e-books

Apple: Kindle is no 'threat' in e-book market

Apple is fighting back against allegations that it has been involved in e-book price fixing to counter Amazon's dominance in that space.

In a court filing obtained by PaidContent yesterday, Apple argues that any claim that it views Amazon and the Kindle e-book store as a threat is nonsense.

Here's what Apple had to say in the court filing:

"Nor does this 'Kindle theory' make sense on its own terms. For example, if Amazon was a 'threat' that needed to be squelched by means of an illegal conspiracy, why would Apple offer Amazon's Kindle app on … Read more

Go feds! E-books are way overpriced

So Apple was conniving with the nation's big book publishers? At first blush, this probably sounded like the oddest coupling since Felix took up residence with Oscar. But strange bedfellows notwithstanding, that's the story out of Washington, where word is that the two sides colluded on a scheme to raise the price of electronic books.

Now it's payback time and book lovers -- e-book buyers, in particular -- ought to be cheering on the trustbusters.

Far be it for me to root for anything the government does, but in this instance I'll make a big exception. … Read more

Apple, book publishers face e-book antitrust lawsuit

The U.S. Justice Department plans to sue Apple and five U.S. publishers for alleged price-fixing on e-books, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Several of the parties expected to be named as defendants have already begun discussions with regulators to head off an expensive antitrust court battle, the newspaper reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. Such a settlement would likely have a ripple effect for the industry, however not every publisher is engaged in the settlement discussions, they cautioned.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The publishers expected to be named in the … Read more

PayPal demands 'obscene' e-books be pulled

Mark Coker, the founder of e-book publisher Smashwords, got an alarming e-mail from PayPal's enforcement division last month. It was an ultimatum telling the company to pull certain books with "obscene" content from its inventory, Coker said in a blog post.

"Their hot buttons are bestiality, rape-for-titillation, incest, and underage erotica," he wrote. "PayPal gave us only a few days to achieve compliance otherwise they threatened to deactivate our PayPal services."

Smashwords isn't the only e-book publisher targeted by PayPal, according to the non-profit Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), similar emails were also … Read more

So how much is a fair price to pay for an e-book?

Remember how much money e-readers were supposed to save book buyers? It was among the big reasons why 20 million Americans decided to take the plunge.

So why is it that consumers are still paying through the nose for e-book titles that ought to cost a fraction of the price charged for the used hardcover version?

A lot of readers fuming over that question reminded me of their frustration in the aftermath of the latest flare-up between Amazon and the publishing industry. On Wednesday, more than 4,000 e-titles sold by Independent Publishers Group, one of the nation's biggest … Read more

5,000 Kindle titles shut down by Amazon in pricing dispute

Hard ball by Amazon or simply part of the normal warp and woof of business? Probably a bit of both.

The Independent Publishers Group says Amazon has decided not to renew an agreement to resell electronic titles offered by the book distributor's client publishers in an apparent dispute over wholesale discounts on books. About 5,000 Kindle titles will be affected, though the print editions of the books remain available for sale on Amazon.

The group's president, Mark Suchomel, said in an interview that Amazon "wanted better margins" suggesting this was part of a pressure campaign … Read more

'Linsanity' already hitting e-bookstores near you

Talk about fast to market.

In the wake of "Linsanity," the worldwide hype that's blown up over the last couple of weeks surrounding New York Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin, there are already at least seven books, all electronic, about basketball's instant star.

From biography to poetry to trivia to Sun Tzu Art of War-type advice, the books run the genre gamut. And all have one thing in common: they were written, edited, and published at breakneck speeds.

According to Digital Book World, one the titles, "Linsanity: The Improbable Rise of Jeremy Lin," by Alan Goldsher, was turned around in just 72 hours. … Read more

Digital pop-up book gets poetic with QR codes

Rather than fret about the rise of e-readers and tablets and the seemingly imminent demise of the book as we know it, book artist and poet Amaranth Borsuk decided to reimagine the digital-versus-paper struggle as a kind of dance, and make it the basis for an artist's book of her own.

Along with her husband, Web developer Brad Bouse, Borsuk created "Between Page and Screen." It's a digital pop-up book that contains nothing but elegantly rendered QR codes on its printed pages. Readers go to the book's Web site, hold a page in front of their Webcam, and watch onscreen as a poem pops out of the quick-response code (and moves along as the book is moved).… Read more

Get a Nook Simple Touch Reader for $84

A few weeks ago, CNET's Scott Stein made the case for using a dedicated e-reader instead of a tablet--for book reading, that is.

I'm inclined to agree with him, as I find that when I read on my iPad or Nook Color, I'm frequently distracted from my book. It's hard to resist the siren song of e-mail, Web browsing, Flipboard, and the like when they're just a tap or two away.

With a regular old e-reader, however, all you get is your book--and that's a good thing. Hence I'm seeing the value … Read more