It’s been pretty grey whether the judge presiding over the settlement of the Google Book Search settlement would have any compelling interest in the potential virtual monopoly that Google would be granted over electronic rights to orphan works, but now the Justice Department has opened an inquiry. The NYT says Justice notified the parties to the settlement “that they were investigating various antitrust issues related to the far-reaching agreement.” The paper adds, “The inquiry does not necessarily mean that the department will oppose the settlement, which is subject to a court review. But it suggests that some of the concerns […]
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Amazon's Next Purchase: Stanza
Amazon has bought Lexcyle, makers of the Stanza reader application, for an undisclosed price. Stanza has been downloaded by approximately 1.8 million users. Lexcycle says on its web site, “We are not planning any changes in the Stanza application or user experience as a result of the acquisition. Customers will still be able to browse, buy, and read ebooks from our many content partners.” But of course it’s now up to what Amazon plans. When launching their iPhone app for Kindle, Amazon made it clear that they find the iPhone an inferior platform for long-form immersive reading, but fine as […]
BN Finally Launches a Competitor to Audible
Barnes & Noble.com has launched an online mp3 audiobook, offering over 10,000 titles at an “average price” of $10 to $20 per download. A launch promotion offers nine free titles, including: The Babysitter’s Code by Laura Lippman, Great Day by Kurt Vonnegut, Super Goat Man by Jonathan Lethem, Best New Horror by Joe Hill, Fathers by Alice Munro, Truth or Dare by Elizabeth Berg, Ysrael by Junot Diaz, and Merrano of the Dry Country by Louis L’Amore. EVP of e-commerce Tom Burke calls it “a natural progression in our commitment to book lovers and audiobook fans.” Overdrive is maintaining and […]
UK CEOs Consider Emerging eBook World
A packed London Book Fair panel today gathered today four UK-based big houses ceos: John Makinson from Penguin, Tim Hely-Hutchinson from Hachette UK; Gail Rebuck from Random House UK; and Victorian Barnsley from Harper UK; each expressing varying degrees of the requisite “enthusiasm” about digital opportunities current and future. True to form Hely-Hutchinson remains the most cautious member of this group: ebooks “will have a place in the market, but its not the end of the story.” (He sees ebooks as only 5 percent of the market in five years.) He warned that it would be “very foolish to be […]
Harper Has Tolkien eRights Worldwide
Harper Collins UK, which publishes JRR Tolkien, has acquired worldwide electronic rights to the authors work. Six titles are available today for direct download, including The Hobbit, the Lord of the Rings, and The Children of Hurin, followed by The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales on May 5, “with further titles later in the year.”Harper UK is selling epub files directly from their site, served by technology partner Overdrive, with files also available Waterstone’s. In the US, the books are available in multiple formats, serving all major devices and platforms. And Harper says that the […]
Random UK "Enhances" eBooks
Under the Banner of Book and Beyond, Random House UK is launching enhanced ebooks with “a range of additional content such as videos, games, quizzes, photos, author interviews, interactive graphics and the option to listen to or read the text at the start of each chapter.” (In other words, they do not work on current dedicated ereaders, running Adobe Digital Editions, but are fine on computers–but then there are very few ereaders in consumers hands in the UK anyway.) The first ten titles include Nothing to Lose by Lee Child (with a digital graphic novel); The Book Thief by Markus […]