Germany plans to ask the European Commission to take a closer look at the Google Book Search settlement and the library scanning program, and “France, Austria and the Netherlands also said to be keen to have the issue put on the table.” One European diplomat says there is concern about putting the European digital library Europeana (which presents public domain works only) on an equal footing with Google’s book database. A separate article reports that “EU competitiveness ministers meeting in Brussels tomorrow and Friday are likely to ask the Commission to launch an investigation into the implications of the project […]
eNews
UK eBook Announcements
As part of their Book and Beyond program, Random House UK officially announced the release some of their current bestsellers through Apple’s App Store (while embargoed, the news was already reported by a UK paper.) Developed in partnership with Verlagsgruppe Random House in Germany, each ebook is sold as a standalone app rather than working through a particular reader, and they are priced at 7.49 pounds and up.Release Separately, Penguin UK announced an agreement to make its full catalog of epub titles (“around” 2,000 and growing) available through GoSpoken.com’s platform for mobile devices. And DK just launched their top 10 […]
Day in the Life Co-Creator Rick Smolan Pushes Boundaries of Customizable Book with "Obama Time Capsule"
Rick Smolan’s latest collection of themed photographs, THE OBAMA TIME CAPSULE, takes his previous experiments with customizable jackets further, now offering each customer an individualized book. It’s on sale exclusively through Amazon. Buyers can add their names to the authors on the front cover, and include personal photos on the back cover, and “celebrity supporters” page. You can add your child’s art work to the Kids for Obama page and insert your own name on a fascimile inaugural invitation. Books are promised to arrive two to three weeks after ordering. Hewlett-Packard is printing the on-demand books and executive Andrew Bolwell […]
Michigan Expands Agreement On Google Books–Without Consulting Other Libraries
Presuming the Google Book Search legal settlement is approved, the University of Michigan announced that they had renegotiated an “expanded agreement” with the search company. Addressing some libraries’ concerns about the as-yet-undetermined institutional pricing of the database of full-text books, the parties agreed on a system that will let partner/contributing libraries review the pricing and challenge it through arbitration if they believe it’s too high, in which case “Google will be required to work with the Registry to adjust the pricing accordingly.” Price will be less of an issue for Michigan itself, which will receive free access to the full […]
Your Daily Amazon News
Amazon has sued Discovery in a Delaware court, alleging infringement of search engine and recommendation patents, and the etailer has also countersued over Discovery’s claim of infringement on their ebook patent.WSJ Amazon has also released a new version of their Kindle iPhone app, which adds some of the basic functionality suspiciously missing from the first version (leading some to view it is a crippled reader). The new version allows reading in landscape mode, and lets users “pinch to zoom images in books” and “tap on either side of the screen or flick to turn pages.”
The eBook Pricing Problem
Over the weekend the NYT ran a week in review piece looking at the surface issues and concerns for both readers and publishers as a result of Amazon’s efforts to make $9.99 the standard ceiling for new and popular hardcovers in ebook versions. Author David Baldacci says “unfortunately there won’t be anyone selling it anymore because you just can’t make any money.” Simon & Schuster ceo Carolyn Reidy asserts that “what a consumer is buying is the content, not necessarily the format.” And Harper ceo Brian Murray says “If prices come down but the overall market is bigger, then we […]