Can You Define Tomorrow's Digital Library?

Today we have two separate but interlinked news articles on libraries. Declining spend, visits, issues, stock, staff numbers would all send out alarm bells to most businesses let alone libraries today and the news that the biggest industry player has now launched its own ebook lending library would certainly heighten the alarm bells.

It’s just under a year since we wrote an article ‘Public Libraries: Back to the Future’. The article was about the history of the public library and changes that it now faces in the 21st century. This article was different to the many others we have written, in that it focused on the changes that libraries have gone through both in their funding and their membership and its concluding comments questioned why tomorrow should be the same as today and remain unanswered :

Many would go on blindly demanding on the universal right to 'free' and that the funding by public funds must be a given. However, some would now suggest that this needs to be seriously questioned if we are to avoid the questionable digital position adopted by the UK PA over electronic access, the handing over of public assets to Google and the potential challenges of digital subscription/circulation libraries outside of the public control. Could Amazon or Google Editions become the new digital subscription / circulation library?

First, despite the high profile activity to save UK public libraries, we have a report from the UK Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) that states a 2.3% drop in spending across the service of from £1.19bn to £1.16bn. Book acquisition drops included; adult non-fiction, down 13.7% to 2.36m, Adult fiction down 7.4% to 4.58m, children's fiction down 7% to 2.92m and children's non-fiction down 5% to 659,000. The total book stock held by libraries also dropped from 99.2m to 98.3m and the number of libraries also dropped from 4,612 to 4,579. The decline also hit the number of overall visits to libraries which dropped 2.3% to 314.5m and book issued, down 2.9% to 300.2m and even the number of web visits to libraries, which had risen sharply over the previous four years, dropped from 120.4m to 114.8m.

The CIPFA report also stated that the total number of volunteers in UK libraries had risen by 22.3% to 21,462 people whilst the number of library staff had dropped by 4.3% to 23,681 over the same period.

As we face the digital challenge with declining spend, visits, issues, stock, staff numbers we have to ask whether public libraries as we know them today are sustainable.

Secondly, we have the launch of Amazon’s Kindle Owners' Lending Library, which allows ebooks to be borrowed by US Prime members and read on all Kindle E Ink and Fire devices. Prime began as a membership offer for package-shipping benefits and costs $79 per annum and has now added video-streaming with some 13,000 movies and TV shows to members as well as ebook lending. Prime members will only be able to borrow one book out at a time for up to a month and any Notes, highlights and bookmarks made will be saved even when they return the book. When they want to borrow a new book the old book is effectively removed.

In September Amazon entered in agreement with Overdrive to make Kindle titles available to libraries and already libraries claim that the impact of this has been significant in the US.

Amazon claims that Kindle Owners' Lending Library will offer "thousands of books to borrow", but today these will exclude titles from the major trade houses, who have refused to join. Amazon appears to have reached a fixed fee agreement with other publishers and is claimed in some cases to be purchasing a title each time it is borrowed by a reader. Some would suggest that to grow the service in the short term Amazon doesn’t need the major Trade Houses and if like everything else they have pioneered they get it right the major Trade House will need them or an alternative in the long term.

Libraries serve communities and promote reading, learning and have been at the heart of society over the years. However as public libraries come under increasing fiscal squeeze their current business model may also come under increasing pressure.

CIPFA Press Release and report
Amazon Owners' Lending Library
'Amazon Overdrive potentially lock up libraries', Brave New World April 2011
'Freeing eLibraries to Compete', Brave New World March 2011
'Public Libraries: Back to the Future'. Brave New World December 2010

Tales From Typographic Oceans

Remember those great vinyl album covers of yesterday? We have a lot to thank the recently departed Alex Steinweiss for in inventing the cover art form and to others such as Roger Dean for giving us artwork to equal and that was reflective of Yes’s music. Steinweiss not only created the art form, but in doing so had a demonstrable impact on sales. Ask any Beatle’s fan which is simpler, to name the tracks on any albums or describe the cover. Vinyl shrunk to CD and the jacket artwork started to become less important and metadata took over. As the album model migrated to tracks, the jacket became somewhat irrelevant and the track could now be sampled in a click without even the taster of the jacket.

