[tabi] Re: [4your info] (Public Domain) E-Books will be available through Barnes & Noble and Son
- From: "Chip Orange" <Corange@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:26:56 -0400
Unfortunately, I think all of these e-book formats require special
reading software, which is likely to be inaccessible to the blind
because of piracy concerns. when I bought an e-book from Amazon some
years ago, it was in a completely locked-down and inaccessible pdf
format, and amazon simply said they didn't care when I complained. they
offered to give me my money back, but they weren't open (then) to
discussions about an accessible version.
Chip
------------------------------
Chip Orange
Database Administrator
Florida Public Service Commission
Chip.Orange@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(850) 413-6314
(Any opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not
necessarily reflect those of the Florida Public Service Commission.)
> -----Original Message-----
> From: tabi-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:tabi-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of K4NKZ Jim
> Sent: Tuesday, July 21, 2009 12:33 PM
> To: tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [tabi] [4your info] (Public Domain) E-Books will be
> available through Barnes & Noble and Son
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/technology/internet/21book.h
> tml?_r=1&th&emc=th
>
> Barnes & Noble Plans an Extensive E-Bookstore
> By MOTOKO
> RICH<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/peopl
> e/r/motoko_rich/index.html?inline=nyt-per>
> Published: July 20, 2009
> The New York Times
>
> Four months after acquiring an e-book retailer, Barnes &
> Noble<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/ba
> rnes-and-noble-inc/index.html?inline=nyt-org>,
> the world's largest chain of bookstores, is starting its own mega
> e-bookstore on its Web site, BN.com<http://BN.com>.
>
> In an announcement on Monday, Barnes & Noble said that it
> would offer more
> than 700,000 books that could be read on a wide range of
> devices, including
> Apple<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/ap
> ple_computer_inc/index.html?inline=nyt-org>'s
> iPhone<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/sub
> jects/i/iphone/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>,
> the BlackBerry and various laptop or desktop computers. When
> Barnes & Noble
> acquired Fictionwise in March, that online retailer had about
> 60,000 books
> in its catalog.
>
> More than 500,000 of the books now offered electronically on
> BN.com can be
> downloaded free, through an agreement with
> Google<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/g
> oogle_inc/index.html?inline=nyt-org>
> to provide electronic versions of public domain books that Google has
> scanned from university libraries.
> Sony<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/son
> y_corporation/index.html?inline=nyt-org>
> announced a similar deal in March to offer the public domain
> books on its
> Reader device.
>
> Barnes & Noble is promoting its e-bookstore as the world's
> largest, an
> implicit stab at
> Amazon.com<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/compani
> es/amazon_inc/index.html?inline=nyt-org>,
> which offers about 330,000 for its
> Kindle<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/sub
> jects/k/kindle/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>
> device. Currently, Google's public domain books cannot be
> read on a Kindle.
>
> The number of e-books available on BN.com compares with 1.2
> million in stock
> that can be bought in print form from the company's Web site.
>
> A further one million books can be ordered from BN.com in the
> print-on-demand format.
>
> William J. Lynch, president of Barnes & Noble.com, said the
> company would
> continue to sell e-book versions of best sellers and new
> releases - defined
> as a new e-book for the first six months of its availability
> - for $9.99.
> That charge has become the de facto e-book price since
> Amazon.com set it for
> Kindle sales.
>
> E-book pricing has become one of the most delicate topics in
> book circles.
> Publishers are concerned that by selling new books at such
> low prices,
> e-book retailers will undercut sales of hardcover editions,
> which average
> about $26, and eventually erode publisher margins.
>
> "The pricing policies won't remain static," Mr. Lynch said in
> an interview.
> "We're working with our publishers on various pricing models.
> As the pricing
> model evolves over time, we will adjust."
>
> David Young, chief executive of the Hachette Book Group, the
> publisher of
> blockbuster authors like James Patterson and Stephenie Meyer,
> was cautious
> about Barnes & Noble's latest step.
>
> "I'm thrilled that another major player is entering the
> fast-emerging e-book
> market," Mr. Young said. "But I remain deeply concerned that our most
> valuable front-list titles are being sold at mass-market
> paperback prices,"
> he said, referring to the small format paperbacks that
> usually come out a
> year after a hardcover is released.
>
> Barnes & Noble also announced an upgraded version of its
> eReader software
> that users could download free from its Web site, making it
> possible to read
> any e-book bought on BN.com on various devices. Electronic
> books bought at
> BN.com cannot be read on Sony's Reader or on the Kindle.
>
> The retailer also said that when Plastic Logic released its
> electronic
> reading device in early 2010, Barnes & Noble would operate a
> bookstore for
> e-books that would work on the new device. Mr. Lynch declined
> to say whether
> Barnes & Noble would sell the actual device.
>
> Sales of e-books remain small , but are growing fast.
> According to a survey
> by the Codex Group, a book marketing research company, 4.9
> percent of books
> sold in May were in digital form, up from 3.7 percent in March.
>
> Sarah Rotman Epps, a media analyst with Forrester
> Research<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies
> /forrester-research-inc/index.html?inline=nyt-org>
> in Cambridge, Mass., said BN.com was unlikely to dent
> Amazon.com's Kindle
> sales.
>
> "I don't think they will be stealing market share from
> Amazon<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/a
> mazon_inc/index.html?inline=nyt-org>,"
> Ms. Rotman Epps said. "If anything I think they are
> contributing to the
> growth of the whole category of digital reading."
>
> She added that as more consumers begin reading digital books
> on phones and
> other mobile devices, it made sense to market to those
> readers as opposed to
> those who are buying dedicated reading devices like the
> Kindle or the Sony
> Reader.
>
> ------------------
> from the guy that knows nothing about everything,and everything about
> nothing
> K4NKZ Jim Ardin email: k4nkz@xxxxxxxxxxx
>
> Check out the TABI resource web page at
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