I recently talked to Sony's Steve Haber, President of Digital Reading, about its flagship ebook reader. Named the "Daily Edition," it hits stores next month. Notwithstanding differences between each manufacturer's respective libraries, it offers all the best features of its main rival, the Kindle. But Sony says it offers one thing that Amazon won't: actual ownership of your books.
"Our commitment is that you bought it, you own it," Haber said. "Our hope is to see this as ubiquitous. Buy on any device, read on any device. ... We're obligated to have DRM but we don't pull content back."
Sony's adopting the ePub open file format and encouraging DRM-insistent publishers to offer files that use a less restrictive scheme from Adobe. In doing so, Haber suggested that the worst case scenario would be 12 devices per account, effectively "books uncoupled from hardware."
Ebooks can also be digitally "loaned" free of charge for up to 21 days, from participating libraries. This works thought a deal with Overdrive, which facilitates such loans by backing them with hard copies.
Sony's new reader also features a 9" display, page-changing swipe gestures, annotations and a cellular connection to download new titles on the go. At $400, however, it's as pricey as the top-of-the-line Kindle DX
Barnes and Noble announced its own reader, the Nook, a few weeks ago. At $260, it's competitively priced and has a secondary LCD display. It also focuses hard on consumer-friendly features that Amazon seems unwilling to indulge: in its case, books can be shared between devices and even with friends. Not all books will be available, and shares are limited to 14 days at a time.
Without solid co-operation from publishers, Sony's adoption of ePub and B&N's sharing feature won't make much of an impact: what use are they if bestsellers aren't included? When the new devices appear and their associated stores are ramped up, we'll get to find out if the proposed changes make a difference--and whether Amazon can be reeled in.
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Actually, the lending period is one (1) 14 day period. That's it. Not per anything. You can lend a book once. Not so consumer friendly if you ask me.
Rob,
Did you get any details from Sony on how people will be allowed to sell their used DRM-bound copies? Not "add someone to a list of authorized devices", but an actual hand-off sale.
B&N also has the exclusive deal with Plastic Logic for their reader. It's got a big screen and seems pretty slick - hopefully it lives up to the hype at least a little bit. I was surprised at Plastic's decision to go with B&N, but they need a distribution network I guess.
From the limited description given, it seems like they still won't let you sell "your" book or even let you give it away permanently. One step forward, two steps back.
I've read that you will be able to read ebooks on the Nook inside B&N stores without purchase, just like you can with any hardcopy they have (obviously not walking out with a new free ebook!). Does anyone have more info pertaining to the devices DRM policy?
1. "We're obligated to have DRM."
Oh? What God or Goddess ordered that?
2. This is Sony-the-rootkit talking, and still (see
item 1 above) demanding that WE trust THEM without
them necessarily trusting US.
This is nice, but it still won't work. I actually wrote a dainty little screed at my blog on why, but it boils down to: DRM'd books aren't "permanent," and will never find mainstream acceptance until they find the permanence that now-ubiquitous DRM-free audio has.
@#1
That's the nook. The sony reader allows 3 weeks. It mentions the nook lending time in the article. Also, it's strictly between libraries and patrons, not person to person.
@Clay: or the permanence that non-DRM'ed paper books have.
@Clay
Maybe, maybe not. I'm no DRM fan, but the question is, how many people really care about permanence? For example, if I really like a book, chances are good I'll seek out a first edition, a signed copy, or at least a nice hardcover to add to my library, and I belong to a couple "signed first edition" clubs at indie bookstores. But am I in the majority? I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if your average consumer of bestsellers or other mass-market fare won't really care one way or the other--they want to read the latest Danielle Steele or Steven King once, and it's unlikely they'd keep the paperback around after that. That segment of consumer isn't really going to care about having an eBook in perpetuity. (Never mind the fact that a lot of paperbacks don't physically hold up well anyway.)
I think that might even go for more serious readers. I read a lot, and some of my friends read what most people would consider insane amounts. We couldn't keep copies of every book we tore through even if we wanted to. Libraries are a good source, but I wouldn't be surprised if people were willing to pay for the convenience of downloading books straight to their device. I know I do. And for the voracious reader, being able to have a ton of books while traveling is a big boon.
Regardless, it's all very exciting, and I'm psyched to see where this will all go.