Think about your favourite novel and what will come to your mind is not so much the words, the characters, but the jacket. Yes, a picture tells a thousand words and book covers have always sold books and enticed readers to buy. The image is that single snapshot that is designed to reflect the content. For the older generation this clearly also works for vinyl albums.

When we still have the physical cover artwork and typography we have the imagery, but will that be the case forever? How do we market and promote ebooks in a way that embeds the image and its association into the reader’s mind?

When you read an ebook the jacket is often lost. You may see it on the selection shelf, but on a click you open the book at page one and the text. They often don’t make it easy to see the cover. After all it’s the text you bought and want. If you return to your elibrary, it is often just a list of titles you see and in one click you are taken to the text. The magic of the graphically designed cover is often lost and it’s not as if you are reminded every time you pick up the book. As for the greyscale readers the image can change all together.

All this is understandable and is part of the digital change process but what is the impact?

Another interesting cover point relates often to print on demand titles. Today the print on demand rendition often borrows the physical jacket, but where it is a reissue this may not possible and there may also be rights issues. We may find a cover with straight text, not typographically designed and sitting on a coloured background. This standardisation of the jacket may work for academic monographs and education texts, but surely not for fiction.

So as move into a digital library world how do we get that imagery association? Is it important, or is it like the album cover a fond memory of how it used to be? Do we need artists and designers and if so how should their skills be channelled?

It is interesting that if I remember the last two ebooks I read I can’t remember the jacket, nor do I have an image of the book. I do remember the story, the characters but it’s not as clean as the last two physical books I read or even the books I read last year.

Perhaps I am getting old and too fond of yesterday?

Kindle Fire is Blazin

When Apple first launched its iPad2 it sold 2.5 million units in its first month and set the bar very high for all that would follow.

Today a leaked sales report on the tech site Cult of Android claims that Amazon’s new Kindle Fire has currently raked up 250K of pre orders in its first week and if that level of demand is maintained it could reach 2.5 million of pre orders alone before it goes on sale on November 15^th.

Irrespective of whether the level of demand is sustained it clearly is going to be the US gift for Christmas this year and a serious Apple contender. Bezos has obviously pitched the price perfect and also has stuck to his ‘keep it simple and focused mantra’ that has enabled Kindle to become a clear contender in the emerging media player market.

It begs the question what the others will have to do to compete as Apple captures the high ticket, design icon end of the market and Amazon the low end no frills media integrated end.

It also begs the question as to how some of the other ereader players will survive not just in competing with these must have devices but also with the impact of their different but closed media and platform offers? What is perceived as an open market for ebooks could quickly change if there are two players who dominate it and this is turn may force players to look at the obvious streaming opportunities and away from downloads as we know them today.

Sony eBooks Finally Make the Platform Party

There is a clear move away from the single platform ereader offer, to one that is capable of rendering ebooks on all platforms. This doesn’t kill off the dedicated ereader devices and in a weird way, if anything, makes them more relevant. The question you must now ask is why would I buy a ebooks that only play on one device?

Amazon long understood this and along with others such as Google, Kobo and Barnes and Noble now have a platform offer. However many who entered the market from the hardware perspective now find themselves with a delimia – are they hardware manufactures or booksellers or platform service providers? This starts to separate the serious contenders from the also rans. The devices, from the service.

The only viable glue which offers the manufacturers some opportunity to extend their services is Adobe’s DRM ACS4. ACS4 is very prevalent in the eInk world, was born in the PC world of Adobe’s Digital Editions and now, thanks to developers such as Bluefire and TxTr, is becoming available in the mobile world. The question is what or who is driving the extension of the platform and who owns the service as it moves multi platform?

