eBooks and eReaders Bruce Preston 11/11/2010

Agenda (not necessarily in this order) Who What When Where Why How – demonstrations Sources & Prices

Let’s Start with WHY The writing is on the wall. Availability Hundreds of thousands of available books Distribution On-demand – wired web, WiFi or 3G Portability 300 book capacity on most devices Cost many free, otherwise about 1/3 of hard-cover

WHO are the major players? Amazon Kindle Kindle 2, DX Kindle 3 (just out) Apple iPad Sony Reader Barnes & Noble Book Nook

WHO – Some stats Amazon – 2 nd Qtr 2010 for every 100 hard cover books sold, 180 Kindle editions sold. claims 70 to 80% of e-Book market share. Other 3 claim book sale market share of 20% - each! (yes, it does not compute!)

WHEN - introduced Sony Reader – 11/06 Now on 6-th version Amazon Kindle – 11/07 Kindle 1, 2, DX and 3 Barnes & Noble Book Nook 11/09 Now on 2 nd version Apple iPad – 01/10

WHERE can you use? Anywhere you like to read, but.. Screen considerations e-Ink – reflective LCD – useless in bright sun Connection for downloads USB WiFi 3G network Bundled – Kindle & Sony Optional on iPad, Book Nook

WHAT – Formats ePub – DRM or DRM-free Text HTML PDF DOC RTF AZW

Supported Formats

Where to get e-Books Amazon Kindle Store (3G, WiFi*, USB) Apple iStore (3G*, WiFi, USB) Sony Reader Store (WiFi*, USB) B&N Store (3G*, WiFi, USB) * 3G OPTIONAL. May be bundled in device price (one- time cost,) or monthly plan (no contract, may be volume based.) * WiFi OPTIONAL

Where to get e-Books Project Gutenberg 100,000+ books in the public domain – expired copyright, typically 70 years after publication. Multiple formats – Kindle, PDF, plain-text Usually accessible from the device’s ‘native’ store. Google Books

HOW WiFi Download Directly to device free iPad, Kindle DX, 3, Sony N/A – Kindle 1, 2 N/A – Nook Note: As of 9/1/2010 – very volatile device capabilities. Amazon, B&N and Sony have all released new models/capabilities since I started this presentation in July!

HOW Wireless network Download Directly to device Kindle & Sony – free iPad – two plans – volume based N/A* – B&N Nook * As of 9/1/ Subject to change!

HOW USB Download vendor-provided bundled software Apple – iTunes Calibre Multiple device support Library management

HOW Synchronize iTunes Windows, Mac Media Player Windows Proprietary varies Calibre (Open Source) Windows, Mac, Linux

HOW Subscribe Automatic delivery as soon as the item becomes available. Magazines Newspapers

HOW - DEMONSTRATIONS Kindle (2) Reading today’s New York Times Text-to-Speech Visit the Kindle Store

HOW - DEMONSTRATIONS Apple iPad (16GB WiFi) Reading pages from a book Text-to-Speech Visit the Apple Store

HOW - DEMONSTRATIONS Sony Reader (Daily Edition) Reading pages from a book Visit the Sony Reader Store

Calibre – Open Source Windows, Mac, Linux Reader Convert between many formats, including ePub,.DOC,.PDF, inDesign, etc. Accepts RSS feeds Library Management Device Synchronization

Bonus Session – Audio Books MP3 Players Sources: NetLibrary, Audible, Rhapsody MP3 WMA (Microsoft’s DRM) Proprietary iPod (including Touch, iPhone, iPad) They all support MP3 format

Bonus Session – Audio Books NetLibrary.com, Audible, Rhapsody etc. Free and for-fee audio books, typically in choice of.MP3,.WMA (DRM) LibriVox.org Free.MP3 – public domain (pre-1927?) recorded by volunteers using Audacity, goal is to record everything available from Project Gutenberg.

National Library Service Free source of hardware and books provided to the Blind or Physically Handicapped by the U.S. Library of Congress. Went digital spring 2010 Portable reader Free PC/MAC software available USB cartridges via free mail, or web download to flash drive. Copy protected DAISY format

Prices * Kindle 3 - $139 direct from Amazon iPad – 4 models, starting at $498 – direct from Apple Sony Reader (at BestBuy, QVC, etc.) Touch Edition - $170 Daily Edition - $250 Barnes & Noble Book Nook WiFi - $149 WiFi+3G - $199 * Prices are very volatile. Amazon reduced price on Kindle 2 several times!

Prices Calibre Free download from Windows, Mac, Linux Built-in reader Links to 250+ feeds in English alone Many other languages Downloads/feeds may be scheduled Format conversion