News and other tidbits that Chad Cloman finds interesting enough to share
The Amazon Kindle is picky about which e-book formats it accepts. So what do you do with an e-book in an unsupported format? The linked article tells how to convert it. The article also lists a couple non-Amazon sources of Kindle-compatible e-books, and explains how to prevent Amazon from deleting books retroactively.
Link: http://consumerist.com/…
Amazon was recently notified that two of the books in its Kindle catalog were pirated. The company responded by removing the books from the catalog and also deleting every purchased copy. The uproar was significant, with many people being surprised that retroactive deletion was even possible. Amazon has since apologized and promised it will never do this again. To Amazon’s credit, they did refund the purchase price. But this being the United States of America, there has to be a lawsuit involved.
Link: http://apnews.myway.com/…
(via Kim Komando)
Update: The lawsuit has been settled, and Amazon has agreed to legally binding terms on which it can retroactively delete content.
UK bookseller Blackwell is launching a trial of the Espresso Book Machine, which can print books on demand in less than five minutes. Blackwell currently has 500,000 titles available and hopes for a full million by the end of the summer. This is one of those things that just begs the question, “Why isn’t this already in use everywhere?” But with the rising popularity of eBook readers such as the Amazon Kindle, I wonder about the long-term popularity of on-demand print services.
Link #1: http://www.guardian.co.uk/…
(via Slashdot)
Link #2: http://bookshop.blackwell.co.uk/…
The Amazon Kindle is an e-book reader that’s becoming quite popular. But be warned: the Kindle becomes an expensive paperweight should Amazon decide to cancel your account.
Link: http://arstechnica.com/…
From the article: “Printing the [New York Times] costs twice as much as sending every subscriber a free Kindle.” This sounds great, but I’ve heard there are problems with the pricing of books—specifically that the Kindle version sometimes costs more than the paperback version. Does anyone have any experience with a Kindle? If so, let us know in the comments.
Link: http://www.businessinsider.com/…
(via Slashdot)
Amazon has introduced a new e-book reader called the Kindle. It’s designed to feel more like an actual book and to be easy to use. We’ll see how popular it turns out to be, but a good sign is that they sold out in 5½ hours. The Kindle requires a wireless connection to the internet, but the $399 purchase price includes free lifetime connectivity.
UPDATE: Ars Technica has a review of the Kindle.
Link #1: http://arstechnica.com/…
Link #2: http://www.newsweek.com/…
(via Engadget)
Link #3: http://news.bbc.co.uk/…
J.K. Rowling has revealed some additional details [WARNING: LINK CONTAINS SPOILERS] that were cut from the epilogue portion of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (via Bureau 42). On another note, it appears that The New York Times will not allow this latest book to appear on its bestseller list even though it sold more than 8 million copies in the US on its first day. Children’s books are not eligible for the list (via Digg).