Today we read that Sony, who along with Overdrive, were one of the primary instigators of ACS4, have finally got their offer onto a mobile. The offer includes ACS4 but today is restricted to Android 2.2. We find ourselves asking yet again where Sony are going? Like those dull people you hate to strike up a dialogue with at a party, try hard to project themselves as interesting and someone to be with they, but continue to be dull and follow not lead. Unfortunately, one fears that like their other past products, such as Betamax, they have lost the plot, or like Walkman, are now past their sell by date.

The Digital Reader reports that they have apparently made a mistake in saying their app is available on the iPhone and IPad, which it should be if they are using Bluefire to develop it. Alas, it apparently isn’t . The question of which Andriod platform supports the app is also a mute point, given that a significant number of smartphones have yet to reach 2.2 and are languishing on 2.0 and 2.1.

Mobiputing have a review of the new apps performance and look and feel and we were somewhat taken aback to learn that it takes up 8MB of storage after moving it to the SD card, which anyone with an Android phone will realise, can be a significant issue.

The challenge for Sony is not extending the service for existing users of the Sony Reader Store to allow them to synchronize their bookmarks, highlights, and reading between mobiles and Sony readers, but getting new users to use their platform and buy ebooks from them and also buy their ereaders. However, there appears to be little compelling reason, or differentiator for people to buy ebooks from Sony’s relatively small selection of titles (we dismiss the Public domain fillers that they even charge for) and their devices are just the same old eink ‘lookie likies’.

We would ask Sony where they see their ebook offer going and what is compelling about their offer today and tomorrow?

Baidu Follows in Google's Footsteps

Baidu, Inc. was created in 2000 and is ‘the’ Chinese search engine with some 75% of Chinese online queries. In April, Baidu was ranked 7th overall in Alexa's internet rankings and it provides an index of over 740 million web pages, 80 million images, and 10 million multimedia files. Baidu proactively censors its content in line with Chinese government regulations.

Baidu looks like it is following in the footsteps of Google and a look at their services start to look very familiar. They have now started an e-book adding 500 applications to its website. Readers will be able to read and store ebooks. Prices for e-books will be based on the agency model and governed by publishers but titles could be as low as 5 yuan (73 U.S. cents).

The company now intends to develop its “box computing” service, which links the delivey of content including books, video games and other entertainment, to online searches.

"Baidu" is a quote from the last line of Xin Qiji's classical Chinese poem "Green Jade Table in The Lantern Festival”. In ancient China, girls had to stay indoors and the Lantern Festival was one of the few times they could come out. In the sea and chaos of lantern lights, they would sneak away to meet their love and exchange promises to meet again next year.

Are eBooks Different?

Unlike the music, game and video sectors, the majority of books today don’t exist in a digital form, they exist on paper. The consumer choice is not one of changing or upgrading a device, or moving from tape to CD to MP3, or going from DRM protected music to DRM free music. In other media sectors, the headphones may change, the screen may be now mobile, the games console may become wireless but the basic experience remains the same all that has changed is the delivery. Books are different. Unless we are talking about a pair of glasses, the vast majority of consumers and book readers don’t own a reading device today, they have to buy it. Also today when we buy a book we own it and can, give it to a friend, write all over it, destroy it and even resell it to someone else. The biggest change consumers face is the realising that when they buy a digital book they will not own as yesterday and that may be tethered to specific technology or platform that has not got a lifetime guarantee. These two changes are significant and hold the keys to many of the issues we are all grappling with.

Some believe that digital is just an extension of the physical and as such just another rendition. Arguing that as they own the right to publish the books, this should be on any platform, but authors and agents are instead saying that digital rights, if not specifically covered under a contract, remain with the author. It is reasonable to argue that the digital rights traded to the consumer aren’t the same as the physical traded rights and if not, then the rights acquired and developed must also be different. If this is correct then its perfectly logical for authors and agents to treat them separately and not dance to the publishers tune. There may be are secondary rights acquired to develop or enhance a digital work and these need to be contractually thought through moving forward. However, where the text from the physical book is merely poured into the digital jacket the point that should be considered is the traded rights not whether it is just another rendition. It is read differently and the usage rights and restrictions traded are different and these should be the points that determine whether it is the same or different. .