@1: "Actually, the lending period is one (1) 14 day period. That's it. Not per anything. You can lend a book once."
As another commenter noted, that's for the Nook. Originally, I thought that this was misstated, that the Nook allowed one loan at a time, a maximum of 14 days per loan. But I just went back and checked BN.com's discussion on the topic, and it's now both clearer in the FAQ and a BN.com employee confirmed: some Nook books, only 1 loan per book ever, loans of up to 14 days.
I'm thinking about getting a e-book reader of some sort, but I don't read a lot of new books-- I'm mostly just interested in reading stuff off Project Gutenberg (or even lengthy blog entries) away from my lit-up computer screen. So I'd need something that lets me drop random texts on it, and carry them away somewhere. I don't need it to hook up to the net, read to me, or play music. What would BB readers recommend?
I would recommend the Sony PRS-505, you can get a used one cheap on ebay or elsewhere. I use mine for exactly what you mentioned and I love it!
There is a free software alternative to the sony software that also works better. But you don't have to do anything! You can grab the books from gutenberg, put them on a memory card and put the card in the 505. No DRM involved, and you are in control.
Battery life is fantastic.
I'll finish 35 books since I bought it in May, before the end of the year. I'm going for 72 books next year.
If I can't sell it, or give it away then it's nothing like ownership. Why don't people get this? Being able to move something to X machines is not the same as "being able to transfer it however I like, so long as there is only a single instance of the digital object"
Any reason not to use a netbook tablet as an e-book reader?
Sony obligated to have DRM? Sony spawned the critter.
For those who actually want to own a book they spend their money on, there's this technology called ‘print’.
The backlit screen is hard on the eyes. The ereaders use a 'digital ink' like surface, it looks like a printed page and I can read on it for hours (I read goblet of fire in two sitting on a prs-505)
I tried to read on my EEE-PC 900A, and it just hurts. It's also bulky, all of the ereaders I've held, including my 505, weigh about as much as a medium sized paperback.
Oh! and the ereader digital ink screens use almost no battery power. I charge my 505 about once a week.
A lot of people seem to like the Sony eReaders, so you might want to look into those. I have a Kindle DX, which has the advantage of being able to natively read PDFs, but the downsides are that it's bigger and on the pricier side. The PDF part appealed to me because some of Gutenberg's mathier titles (like Euclid and David Hilbert) were only offered in PDF or TeX because of all the equations. It looks like Nook has PDF support, too, and a lower price, but it's unclear at this point how good it is, and what other formats besides that, ePub, and of course B&N-purchased files it supports.
If you're looking for something to handle plain text, you've got a lot of options, and free software like Caliber can help do some file conversions if/when necessary.
@millionpoems
You can use a netbook. The two huge advantages for me are battery life and readability. The eInk displays just don't use very much juice, so you can go a long time without recharging. I did a lot of reading on a recent trip to London, and over the course of 10 days, I didn't have to plug mine in once.
I (and a lot of other people) find the purely reflective eInk displays much easier on the eyes. After being in front of a computer all day, I have no desire to spend much more time in front of a computer screen, so it's either paper or eInk for me. If reading on the computer screen doesn't bother you, though, then a netbook might be a good option.
All of the Sony readers support PDF. It's not the BEST support, but it's working fine for me.
I might hope that this would shape up to be like VHS vs Betamax. But there's just not much demand for yet another way to look at locked-up content.
When I can scan my own out of print paper books and read them on one of these things, or when a friend of mine can let me read her manuscript on one of these things, I'll buy one.
I don't need yet another walled garden, I need a notebook computer with one of these displays!
> I need a notebook computer with one of these displays
Seconded.
Any DRMed file is rented rather than owned. You are dependent on the kindness and the longevity of Sony or Amazon to continue reading the book you paid for. It's crazy what people are willing to give up for portability. Yes, books are heavier and take up more space, but the type is generally much more readable and more attractive, and once you buy it, it's yours to read, sell, or lend as you see fit.
The idea of spending $10 to read a book on a crappy screen using a crappy font in a crappy layout on crappy terms is just ludicrous. When publishers are willing to sell me non-DRMed books in an open format which is supported on multiple devices, and there's a device with a non-terrible UI, a good screen, and non-craptacular text, I'll buy ebooks. Until then, thanks, but no thanks.
