The e-book battle heats up as e-readers take sides

Another Amazon Kindle competitor has unveiled its plans for the future. And like Plastic Logic's e-reader, the device will feature Barnes & Noble's e-book store.

The Kindle has even more competitors.

(Credit: Amazon)

When Irex Technologies unveils its consumer e-reader later this year, it will include Barnes & Noble's e-books, Irex said in a statement Monday.

Barnes & Noble's store currently features more than 750,000 titles, and it expects that library of available titles to increase to more than one million within the next year. The full library will be available for download on Irex's e-reader.

That news followed a report earlier this month that Irex's new e-reader will sport an 8.1-inch touch screen and 3G wireless connectivity. The device's touch screen will be controlled with a stylus instead of a user's fingers.

"With our comprehensive e-bookstore and feature-rich e-reader application, Barnes & Noble is delivering not just a product, but a promise: to provide people with access to the books they love--on any platform, in any place, and at any time," Barnes & Noble President William J. Lynch said in a statement.

Barnes & Noble's strategy focuses on maintaining its store and partnering with hardware makers. Aside from availability on the Irex e-reader, as well as the iPhone and iPod Touch through Apple's App Store, Barnes & Noble's store will also come bundled in Plastic Logic's upcoming e-reader.

Amazon offers its own e-reader software in Apple's App Store, allowing both iPhone and iPod Touch users to read its e-books on their handsets. And of course, Amazon's e-books can also be found on the company's market-leading Kindle.

The success of the Barnes & Noble e-book library will largely depend on whether or not the devices using its store will boast the same level of usability as the Kindle. If they do, it's possible that Barnes & Noble will be able to capture significant market share, thanks to its availability on so many e-readers. If they don't, Barnes & Noble's store might lose its stride. And all that fails to consider Sony's Reader--another contender that could emerge as a major player as the market matures.

Suddenly, the e-book market is becoming an exciting space to keep an eye on.

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[DougInKY]

I have been reading e-books for years on various devices and presently own a Kindle as well as an iPod Touch. In spite of this I feel that e-books will remain a niche market until the cost of the books come down. Even though Amazon offers the New York Times best sellers at a rate reduced from the Hardback price, most of the other books in both Amazon and Barnes and Noble's ebook sites remain the same as the cost for paperback copies. This is absurb. Production costs for electronic books is a small fraction of that of paper books which include storage costs and physical damage costs in addition to the publishing cost. The cost of a digital e-book should be half or less the cost of a physical paper book. The cost of the devices to read these books on is a whole other matter as well as the inability to share the digital books among friends after I have read them due to draconian digital locks on books I have purchased. What ever has happened to first right of sale.

[jaguar717]

The only legitimate use I see for these is for students, and then only if they can offer it as an alternative where EVERY book someone will need is on it vs. buying one of these and still lugging around a couple books (this would probably mean partnering with a university to make it happen, which of course would be a bureaucratic mess).<br /><br />For the rest of us, we don't need another gadget. Now that hardware is getting small and powerful enough, they really need to focus on smart &#38; intuitive ways to incorporate functions into "smart phones" (which should probably be named "palmtops" or something similar, since the phone aspect will only be one portion).<br /><br />No more standalone GPS, no more standalone game systems, no more standalone media players, no more standalone e-readers. Focus on getting it onto one device, and doing it *well*. In the past "all in one" combo devices have done crappy jobs at everything, but we're at a point where the hardware isn't so much the obstacle as the actual layout.<br /><br />Considering what the iphone, pre, and android have done in terms of intuitiveness, whoever can smoothly incorporate additional features will be looking at a gold mine.

[kieranmullen]

I hope these do not become prevalent in the college scene for books. Publishers rent books instead of selling them to you. However when the term is over poof they are gone. No resale value. What about the many times teachers only use 1-5 chapters out of a book? Several classes I have taken the book was not used at all! Book publishers just look for ways to take advantage of the USA buyers as much as possible. They make International Versions of books sold to other countries with slightly different paper and same material for a fraction of the cost. Some of these are seen on ebay, amazon, half.com etc.

[Biharris]

In the scramble for less expensive books and equipment, let's not forget to give a fair share of profits to the parties who deserve it most--the authors. Without them, the e-device you hold in your hand would be a marvel of blank pages.

[Mergatroid Mania]

I agree with all these comments. The price of these ebooks is really a money grab since the production costs are lower, and the DRM is ridiculous since you cannot lend or trade your book after you read it (yet it costs the same as a paperback). <br />Another question I have is where else can you purchase your books from on this device? Are you locked into just the one publisher or can you download a book from anywhere you like? <br />Personally I would rather buy a book reader that could take memory cards. Low capacity cards would be pretty cheap. You could purchase them on-line or from a brick and mortar book store. Once the data was copied to your book reader it would only last a year before you would have to reinstall it from the memory card. The card could be sold or traded once you had read the book. Heck, they could even zap the memory card after an install if you wanted to keep the book on your reader permanently. <br />There has to be some way to return the ownership rights back to the consumer who purchases the book. Since they are not lowering the price of the ebooks, they could at least spend the money on a solution.