The issues of digital pricing rages on, with one side saying that the price must be comparable with the physical and the other shouting cheap or no deal. The questions should not be about what the publisher’s believe is fair, but what the consumer expects or is prepared to pay. Also low pricing can stimulate growth and high volume and low margin is often better than low sales and high margin. We should remember that consumers aren’t stupid. The music industry got initial CD pricing woefully wrong and despite the alarm bells keep coming up with the lame excuses for artificial high pricing. The result was that consumers voted with their clicks and created Napster, Kazza and a whole new independent channel. We hear similar explanations about the cost of digital on publishers today and it makes one wonder if some should be working for the Ministry of Disinformation. The message is clear - be careful what you wish for.

One of the major reasons that the economies of digital aren’t always appreciated by the public is that they don’t understand that in the digital age many publishers still live, work and develop content and the marketing collateral in the Dark Ages and simple convert it, post production as an afterthought. Yes distribution and printing may only constitute some 10 to 15% if the cost but that isn’t where the greatest cost saving is offered by digital! The one thing that is clear is that Digital Publishing should be publishing and not an adjunct and afterthought. While publishers still maintain their pre and post production worlds they will fail to grasp the true benefits of digitisation on their business and continue to play ‘pin the tail on the digital donkey’ whilst they are blindfolded in the market.

Public Libraries, The Internet Archive and Double Standards?

As libraries become a battleground for ebooks, who will win the digital library business?

A heated debate appears to be looming as the Internet Archive announces it is integrating the lending of books within its Open Library with Overdrive to participating libraries in the U.S. and elsewhere. The objective is to increase the number of books that are available for people to borrow digitally. Overdrive already claims some 70,000 titles that are being provided through 11,000 libraries worldwide. Now many more books that are not commercially available will be made available and can be borrowed from participating libraries using the same digital technology

A user can visit OpenLibrary.org to search or browse for books with the "only ebook" check box checked to find books they can borrow and read online. If the book is a commercially available, then the user is directed to Overdrive.com where they can borrow it from their local library using their library card. If the book is not commercially available and no one else has checked out the book, then the user can borrow it for a 2 week period via OpenLibrary.org. The Boston Public and Marine Biological Laboratory are among a number of libraries that have contributed titles for digital borrowing.

The Internet Archive appear to be treading on the very thin ice. Yes they are the same people that fought The Google Book Settlement! They claim that one person at a time will be allowed to check out a digital copy of an in-copyright book for two weeks and that due to copyright restrictions, the physical copy of the book won't be loaned during that same period. The interpretation of Fair Use may appear fair to The Internet Archive but not to authors and publishers who own these copyrights who may not have granted permissions. It also appears to be a different Land grab of Orphan Works which they fought to protect.

Mr. Kahle of the Internet Archive is quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying "We're just trying to do what libraries have always done." To add insult to injury Mr. Blake, of the Boston Library claims,. "If you own a physical copy of something, you should be able to loan it out. We don't think we're going to be disturbing the market value of these items." Some would seriously question the interpretations being used here and again ask why the Internet Archive appear to not practice what they preached against Google? Are publishers and authors happy with libraries scanning and passing around copyrighted works without permission and on the basis they own a copy?

Despite the current budget cuts, or because of them, the library world is being eyed up by many.

Sony have announced a new US Reader Library Programme which aims to help public libraries adopt eBooks and grow their collection. The programme will offer to enlighten library staff via a one-time web-based session covers digital reading formats, an overview of sources for digital materials, and training on Sony's Reader digital reading devices. Not surprisingly Sony will push Sony and provide digital reading devices for library staff and bi-annual updates on developments in eReading technology.

The Library program reaffirms Sony's commitment to work with local libraries throughout the US, "Libraries play an important role in our civic and cultural life, and Sony believes that it's important to support public library systems as they expand their services and digital offerings, particularly eBooks," said Phil Lubell, vice president for Sony's Reader business. "Our program is a new initiative that will provide librarians with additional resources, enabling them to inform and demonstrate to patrons how to benefit from their growing eBook collections."

