Tech From an E-booker’s Viewpoint

I was just at Mobileread and noticed this.  Apparently, demand has exceeded supply and shipments are delayed until at least December 5^th.  So if you wanted one, I hope you were able to get your order in on time.  So is this good or bad news?  For their sake and e-books in general I am hoping that it is good news.  Maybe people who were disappointed by Kindle’s no show and Sony’s BBeB format jumped at the chance to get a reader.  Another possibility is the non-availability of the Sony reader outside of the U.S.  If this is the case, Bookeen should have had someone better in charge of sales forecast analysis.  Still, given e-books’ past lukewarm reception, maybe a more conservative outlook was called for.  Also keep in mind Bookeen is rather a small organization.

Then there’s another side.  Could it be that Bookeen’s delayed release dates and anxious potential buyers pressured them to offer their reader before enough were made?   I think most people were willing to wait, but overall it doesn’t look good to keep missing a target.  This way they have met their release date, created hype about demand (just like Sony), and at least satisfied the lucky ones who ordered quickly.  Now their readers will be out in the wild generating interest. 

Good or bad, how will this play out?  A wait of at least a month after delayed releases has got to turn some away.  I hope this does have a happy ending.  The guys at Bookeen are great and their customer service rocks.  Meanwhile, it’s a good thing I wasn’t in a rush to get one.  I don’t think I could have survived the wait.

By now you’ve probably have read from several sources that Bookeen has met their October release date.  Prices for the Cybook range from $350 to $450 depending on package configuration.  The device standard package is the cheapest, but it does not include a cover.  The items in the standard package are slim pickings. Other than the Cybook you get an USB cable, a quick start guide.  The deluxe package includes earphones (9.95), leather cover (39.95), extra battery (44.95), USB charger (23.95), and a 2gb SD card (24.95).  If bought separately you’d spend about $50 more if I added correctly. So what should you choose?  I would immediately say standard since most of the items in the deluxe package can be found elsewhere for a lot less; however the extra battery and cover gives cause to reconsider.  I don’t like the color of the cover (chocolate brown) and it’s disappointing that some sort of cover is not included, even a cheap one.  There is hope though; M-edge’s site says that they will be offering a cover for the Cybook soon.  Do you really need an extra battery? Maybe not now, but considering international shipping rates, it may be a good idea.  Shipping is quite reasonable.  It’s $33.32 whether you get the standard or deluxe package.  From what I can tell the ship rate is for all merchandise <1000g.  So if you decide later to get the battery, then you will be paying $33.32 again.  Remember too that you can buy accessories a la carte or in essence design your own package. Personally, I have decided to wait until M-edge has their Cybook cases available for sale before I get a Cybook.  I really don’t think I could risk using the device without some sort of protection. I could use some sort of alternative pouch or case, but I’m not in a rush for a new reader.  When I do order one, I think I will go ahead and get the battery too.  As a last note the reader will start to ship on November 2^nd. 

This topic has been on my mind for quite some time, but I have been somewhat reluctant to write about it. My reluctance stemmed from not wanting to end up in a “How-to get on the e-book dark side” situation.  The following is something that happened and I would love to know what others think (Disclaimer: This is not exactly as it happen, but as I understood it).

A couple of months ago, someone (I’ll call her Jan) created a script that stripped the DRM of a certain e-book format (I’ll call the format .nbb).  The .nbb format had never been broken.  On top of that, the company responsible for the format had just experience a server failure that lasted a few weeks.  So many people were excited at the news of being able to free their books.  At first the script worked on its own, but Jan had to remove parts of her script to avoid conflict with the original writer of some of the files she used.  This new version required that the user had certain files available to him or her.  The files needed were not easily obtained, but depended on possession of a Software Development Kit (SDK), or the device the SDK supported. Fast forward about a week.  Jan gets a letter from the .nbb lawyers.  Needless to say that it was a cease and desist order along with some threatening to sue type of correspondence.  So in compliance the script was removed from her website, but what about the downloads prior to the removal? 

Forget about the legalities; just think about the ethical dilemma for the following:

1. Should the people who downloaded the script delete it from their PCs? 

2. Were they wrong to have used it in the first place; even if it was used on books that they bought with no intention of “sharing”?

3. Knowing why the script was deleted from the web, would someone be wrong to start distributing it among friends, newsgroups, forums, etc? 

4. After the three week down period, there was no real explanation or apology from the .nbb folks, and many people are now circumspect about buying this format.  They no longer trust the .nbb folks.  Does this matter?

5. Suppose, instead of being down for a few weeks, the company was gone altogether, like Gemstar.  There is no way to convert these books, so when the device dies, so does the library.  Does this change the game rules?

6.  What about Jan who freely gave this script to help people?

7.  If all this is wrong, why is it that using Convert Lit seems to be acceptable?

I’ve always considered myself an ethical person. I know that not everything is black and white. Those cases take care of themselves.  It’s that gray portion, that makes me think about the common good versus the universal wrong versus the slippery slope versus fair use.