[LeeMo2]

Twelve of the top 25 best sellers on Kindle are at this moment offered for the price of $0. Can't beat that!

[anime-master]

Twelve of the top 25 best sellers on Kindle are at this moment in the public domain and free for anyone to do anything they want to, including print on toilet paper. I can get you 30,000 free books I'm getting bored now so I stop. http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

[tad0900]

anime-master's comment is wrong. Amazon is offering some very recent books at $0.00. These are certainly in copyright. Perhaps it is a strategy to get someone hooked on that author and then pay for his/her other books.

[gwailo247]

With all the newfangled displays about to be rolled out, these things are still too expensive for what you get. You're basically paying for an expensive monitor with a small computer attached. <br /><br />My price point is probably about $200 for a 8.5x11 screen. It needs to have e-book, document and PDF support, as well as the ability to sync with a computer. <br /><br />By the time this occurs, I hope the publishers will stop running plays from the music industry 1999 play book, and focus on the big picture.

[kieranmullen]

+1 on the pdf and text reader. Amazons current pdf converter is clunky. However I do not know if they would want that since there are so many free pdf books.

[30127cnet]

The one market that ebook readers seem to be MADE for, are being ignored by the makers: Schools. <br /><br />Every day I see school children of all ages hauling HUGE backpacks to school, loaded up with pounds and pounds of text books. Imagine if at the beginning of a school year, kids could just download all of their textbooks into one reader like this. Poof - one small tablet to carry to school. The tablets could be adapted so they could allow kids to write notes and store them in memory on the tablet as well, reducing the need for paper/pen in classes. This would be a HUGE thing for schools and kids alike, and would greatly reduce the costs of text books, saving the schools money.<br /><br />I would never consider an ebook reader for myself until they're half the price or less than they are now, and, they offer color screens for magazine photos to display along with text. But they're ready now, for the educational market, and I'm really surprised the folks who make them haven't jumped on it at all. DUH. Now watch - they'll read this and make millions, while I don't have health insurance. ARGH.

[lexaHT]

i want a small ebook reader. maybe like this new reader from Pocketbook http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&#38;prev=_t&#38;hl=ru&#38;ie=UTF-8&#38;u=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.kosht.com%2Fnotebook%2Fpda%2F2009%2F08%2F25%2Fnovyj_pocketbook_pretenduet_na_zvanie_samoj_legkoj_elektronnoj_knigi.html&#38;sl=ru&#38;tl=en&#38;history_state0= <br /> <br />but with 3G, Bluetooth and other

[Renegade Knight]

They should start with the file. I want my eBook to be as portable as a standard CD. I want to be able to give it to my buddy when I'm done, and share it with my wife while I'm reading it. I want it to be accessable by my family on my "virtual book shelf" any time they need it. Unless of course I gave it to my buddy, then it should be available on his virtual book shelf. <br /> <br />As usual the companies are inventing the saddle without really looking at the horse.

[LibertyNews]

I think Barnes and Noble has a winning strategy. I think the eReader will take off when they price it right or sell it in the way they do cell phones as a service with free hardware.<br /><br />www.Libertynewsprint.com

[beaurick]

I just bought a Kindle and had it shipped to my brother's house in the U.S. because I live in Guatemala. Supposedly these can't be shipped out of the U.S. by Amazon. The companies should realize that there are lots of expats in the world and most of us don't have access to a Barnes &#38; Noble or Borders. An ebook is perfect for us and we would appreciate easy access to the device and the materials. We're a market that needs to be tapped.

[vakayaker]

most of you miss the point here. If you read occasional documents now and then, a ipod or laptop is ok. But the DEDICATED book readers are just that, DEDICATED! I can read on my sony reader much more comfortably than I ever could on either my laptop, desktop, or ipod. Its obvious that you people never used an ebook reader from your comments. The inkless technology is light years better than any of the other devices. I dont care that i cant surf the net, i can do that on my laptop. I want to be able to read for hours without eyestrain or having to stop to charge my device, which i CAN do on my sony. Dont compare apple to oranges here guys. These are devices for people that READ, and read voraciously.

[justinsallen]

Well regarding textbooks I don't know that the etextbooks will prove to be a viable option for college students, at least not all of us. I think the tangibility of actual textbooks has it's own value. Being able to write and highlight in the book, being able to skip around the book quickly and skip to the index if necessary are all things that you lose with the etextbooks. And I understand that textbooks can be expensive, and cumbersome to lug around, but there are ways around both of those. To combat the prices I always use the textbook search engine http://www.bigwords.com And if you don't want to lug all your books around all day, get there early and find a good parking spot and only carry the book you need for the next class. And one more thing that textbooks are the iphone isn't - durable! I can imagine a lot of iphones getting broken if they are treated the way a normal textbook gets treated.

[sehgalamit]

Check out this site www.bookase.com, A price comparison search engine for books and textbooks. It searches for the lowest prices among the major online stores worldwide and also offers discount coupons. You can also choose among various shipping options to calculate the lowest price