Let's face it Sony want to sell ereaders and promote they lacklustre bookstore and must be feeling the heat on the streets today.

We will no doubt hear more on the Internet Archive interpretation of fair use or what some would suggest are double standards. It however clearly shows that irrespective of the financial constraints they face, libraries also face serious questions over its role, fair use and the clear conflict between its digital model and that of the commercial world.

EBook Readers in Seoul

Our Forth report for Seoul looks at the array of ebook readers on display.

We say the usual array of ‘lookie likie’ eink reader plus some new ones like the NuuT which is specifically for the Eastern market. They certainly looked a sorry sight laying on one stand where they were huddled together like suspects on an identity parade but in this case desperate to be picked out.

We saw Spring Design’s Alex reader which with its two screens offers ‘black and white’ and ‘colour ‘ TV but as we pointed out the colour screen was no larger than today’s mobile phone screens so seemed rather superfluous and like most people we tend to read a book or browse separately.

We saw the Biscuit with its keyboard which clearly looks like it will not survive the rigors of real life usage. It reminded us of those calculator raised keys that after time fail and in this case were inadequately protected. We imagine that these keys will break off or be damaged as the reader is pulled out of its holder.

We saw the iPad standing their 'head and shoulders' above the rest with its crystal clear colour screen. However when Annie picked it up her immediate reaction was to say ‘its far too heavy and I can get a netbook that is lighter…its not portable. It will not fit in my bag’ Interesting, as it’s a comment we had not heard before and its always good to get an instinctive comment from someone who buys devices but doesn’t drown in a sea of device reviews.

Perhaps Coloured eInk is a Dog?

Has colour come to late to the eInk reader world? Will consumers who are yet to buy a eBook reader opt for an eInk device, or a tablet, or a mobile? We may not be that concerned and merely follow the latest and best hype gadgets in this consumable and disposable world, but where will the reader put their money tomorrow?

Taiwan-based Prime View International, who acquired E-Ink last year has displayed 6” and 9.7” colour e-reader screens at the Shenzhen trade show. However before we get too excited the display does not match the 30 frames per second required to support and is achieved by adding an extra layer of colour-filtering glass on top of a standard e-reader display from E-Ink.

Meanwhile in today’s world, Spring Design has announced that their Android-powered Alex e-reader is now available for pre order. The Alex tackles colour by combines a 6" Electronic Paper Display (EPD) with a 3.5" colour LCD screen. So you can watch two screens at once!


We were amused to see yet another Alex and Barnes and Noble’s Nook ‘lookie likie’ from Teclast. What made us smile, was not the two screen approach, but that their market department had chosen to brand it ‘K9’. Perhaps calling the device a ‘dog’ is more apt that Alex or Nook. If these multi screen devices are seen as the answer to monochrome reading and a way to offer media support then we wonder how many consumers will hold onto their cash or simply buy a tablet or netbook.

Digital LibraryWorld: Virtual Library in Surrey

Surrey County Council in the UK are proposing to allow library members to download ebooks and audio books to their personal computers, laptops or other devices.

Its ironic that this is happening the week we wrote about Digital LibraryWorld but today we also received an invitation to tender for a national network across a large European state.

Surrey council claims that it is currently in talks to make the service available across all 53 public libraries across the county. It will not be the first nor will it be the last. It aims to encourage people to read more through the service which will include best seller fiction and a range of non-fiction. The question we raised this week remain unanswered whilst this programme and others roll forward with little or no debate and assessment of the implications.

Walking Backwards to a Net Book Agreement World?

Some would suggest that the publishers have wrestled price control back from the discount chasm that was in danger of undermining the economics of publishing, others that the winners are the authors and some that Amazon merely backed out of a price war to win a fixed margin on all ebook sales. The reasoning will differ according to your allegiance, but what is clear is that the battle is far from over and the water has just got a whole lot muddier. As always we jump to applaud something new before we understand the real implications.

We now have a clear difference in pricing models between the physical and digital book.

