid pace, particuarly in the last year as more consumers have purchased e-readers. The New York Public Library said last month that e-book use was 36 percent higher than it was one year ago.

But some publishers are squeamish about allowing their books to be borrowed from libraries by users who can easily download the books from home. Two major publishers, Simon & Schuster and Macmillan, have still not allowed their e-books to be available in libraries.

HarperCollins angered librarians last month when it announced a new policy requiring that e-books be checked out only 26 times before they expire, rather than allowing an unlimited number of times.


Kindles Soon To Be Available at Target

Amazon.com A Kindle DX

Beginning on Sunday, the Kindle e-reader will be sold in Target stores nationwide, Target announced on Wednesday. It will be the first brick-and-mortar store to sell the Kindle, which previously was available only through Amazon.com.

Mark Schindele, a senior vice president at Target, said in a statement that Target customers have had an “overwhelmingly positive” response to the Kindle.

“We are thrilled to bring guests nationwide this incredibly light, portable, easy-to-read product that allows them to get all the news and books they want,” Mr. Schindele said.

Target plans to sell the Kindle for $259, the same price as on Amazon.com.


Nooks Will Be Available at Barnes & Noble Stores Beginning Wednesday

DESCRIPTIONShannon Stapleton/Reuters A pair of Nooks, the new e-reader from Barnes & Noble.

Barnes & Noble, the country’s largest book-selling chain, said that its Nook electronic reading device would be available for purchase in its stores starting Wednesday.

The Nook, which has been selling through Barnes & Noble’s Web site since late November, has only been seen in demonstration form in bookstores. Analysts had originally said that one of Barnes & Noble’s competitive advantages against Amazon.com’s Kindle device was that the bookstore had physical outlets through which it could sell the Nook.

Barnes & Noble sold out of its initial supply of Nooks before the holiday season, citing higher than expected demand. In stores, customers could view some demonstration devices, but could not buy them on the spot until now. Customers looking for stores where the Nook is in stock can check this link, which will be updated daily beginning Wednesday.


February 2, 2010, 2:44 pm
Bits: Macmillan Books Still Largely Absent on Amazon | 

On Sunday, Amazon appeared to surrender to Macmillan in a dispute over the pricing of e-books. Macmillan, like other publishers, wanted more control over prices for their digital books. At first, Amazon responded by removing Macmillan titles, both digital and paper, from its site, except when bought through third-party vendors. Then, Amazon seemed to back down. But the talks are continuing, and Macmillan titles are still mostly absent from the Amazon site. Read the full story here.


Amazon Relents in Fight Over E-Book Pricing

Amazon.com has surrendered, at least for now, in its mounting battle with book publishers over the price of electronic books.

On Friday afternoon, Amazon.com shocked the publishing world when it pulled both the digital and physical books of Macmillan, the large international publisher, after Macmillan said it planned to begin setting higher consumer prices for its e-books. Until now, Amazon has been setting e-book prices itself, and has established $9.99 as the common price for new releases and best sellers.

But in a message to its customers posted to its Web site on Sunday afternoon, Amazon said that while it strongly disagreed with Macmillan’s stance, it would ultimately have to give in.

“We have expressed our strong disagreement and the seriousness of our disagreement by temporarily ceasing the sale of all Macmillan titles,” Amazon said. “We want you to know that ultimately, however, we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan’s terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to you even at prices we believe are needlessly high for e-books”

The message went on to suggest that Amazon customers might rebel against such a high price for books that cost far less to distribute than physical books. “We don’t believe that all of the major publishers will take the same route as Macmillan. And we know for sure that many independent presses and self-published authors will see this as an opportunity to provide attractively priced e-books as an alternative,” Amazon’s message said.


January 29, 2010, 11:26 pm
Bits: Amazon Pulls Macmillan Books from Its Site | 

Amazon has pulled books published by Macmillan from its site in a disagreement between the online retailer and the publisher over the price of e-books. For the moment, Macmillan books are available on Amazon only when bought through third parties. Macmillan, like other publishers, has been wrangling with Amazon over the retailer’s insistence that all e-books for its Kindle device be priced at $9.99. Many publishers want to charge more, or at least have more control over prices for individual books. The dispute hit a new level this week when Apple introduced its new iPad device, which will have an iBooks application through which publishers will have more control over e-book prices. The full story is here.


December 15, 2009, 2:16 pm
Bits: Are Skittish Publishers Fighting the Future? | 

Nick Bilton wonders whether some publishers are making a mistake in delaying digital versions of their biggest releases in hopes of selling more hardcovers before the e-book sales kick in. Kindle and other such e-readers tend to be purchased by the most loyal and ravenous book buyers, he argues, who are more likely to pay a premium for digital versions of a book. He says those readers are disappointed if they can’t get a new book as soon as they want it on their new, expensive device. Read more…


Book Price Wars Go Digital: $7.99 for E-Books by Stephen King and Sarah Palin

Amazon appeared to extend the downward pressure on e-book prices by offering readers who pre-order Kindle versions of “Under the Dome,” Stephen King’s new novel, and “Going Rogue,” Sarah Palin’s memoir, the chance to pay just $7.99 each for those books.

Both publishers of the books, Scribner, a unit of Simon & Schuster, for “Under the Dome” and HarperCollins for “Going Rogue,” had delayed the e-book versions of those titles for several weeks after the publication of hardcover editions.

“Under the Dome,” which was published in hardcover on Nov. 10 and priced at $35, will not be available as an e-book until Dec. 24. “Going Rogue,” released in hardcover on Nov. 17 and priced at $28.99, will also not be released as an e-book until Dec. 24.
Read more…


Speed Read for Friday, Oct. 23

Highlights from today’s media coverage in The New York Times:

1. How the negotiated peace between Fox News and the White House unraveled.

2. Feeling confident, a cable network takes on broadcast channels on its own turf.

3. Newsday announces it will charge for some of its online content.

4. Some former top editors from The Chicago Tribune are taking on their old bosses with an online news venture that will supply content to The New York Times.

5. E-book price war? Amazon cuts the price of the Kindle by $20.

6. The normally inflammatory “Law and Order” is tip-toeing toward a new episode on abortion.


Barnes & Noble Jumps Into E-Reader Business

On our sister site Bits, Motoko Rich and Brad Stone write:

While Barnes & Noble has made its e-book store available on a range of devices, including the iPhone, BlackBerry and coming e-readers from Plastic Logic and Irex, it has always left open the possibility that it would develop and sell its own device in partnership with an Asian manufacturer. On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Barnes & Noble is set to introduce its own six-inch touch-screen device to compete with Amazon’s Kindle.

Barnes & Noble declined to comment on the matter, but here are a few nuggets we’ve been able to glean about such a device:

The bookseller will likely introduce it on Oct. 20. The company has an event planned for that day at Chelsea Piers in New York, for what an invitation calls “a major event in our company’s history.”

Read the full post here.


Asus Peers Into E-Reader Market

Anybody who is wondering about the size and viability of e-readers going forward might be interested that The Times of London is reporting that Asus, who altered the computer landscape by coming up with low-cost netbooks, will create a new low-end digital reader to be out before the end of the year.

Asus, one of the world’s biggest consumer electronics businesses, confirmed last week that it is planning to shake up the market in the same way it did when it launched the first netbook — the low-cost alternative to the laptop.

Asus claims its ebook reader will be cleverer and more versatile than the current crop available from companies such as Sony and Amazon. It aims to unveil the device before the end of the year, according to Jerry Shen, the company’s president — and it may not be just one device, either.

Read more…
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