DT 375 news

If you own one, drop by Andy’s site.  He has added more applications including one that I really wanted (Thanks Andy!).  I love playing Mahjong and he’s added it to what is already a great software repertoire.  In addition to new games, there are some really useful utilities and an email client.  Andy also has Ereader, Mobipocket, MS reader, and uBook available.

Asus Eee PC updates

I read today that Asus plans to have Eee PCs pre-installed with Genuine Microsoft Windows by end of this year.  The announcement goes on to say, “The ASUS Eee PC defines a new category of computing device that offers an excellent Internet experience on-the-go for work, learn and play. With the addition of Microsoft Windows, the Eee PC can now also accommodate educational and corporate requirements.”  I’m sure this can only drive up the cost of the device, that’s already suffering from price creep.  Still, if you are reluctant to give Linux a try, this might be good news.  I also noticed that an 8Gb model has been added to the site.  Another interesting thing is that I was looking at unboxing photos and the box shows a choice of colors.  Included, was pink, light blue, black, and light green.  I wonder if these will be available here in the U.S.  I got the link from Eeeuser.

Cybook 3 Getting Closer

Via Mobileread and Bookeen’s blog:  There’s a picture of the box that the Cybook 3 will come in.  While I was like hmm—so?  It does indicated that the reader can’t be too far from availability.  After the Kindle no show, it’s good to know that some things seem to be on track.

Back in the day Palm used to sell expansion packs.  Expansion packs were MMC cards with a collection of games, productivity software, or e-books.  These cards were copy-protected and for the most part were not too expensive.  I have the dictionary and the SciFi ebook pack.  I don’t know if these expansion packs were ever popular, and I gave up using the couple I had because the card took up my memory slot.  Now that devices come with more internal memory, additional card slots, and memory cards have gotten so much cheaper, I wonder if some sort of e-book expansion pack could be of use today.  Let’s say I buy a new hardback book written by my favorite author.  Included with that book would be an MMC or SD card.  On it, the publisher could include a few of the author’s older titles on the SD card.  What would be better is if the book I am buying is included. That way I could give away the paper copy and keep my digital edition.  I believe that this could boost sales of hardback books.  The publishers then could include first chapter excerpts of other works in the same genre.  Then once a book goes to paperback, the publisher could sell the SD alone, or bundled with the paper book and charge more. 

Textbooks could benefit from this tactic too.  Either the book could be included on an SD card or a CD.  If it’s on a CD the publisher could allow viewing on a PC and one download to another type of device.  The student could sell the book back and keep his digital copy for reference.  The book that’s used in my literature class came with a CD.  Most of the students haven’t used it.  So those who buy a used copy that doesn’t have the CD or SD card probably wouldn’t care.  If it does matter then they’ll have to buy a new book.

DRM should not be an issue since the text is tied to the memory card or CD.  If it can’t be copied then what’s the problem?  Format could be an issue, but if the text couldn’t be copied then how about HTML?  Or do the right thing and put the e-books in different formats?  I think I could be happy with prc and pdb.  Chances are this is not a new idea, but I keep thinking that there has to be a compromise where we get most of what we want.  Ideally, I just want e-books to be successful.

I have been reading a lot lately about how manufacturers seem to think that when we buy something from them, we don’t really own our purchases.  In other words we are simply licensed to use the product, and can only use it how they see fit; for example, the iPhone update that would brick your hacked device.  So could DRM not really be about preventing piracy, but rather to keep us tied to one source of software?  That restriction would also keep the consumer tied to the seller.  Isn’t this just an updated version of the main drawback of the original Rocket e-book?  Then, all books were tied to the device.  So instead of my books dieing with my reader, my reader dies if I decide not to buy books from the seller.  I don’t get the thought process behind this.  Isn’t it enough that an e-book reader is $300? Why would the average person pay that much for a device that has only one source of material?  Would the iPod be as popular if the only way you could get songs were to buy them from iTunes? 

Yes, you can add pdf, doc, and other files to the reader, however that takes work.  I have yet to format a file that looks professional on my reader.  I don’t have the time to sit and learn and I doubt new comers would even consider it.  The Sony pdf how-to guide is 43 pages. The box doesn’t say you have to.  It should work without tweaking your documents.  After all, didn’t you just shell out $300?  It just seems that the people who make these decisions want the reader to fail.  The Sony reader would be so much better if there were another choice of format.  The current selection of BBeb formatted books is inadequate.  The prices of their books are not always competitively priced.  Why would I choose to buy a book from them that costs much less somewhere else? 

Also I have noticed that Sony still has not expanded their selection of RSS feeds. I am beginning to suspect that they don’t want us to have free material to read.  So instead of augmenting and improving the Connect store, they restrict outside material capabilities.  Does this work?  For us old timers no it doesn’t.  We find a way.  For the average consumer, it may work for awhile, but as they become frustrated and reject e-books, no. The real question is, why do we the consumers allow manufacturers treat us this way?  The e-book readers I have bought belong to me.  I paid for them.  I should be able to buy from wherever and read whatever I want on them.