@anansi133
You can do those things now. If you save the scans as PDFs, you have at least two options for reading them (Kindle DX and Nook, and I suspect many more soon to come), and you can read plain text and Word files on the Kindles. Plug in the USB cable and put whatever you want on them. The files that Amazon, B&N, Sony, et al. sell you may have DRM, but you can use the device for whatever you want, including files from Gutenberg or text files you typed yourself. I do.
Interesting discussion here. Couple of quick points:
- all of us have a beef with DRM, so let's see what it will really take to change DRM in such a way that the creators of the material are properly rewarded for their work. It's a bit of a complex issue, as it requires a lot of people to agree on something and we all know how well that works. Plus I think most of us will agree the artists need some protection, as giving away free copies will not put food on their tables.
- the whole idea of 'stealing' books back by Amazon appears to have gotten a life of its own. What appears to be overlooked is that Amazon was not particularly happy to be forced to do this (it's not good customer relations to repossess what your customers have bought, even though you refunded the purchase price)
- the technology argument about the readers is somewhat artificial, as there always will be a new bit of technology over the horizon that catches our imagination (and causes us to salivate). If you don't like the current level of technology, wait a little longer (or get involved in creating the next generation).
- I'm actually more interested in seeing how B&N, Sony and Amazon upgrade capabilities in their existing readers. I am a Kindle owner and have made suggestions for improvements (such as a directory structure for books) and will be watching for these improvements to come to a Kindle in my hands.
Rob
Thanks for the indication that some bestsellers might not be involved in the loaning to friends scenario due to publisher concerns (re the Nook feature).
Re "[The Sony] offers all the best features of its main rival, the Kindle."
I have to say that the Nook does not have one of the Kindle's best and currently unique features: the 24/7 free access to the entire Net. It does best on text-based sites as it is otherwise slow, and there are ways to get faster access, but outside the house or office I often use Google or Yelp, etc., and that is huge for me.
The Sony and Nook will limit your Net access to their bookstores.
@Day Vexx (#12)
Re Project Gutenberg, there is a 'Magic Catalog' from them that lets you put the entire catalog of about 30,000 books on the Kindle, which you can browse -- when you click on one, it downloads it to the Kindle directly if your Wireless is on. These are all free. No charge for the download using that. See http://bit.ly/kgutenb
for that.
And all kinds of personal docs can be put on the Kindle as well as on the Sony and almost surely the Nook.
@millionpoems (#15)
I use a Netbook (Samsung NC10) to read the Kindle books via their new free Kindle for PC feature. This way I can enjoy the color illustrations.
But when concentrating on pure text, I way prefer to read it on eInk, whether Kindle or Sony or eventually Nook.
I have to echo Book Guy, as I just got back from Egypt and Petra, in Jordan, where I spent 3 weeks, bringing my netbook and my DX.
The DX, used briefly each day, was still almost fully charged at the end of 3 weeks. I used only the DX, constantly, on the 21 hour plane-trips back and it brought it down to about 80% full after those 3 weeks. But I do like the option to read on the netbook if I don't have my Kindle around or I want to see illustrations in color.
- Andrys
There is a mistake in these posts. The Sony readers support PDF, I have mine full of pdf files right now.
Why not accept the fact that an e-book is a different product from a paper book, with different attributes and affordances? Advantages are light weight, search, etc.; disadvantages include the fact that you can't sell it to someone else. I suspect I'm going to get flamed by anti-DRM maximalists for even asking the question, but I'd like to hear a calm response.
Andrys,
You can put your blog link on your profile page, thanks.
My college buddy Mary Lou Jepsen runs PixelQi, the company that made the screen for the OLPC XO computer, so I gotta plug them.
The big news is that they promise there will be products for sale, retail, next year. They have videos of their "drop in replacement" screens for Netbooks, and they look really nice.
The screen has two modes. With the backlight on, it's as good as the average color LCD display. With the backlight off, it's almost as low-power as the eInk displays, just as readable as eInk displays are, but it's also full-monochromatic, and full-speed.
not revoking a book stands for nothing. All they're saying is they won't revoke it, which is the *same* as amazon. Amazon never revoked it, the publisher revoked it. Etc etc.
