Wednesday Links: 3-18-09
Some news about books and ebooks from the past week:
- As hard-copy newspapers continue to die, and digital publishing continues to take off, innovative content distribution models are starting to pop up for all kinds of print media. One such model is ThomasFree, a system that packages paper books with their ebook and audiobook versions. Joe Wikert, on his blog, has an idea about a magazine distribution subscription service. Plastic Logic plans to rent 100 ereaders to newspaper customers in Detroit; we already know ereaders would be cheaper than newsprint. And here’s Clay Shirky on newspapers and revolution.
- A Twitterer has published a hardcover edition of two years’ worth of tweets. Someone save the world, please.
- Amazon used DMCA (the law which makes it illegal to circumvent copy-protection) to force MobileRead to take down a script they were offering users that would allow Kindlers to buy non-Amazon books. It wasn’t pirating, and it didn’t break DRM at all, it simply let them buy elsewhere. Further analysis: here, here, and here. One sentence analysis: Amazon continues to be a world-class jerk to its customers. However, TeleRead reports you can indeed distribute a book for Kindle without DRM, though they don’t make it easy. And the Kindle’s getting sued.
- New ereaders are coming fast and furious: The txtr reader, made by German company Wizpac, is slated for release in Q3 ‘09; it looks slick (but not nearly as revolutionary as they claim in the video on MobileRead). It claims 3G capability, though, so it could give Kindle a run for its money in the non-U.S. world, where Kindle is non-existent. There’s also a video of the Hanvon ereader on MobileRead, which has a slick-looking touchscreen interface, no black page-flash, and a questionable $180 price tag for the bargain model. Also: Apple rumors, an expensive Brother device in Japan, iRiver’s Libre (also from Japan), and Fujitsu’s exorbitantly priced, colorized FLEPia (also, of course, in Japan).
- Appropos of nothing, my favorite new time-waster is the “Your Problems” column in the Guardian. Margaret Dibben “writes your wrongs”; specifically, people write in when corporations jerk them around, and Margaret goes in swinging, sorts it but fast, and then writes a report. It makes for an entertaining read, especially since she doesn’t take guff from anybody, not even her readers. In one recent column, she writes:
FCD agreed to refund £50, half the late fees, and £27 for a second transfer but you were still not happy because you believe you had to squeeze the money out of them. FCD says you emailed to say you were satisfied. This argument is going nowhere.
