“Amazon does seem to keep competing with the same retailers it is trying to help. Another new product that Amazon has introduced, Universal Wish List, is a Web browser toolbar that lets people directly add the products they covet to their Amazon account when they see them on other Web sites.”

I would not be surprised if the cash registers at a single large, chain bookstore alone consumed more resources than all of the servers used by Fictionwise.

For one thing, the Sony had no issues with reading the “Bronte’s Egg” PDF file. I could turn it 90 degrees and read it half a page at a time with no problem.

When I turned the PDF 90 degrees in the Astak, it crashed when I tried to page down. That’s “worse” in my (e-)book.

Likewise with the missing half a page when it reflowed Dragon Warriors. As I said, the Sony did not lose that first half-page, even if it did put the title in the middle.

I loved using my Kindle for a graduate course spring semester of ‘09. Now that I’m taking another course in the same field spring semester of ‘10, I’m saying “hooooolyyyyy cr@p.” Because all readings for both classes are journal articles. Because the upgrade might not even happen before the class ends, I will probably just move the old readings off of the device entirely, into a folder on my pc, and go from there. I did not used to care at all about folders. I do now. In fact, I’m looking forward to this improvement in a big way.

Oh. And — Jerry’s question *is* an excellent one. Guess I’d better ‘become a fan’ of Kindle on Facebook.

Since they’ve already announced that they’re going to convert everything in the eBookstore to Adobe DRM ePub, I assume that this would be the plan for any online offering.

Clearly, the ebook industry has much to learn about DRM from the music industry. Quite frankly, however, it seems that the industry is more intent on doing a DRM “re-run” to get to the the same place that iTunes, Amazon, and other services have already gotten to with music. Reinventing the wheel doesn’t make much sense to me, but my experience is that some industries will just do what they think they need to do inside their private vacuum, and there’s not much advocates for change can do to influence the decision makers if the advocates for change are not actually decision makers themselves, or in a position of great power somewhere in the industry.

Some people may think this means I’m resigned to the status quo. I prefer to think of it as politely advocating change from within the status quo by following the rules (like buying DRM’d ePub and not jailbreaking my iPhone), while voicing my opinions regarding the need for change directly to people in the industry, when given the opportunity.

I would like to think ideally, that since I am showing publishers and app providers a sign of good intent to play by rules, that the powers that be might take notice of my voiced concerns about said rules more easily, and take these concerns more seriously than if I were to be more extremist in my actions and position on the topic. This is not to say that people who are more outwardly vocal than myself on the subject won’t be taken seriously, just that I know from past experience that _I_ personally, will not be taken as seriously. It’s all in the vibe of the advocate, and I apparently do not have a vibe that is conducive to convincing people that I have a point when I try to go outside the boundaries of “good, compliant customer, with some real concerns that really need to be considered” approach.

In short, I’m trying to advocate for change while from a “do no harm” to the cause POV. I also think that my approach puts me in a better position to actually negotiate a conversation on the subject, when given the opportunity (which admittedly, has not be frequent since I no longer work directly in the publishing industry).

I think that change to the current DRM approach will come – but more because publishers will have analysts do reports that show them exactly how much money and time they are losing backing an unpopular approach to protecting intellectual content. If it can be proven in real dollar numbers that current DRM schemes are detrimental to a publisher’s ROI in said schemes, management teams are more likely to explore the question of “how do we do this necessary thing for less money and greater customer satisfaction and compliance…?”

Since I’m writing about my opinion and approach to the problem as I understand it, I admit that this post does not introduce anything to solve the eBook DRM issues of 2009. The whole issue of copyright and intellectual property is entering a new kind Wild Wild West era. It will probably take just as long for book publishers to come to the same conclusions that music publishers came to regarding severely limiting DRM schemes, so long as the industry continues to ignore what the music industry learned, and until they’ve been in the business long enough to be able to produce the ROI reports mentioned above.

Efficient? No. Will publishers eventually come to the same conclusions as music execs? Probably. It’s just a matter of when – and the resounding opinion amongst most ebook advocates, such as myself, with whom I am familiar, is “not soon enough.”

Thanks,
David

A fix in the form of a firmware update came out two weeks ago on November 5, 2009. I have a Pocket Pro and I installed the update when it came out. I have used it daily for two weeks and still have a full charge.

The Pocket Pro uses folders to store books. They work like directories in MS Windows. In fact, you can put an SD chip in your PC and create the folders in Windows Explorer, then drag-and-drop ebooks into the appropriate folder. For example, I have one called Fiction and one called nonFiction in the root. Under Fiction I have Classics, Science Fiction, etc. Going down I organize them by author’s name. This method works better than putting all your books in the root or top folder.

The Pocket Pro handles PDF files as poorly as other, small eBook readers. PDF was designed to print on 8.5 by 11 paper or view of a larger, PC monitor. The Pocket Pro, like the other 5-inch readers coming out, was designed to be an inexpensive device small enough to fit in a purse or jacket pocket. If a PDF supports reflow, the Pocket Pro will reflow the text, but it has the same flaws as my Sony PRS505, errors that are generic to PDF documents on smaller screens.

So the DRM on the Edge booksmight only reflect that most of them are sourced from Ingram Digital.

I have one ebook in distribution with Ingram (through Lightning Source), as ePub only. They list it with the correct ISBN, but give Media Format as PDF, and claim “Coming Soon”. (Although, oddly, they also list “Availability: In stock”!)

http://www.entourageedge.com/desbarollda-the-waltzing-mouse.html

I’ve tried their service, asking them to digitize for me “Cyclopedia of wonders and curiosities of nature and art, science” (on Oct 8, 2009) – they took the money, and I had very little feedback since then.

The order status page (which shows an improved interface since last time I checked) tells me the order has been “accepted”, yet it’s still not been digitized, printed or shipped.

On the other hand, a pdf version of the book has appeared on the book page:

http://kirtasbooks.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&product_id=645846&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=3&redirected=1&Itemid=3

I’m not sure it’s complete yet – the book looks cool anyway. Anyway, it seems the digitization request worked.

I’ll let you know when/if I receive the printed copy (note: while digitization and printing are quite cheap, shipping costs to Italy were pretty steep – I paid more for those than for the book.)

Yes, electronics can benefit from better and more sustainable power sources (which are right around the corner, some already here). They also need a better recycling stream (though paper’s vaunted recyclability only lasts through 3 processes, and isn’t fully recycled itself). But suggesting e-books are less sustainable than print is being short-sighted. It’s a clear and desperate attempt to ignore the facts in order to maintain the status quo, and no longer worth consideration.