Ebook is a step in the right direction, but saying "we're still DRMing as required" is still DRM, which makes it no more compelling than kindle or any other, except the nook actually running android = actual functionality.
You still own nothing, as I highly doubt they're giving you access to the .epub file unencrypted/etc.
[quote]Amazon was not particularly happy to be forced to do this[/quote]
Amazon "not particularly happy" is irrelevant. Amazon destroying their customers' property without warning or recourse is. And "We're sorry." offers no reassurance that they won't do it again.
"Different product" indeed. And the advantages it has in terms of weight, portability, convenience, etc. have definitely won my heart. I recently did a BOTEC and discovered much to my surprise that just the novels I have purchased as eBooks would weigh something like 1.7 tons if I had them all as paperbacks.
I also have no quarrel with the idea that I can't "sell" my electronic copy as "used." For one thing, there would only be my word that I had erased my electronic copy. And don't make me start in on the issue of the backups I have stashed away both on- and off-site.
But you ARE talking to an "anti-DRM maximalist" here for the very practical reason that people buy books to read them without let or hindrance, and having to say "mother may I?" to read a book is abhorrent. In addition, if you forget your electronic "key" you're locked out of your own property. DRM replaces the "purchase" aspect of a book with a "licence" aspect. And the licence can be withdrawn at any time by whim of the supplier/publisher, as some of my Fictionwise purchases were.
I require assurance that a book I buy NOW will still be readable forty years from now (as some of the books I bought back in the 1960s are). The ONLY way to do that is zero-DRM.
"Why not accept the fact that an e-book is a different product from a paper book"
'Cause that's not really how it's advertised is it? If they called it an indefinite rental, then maybe.
How the hell exactly is a company like Sony obligated to add anything to their e-book reader?
Give me a break.
"We're obligated to have DRM but we don't pull content back." is both untrue and asking too much. You shouldn't choose to put power in someone else's hands hoping they'll never use that power against you. You only put that power in someone else's hands when you have to, and no eBook reader is a necessity. Get a computer that runs nothing but free software, read DRM-free books from a variety of sources and enjoy your software freedom. Tell the publishers, distributors, and authors how to treat you. Stop settling for letting them frame the debate.
If I'm only going to be allowed to "rent" not "own" then I want the price of the e-book to reflect that!
As for a recommendation, I've had a Sony Reader Pocket (PRS-300) for around 2 1/2 months now and I love it. Bought it for reading novels, non-fiction, and manga on, but found that it is good enough for reading US comics on, too (assuming that you are the type that holds a book close to your face.)
Here is a photo review I did of mine a couple of days after I bought it (photos aren't great-- it isn't easy to photograph and have it look exactly right.)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/19625804/Sony-Reader-Pocket-PRS300-Review
If "Amazon really didn't want to do that" as you state, WHY IS THE FEATURE EVEN THERE? If it's not there, there's no issue. They sure as heck planned on using it.
that's like, you've *purchased* 5000 novels ? how many have you read? I could leach project guthenberg, but srsly most of it is a bit sleepy to my taste.
When it says it's obligated to have DRM on the e-books they sell, it means the publishers of those e-books won't let them sell the books otherwise.
I'm very happy with my Pocket E-Reader. I don't need all this extra crap, otherwise I'd buy a Blackberry.
"Still demanding that WE trust THEM without them necessarily trusting US."
This is absolutely the crux of the issue. This comment helped clarify for me the current situation.
I have no problem with DRM if it provides the same limit a book already does...I can't loan my book and read it too!
If they merely did the same thing that a paperback did - can only be in one place at one time, I'd consider an ebook. As long as I've bought the book and can resell or give it away.
If an ebook had the same limitations then I'd be okay with that. If it has more limitations, then I think the book should be VERY cheap...as in cents only.
I'm going to agree with Padraig here. If they want to shove DRM down our throats, I'm OK with that. I'm not OK with paying the same price for the "book" though. E-Books are generally cheaper than printed books, but given their inherent limitations, they should be much cheaper.
I'm reminded of the first, and last E-Book I bought from Amazon. It was George Orwell's Animal Farm. I switched computers, and forgot to copy it over. They wouldn't let me re download because they were no longer carrying it. One of the perceived advantages of the format was that if I lost it, I could just get another copy from Amazon. Not the case obviously.
