Category Archives: eBabel

Yes, we want to OWN books

"Do we really want to own books?" asks the Exact Editions blog. "Do institutions really want to own books?"
Exact Editions is "agnostic" on the first question. I’m not in the least. The answer is an emphatic, "Yes," and I suspect that many and probably most paying customers feel the same way.
That is why serious [...] Continue reading

Posted in DRM, E-books and all that, Uncategorized, e-book, e-book economics, e-book pricing, e-book technology, e-books, e-books and other digipubs, eBabel, ebook, ebook pricing, ebook publishing, ebooks | Leave a comment

An e-walk down Howard Street with the Kaiser—and a few more tips for reader-walkers

Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II was a dream patient for his American dentist, during World War I, in at least one way.
He showed a extremely high tolerance of pain, at least if you go by the start of The Kaiser as I Know Him, which I read on my Sony Reader this morning on [...] Continue reading

Posted in E-books and all that, Uncategorized, e-book, e-book economics, e-book ergonomics, e-book pricing, e-book technology, e-books, e-books and other digipubs, eBabel, ebook, ebook pricing, ebook publishing, ebooks | 43 Comments

Below the fold: Feedbooks’ Hadrien Gardeur talks to Kat Meyer

Just in case you missed it over the weekend, check out The Digitizers—Hadrien Gardeur, Feedbooks cofounder, ePub advocate and Stanza ally, the latest in Kay Meyer’s Digitizer series. (Photo by Duncan Davidson.)
Also posted earlier: Book marketing tips: Use Librarything to find reviewers for your book, by Robert Nagle.
Coming today or tomorrow: A Q&A with [...] Continue reading

Posted in DRM, E-books and all that, EPub, Uncategorized, e-book, e-book technology, e-books, e-books and other digipubs, eBabel, ebook, ebook publishing, ebooks | Leave a comment

Friendly invitation for ‘curious’ Jeff Bezos: Want to blog here, mix with LONG-TIME e-book owners and get feedback on DRM and other issues?

The other day, Amazon’s billionaire CEO started working at a Kentucky warehouse that his conglomerate owned.
Jeff Bezos wanted to see his employees on the job and "hear their comments about their work," according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Bezo’s "restlessly inquisitive mind has been one of his most prominent and distinctive features," Saul Hansell of the [...] Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Kindle, E-books and all that, EPub, Mobipocket, Sony Reader, Uncategorized, amazon, e-book, e-book ergonomics, e-books, e-books and other digipubs, eBabel, ebook, ebooks, sony | Leave a comment

Liberal Hollywood? Not when it comes to DRM disclosures

The Copyright Alliance, in some ways just another variant of the recording and movie lobbies, doesn’t want to consumers to know the lowdown on DRM.
Hoping to fully determine before the purchase if you can own a book for real—exactly what the DRM-related gotchas might be?  Forget about any future legal requirements for this—at [...] Continue reading

Posted in DRM, E-books and all that, Uncategorized, copyright, e-book, e-book economics, e-book ergonomics, e-book technology, e-books, e-books and other digipubs, eBabel, ebook, ebooks | Leave a comment

My Sony Reader, one week in

So, how are things going with my week-old Sony Reader? Great, thanks. I love it. It was a wonderful buy for me. Now that I have had time to put it through its paces, here are my thoughts on how it stacks up as a book reader.
Ease of Use
My Sony may not have [...] Continue reading

Posted in DRM, E-books and all that, Ficbot, Sony Reader, Uncategorized, e-book, e-book economics, e-book ergonomics, e-book pricing, e-book technology, e-books, e-books and other digipubs, eBabel, ebook, ebooks, sony | 38 Comments

Why eBabel—the DRM-created kind included—threatens preservation even with libraries and archives around

"The problem of deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs may look like child’s play compared with recovering all the information on the hundreds of major software programs that have been discarded during the astonishing transformations of the computer revolution." – Alexander Stille in Lost Magazine. Continue reading

Posted in DRM, Uncategorized, e-book, e-book technology, e-books, eBabel, ebook, ebooks | 47 Comments

How to bypass Internet censors: A free guide from FLOSS Manuals

Live in a country ridden by Big Brotherish politicians and bureaucrats? Want to bypass Internet filters? Here’s detailed guidance from FLOSS Manuals. Continue reading

Posted in E-books and all that, Uncategorized, e-book, e-books, eBabel, ebook, ebooks | 34 Comments

‘101: iPhone+Stanza+Calibre (the almost-perfect solution’

How to manage the e-book collection on your desktop? Books in some cases may even be spread over different directories? And how about clashing formats? A mess.
Also, how can you send copies to your iPhone or other mobile device?
To the rescue comes the feature-rich Calibre program. And now a handy guide has appeared in [...] Continue reading

Posted in DRM, E-books and all that, Sony Reader, Uncategorized, e-book, e-books, e-books and other digipubs, e-ink, eBabel, ebook, ebook publishing, ebooks, kindle | 35 Comments

Improper returns? Not with e-books

I always root for both e-books and p-books. But sometimes P can be a little problematic for small publishers. The owners of Ellora’s Cave are suing Borders and Baker & Taylor for knowingly ordering too many books, then returning the unsold ones. So go the allegations, at least.
Ellora’s isn’t the only small publisher [...] Continue reading

Posted in DRM, E-books and all that, Uncategorized, e-book, e-book economics, e-book pricing, e-book technology, e-books, e-books and other digipubs, eBabel, ebook, ebook publishing, ebooks | 46 Comments