The big news for readers is of course the B&N Nook, which so far sounds like it beats both the Amazon Kindle and the various Sony eReaders in some functions (and its price-to-benefit ratio too). This report goes through the major benefits of the Nook (which name, while logical, needs to grow on me) over its competitors, but is summed up with this line: “Barnes & Noble is really thinking about how people actually read…[not] forcing you to change your reading habits rather than adapting to them.”
This NYT article talks about how the ease of ebooks has made people read more. But then there’s the woman at the end who is reading more on her Kindle – but not buying more, because she’s “borrowing” them from her friend’s Amazon account. I find it hard to condemn her, since she could easily borrow a physical book, exactly as the Nook has acknowledged.
And here’s a beautiful list of reading-related apps.
Ok. Vooks. Blended book and video. Adding multimedia is meant to attract people who don’t normally read. How about thinking about the people who already read, and being very, very careful not to alienate them? As the November Good Reading Magazine issue points out, most books aren’t profitable enough to justify the expense of adding multimedia. Thankfully.
At last, a way to trade books online comes to Australia! They have a joining fee (I think because it’s for swapping books rather than selling them, and there’s no way to take a percentage of that), but it’s free to join at the moment. You earn points by swapping books, or if you see a book you want and don’t have enough points, you can purchase extra points. You can also sell books that are worth over $40. There’s different levels of membership, but the site’s a little unclear on costs (but the ‘bronze’ membership is free). Australian readers, give it a go just by signing up and entering the ISBNs of some unwanted books. Some aspects of the site aren’t great (Can’t browse, only search? Tags must be betwen 8 and 15 characters?), but should improve.
Or people in Sydney and Melbourne can take the higher moral ground.