I agree with you on that Clay - been reading ebooks for years starting with palm and peanutpress (DRM) and now Kindle. Aside from all the classics, which are free from a ton of sources, the books I buy on the Kindle are read once and then... I still buy books where the images are integral. And in the form versus content arena, content comes first for me with literature. Just M2C.
I guess ebooks and bookcrossing will never be compatible.
I am a voracious reader and give some books away, some I keep (some books I have are from the 50's). I wonder if here is a restoration service for my 50 year old ebook.
I buy a book, and 1/2 way through it gets boring, I give it away. Will my ebook allow that.
As for 'having to have DRM", crap. Sony is in a position of negotiation. Here's your choice Mr. Publisher. No DRM and we generate revenue for you! DRM, we don't sell you get nothing. Sony doesn't 'need' this market to stay in business, nor does Amazon. Its merely an alternative for their customers and they should listen to their customers. Get rid of DRM.
I can't give an exact count of the number of novels. The weight was a guess based on the nature of the files, and I've bought a lot of short stories, etc, so my mileage may vary. However, the short stuff is mostly TXT files, and I didn't include those in the count that went into the weight estimate.
Like any book collection, it's grown over more than a decade to include whatever has struck my fancy from various publishers and sources including Gutenberg (and I've contributed books to that project), Baen (the ONLY publisher where I can say I've bought every book they've brought out since December 1999, since they've made it both easy and tempting to do so), and (mostly) Fictionwise.
To answer your question directly, no, I haven't read everything I've bought. My wife calls my book collection my security blanket. There are a number of books in it that await my eyeballs, some of which I realize I probably won't live long enough to read. That thought doesn't bother me a bit.
[quote]"Still demanding that WE trust THEM without them necessarily trusting US."
This is absolutely the crux of the issue. This comment helped clarify for me the current situation.[/quote]
Thank you. FYI, I ended up doing a lot of thinking about trust over the past year or so. What is it? How is it built? What is necessary for its existence? Does trust always have to be reciprocal? (Yes, if it's to last).
All of this was initiated by reading John Ringo's novel "The Last Centurion." The first third or so of it amounted to the biggest infodump in science fiction history, and I was fascinated by the items dealing with trust, both social and personal. In fact, fascinated to the extent that I couldn't put the book down.
And once I started thinking about trust as a discipline, it was hard to stop, as I realized that trust permeates EVERYTHING a social species like ours does.
And it went from there. The comment about Sony that you replied to was built on that foundation.
@25
The problem is that there is a large segment of the publishing market that feels that DRM is justified by the "Authors must be paid" meme.
Baen Books, a leading publisher of SF, Fantasy and Adventure, has a different philosphy.
The Baen Free Library has a large number of books by various authors absolutely free of charge - and free of DRM. Mostly these are the first book in a series, true, hoping you will like the author and story enough to buy more - but that's just the point. *Giving* away a free book is actually a *great* way to attract new readers.
In addition, some many hardback first edition over ythe past several years have come with bound-in CDs containing an authors *entire backlist* as free non-DRM'ed eBooks.
It works. Just ask anyone at Baen and you'll get a nice long lecture how *giving* away free eBooks has boosted that same volume's paper sales!
And you know? I *think* those authors even get *paid* for their work!.
Check it out.
s2la
thanks, agree about Baen, have to say I think along with eating chocolate, david weber's honor harrington books are splendid comfort food, also john buchan's richard hannay series, an awesomely serendipitous find on gutenberg.
One advantage that the Sony Reader (&Kindle/Nook I believe) is that I can tie multiple readers to a single account and we can all read the same book. Now, as noted above, this is not a replacement for lending to friends, but it is handy for when families all want to read the latest Neil Gaiman story at the same time. :)
I borrowed a Kindle from work after trying out the Kindle App on my iPhone. I'm cool with the DRM, in general, and loved the portability. But the device itself was too big. I had to make a conscious decision to bring it with me, compared to the iPhone which, while small, was always in my pocket.
But it got me reading again, something I hadn't done seriously in more than 8 years. I still have a hefty backlog of books I want to read, despite having read something like 15 books this year. But the iPhone app and borrowing a real Kindle didn't inspire me to buy a Kindle, nor did it push me to buy paper books.
It inspired me to use the library.
I think Cthulhu demanded it.