e-book

While e-books are steadily gaining in popularity with the reading public, an overabundance of devices and formats keeps the lid on. The market will probably sort out the competition the way it always does, but until then, your options are to limit your reading to titles available for your reader, or convert e-books into a format your reader supports. That's where Hamster Free Book Converter enters the story. This simple, free tool lets you drag and drop or add e-book titles in a wide range of formats and either choose your device or file type to automatically convert them … Read more

Google is nixing the reseller program that falls within the Google Books platform -- effectively cutting off an additional revenue stream (and possible lifeline) for independent booksellers.

Scott Dougall, director of product management and digital publishing at Google, explained on the Google Book Search blog that based on results to-date, "it's clear that the reseller program has not met the needs of many readers or booksellers."

This change will help us focus on building the best ebooks experience we can across hundreds of devices with millions of books. Books will continue to be a major content pillar … Read more

Amazon has launched a new Kindle bookstore to cover Spanish-speaking customers in the U.S.

Opening its doors today, "eBooks Kindle en Espanol" will offer a slew of popular English titles translated into Spanish as well as Spanish-language bestsellers.

The store is currently home to around 30,000 books, according to Amazon, including those from Nobel Prize winning authors Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Camilo Jose Cela, and Mario Vargas Llosa. Readers will also find more than a thousand free classics and exclusive Kindle Singles in Spanish from such as authors Kurt Vonnegut and Susan Orlean.

Amazon is also offering … Read more

Things might be starting to look up for booksellers, authors, and publishers. A report released today by the Pew Research Center shows that one-fifth of U.S. adults have read an e-book in the last year and that e-reader owners not only prefer to buy rather than borrow books, but they also read more books.

"Those who have taken the plunge into reading e-books stand out in almost every way from other kinds of readers," the report's authors write. "Foremost, they are relatively avid readers of books in all formats: 88 percent of those who read … Read more

Wouldn't it be ironic if Apple got tripped up by something so seemingly insignificant as an e-book? But even a Steve Jobs, if he were still around, would be hard-pressed to talk his way out of the company's current predicament.

If The Wall Street Journal's reporting is accurate, Apple has failed to reach agreement with regulators investigating charges of price-fixing involving e-book titles. Of course, this could change on a moment's notice. But if so, it won't be because the trustbusters are ready to bend.

The U.S. Justice Department, which has coordinated its probe … Read more

It appears LG is making good on its promise to bring flexible displays to e-book readers, as the Korean consumer electronics company revealed that it has started mass production of the "world's first" plastic electronic paper display (EPD).

The screen measures 6 inches diagonally and has a resolution of 1,024x768 pixels. It can bend at a range of 40 degrees from the center of the screen, and it's also about one-third thinner and half as light as current glass EPDs, LG says, meaning it'll be even easier to carry than the e-book readers today.

LG also cites durability as a benefit of its plastic EPD. The company ran numerous stress tests on the display, including dropping it from a height of about 5 feet and hitting the screen with a small urethane hammer (how do I get this job?), and saw no damage. Presumably, this means you could toss your reader into your bag sans case without fear of scratching up the display. … Read more

Suspected of collusion with intent to drive up e-book prices, Apple and some of its major publication partners are now negotiating to settle a suit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Negotiations continue, but sources close to the talks tell Reuters that Apple and its partners are looking to avoid a long litigation process by bending on some of the wording used in contracts with publishers and retailers.

The "most favored nation" clause, as it has come to be known, states that the price of an electronic book published using Apple's iBookstore cannot be higher … Read more

Among the new features in the recent Kindle Fire software update to 6.3, the ability to share passages was a highly anticipated one, as noted by Donald Bell. Kindle Fire users can now share parts of an e-book with members of the Amazon community, and with friends on Facebook and Twitter. Here's how:

Select the passage to share When you get to a part of your e-book that you want to share, select it by long-pressing on a part of the text, which will highlight it and place brackets at the beginning and the end of the highlighted … Read more

Wizards and muggles alike can now buy and download digital versions of their favorite Harry Potter books.

Starting today, the Pottermore Web site shop is conjuring up all seven Harry Potter titles in digital format, beginning with "Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone" and ending with "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." The first three titles in the series are $7.99 apiece, while the other four will run $9.99 each. Capturing the entire collection will cost you $57.54. Free samples of each book are also available so you can try before you … Read more