One is free and unrestricted the other now set by the publisher. The physical price has been set to accommodate the current high discounting and only the foolish would pay the false price on the physical jacket. It is common to see high discounted price, bundled offers and generally everyday low pricing on the hardback. Now we have a price hike from Amazon’s ebook $9.99, to an agency model price which is set by the publisher and is aimed at guarantying ‘acceptable’ ebook pricing and margin whilst also guarantying hardback sales don’t collapse.
So it will be highly possible to see a hardback for sale at a high discount competing side by side with a more expensive ebook with no discount. We will also see ‘extras’ being added to the ebook, some would suggest not to primarily enrich the content and experience, but to merely justify a higher price. We then we have tax which current is not evenly levied against the two different format types, but has to be paid for the digital copy by the consumer or buried in the price.
Last week we were in Holland and discovered their ebooks, unlike their physical book prices, aren’t controlled. So a physical book is sold at a fixed price with a tax of 6% and ebooks are sold at discount with a tax of 19%. The ebook market is growing but the ebooks are attracting lots of special bundle deals and obviously are ‘cheaper’. The Amazon deal presents us with the opposite a controlled price on an ebook and a free or unrestricted pricing on physical books. UK pbooks are tax free whilst their ebook counterparts attract full tax at17.5%.

So we wondered whether we now find ourselves walking backwards into the UK’s old Net Book Agreement or just another ebook pricing issue? In those NBA ‘safe’ days booksellers were unable to discount and except for the month of January and the National Book Sale, it was a level playing field for all. We wonder what it would have been like if paperbacks were controlled then and Hardbacks not, or visa versa? How can we advocate controlling one market whilst letting the other be free of control? What message does that send out to consumers? What is competitive and what is price fixing and anti competitive?

Some would suggest that it was easy to take on Amazon with Google Editions and Apple coming into play, but that it would be very hard to take on the physical discounters.
We now also have the next new policy of tiered pricing, where the price will drop after some period at the whim and control of the publisher. It is like a ‘sell by date’ where the shelf life is determined but some marketing manager in some distant publisher’s office. How will that be managed, communicated and explained to consumers? Perhaps it will be like the National Book Sale after all or more likely prices will be moving every month.

Finally, authors have now mainly moved over to 'net receipts' contracts, which are based on the price that publishers receive from the resellers. So what should the author deal now be on ebooks? Should it be based on net receipts, on a fixed margin, related to other renditions and will it be higher or lower in real terms to the physical book? If publishers can neatly separate the physical from the digital why can’t authors do the same.

What we have is a change of ebook pricing driven by the perceived need to control digital discounting and the agency plays of Google Editions and Apple. However can we have one price model for digital and another for physical, or is that the next target?

Amazon part 4: Give it Away

The New York Times asks the question ‘How do you make your book a best seller on the Kindle?’ Their answer: Give copies away.

The article poses the question as to what is meant by “best-selling” e-books on the Kindle. After all ‘best selling’ by what says means that something has been ‘sold’ not given away.

So we have the public domain give-aways, the aspiring authors promotions and then the publisher’s own limited window free promotions. Why are these counted alongside the paid for books? If the charts were only ‘paid for’ would we see ebooks for sale for a cent?

So do publishers want tiered pricing and to re-establish the hardback as the premium rendition? Do they want to delay ebook releases in order to protect revenues and re-establish the hardback as the premium rendition? Do they want to give away ebooks to promote them and again protect revenues and re-establish the hardback as the premium rendition?

There are also cases where giveaways are not of the latest title but of older titles by an author, with the purpose not of promoting the back list sales but to get readers to buy the new title at the expense of the back list.

Some would suggest that it’s a case of every way but loose. Others would suggest that it’s about who controls pricing. What is clear is that there is no harmony between publisher houses and it may be a case of every way but win.

We can learn from other sectors. Once you let the free out the bag, getting it back in is hard, if not impossible. So what is the price that publishers feel a ebook is worth? It is clear that the ball today is with the publishers but if they can’t decide, others will.

Brian Murray, chief executive of HarperCollins is quoted, “free is not a business model.”

Amazon Part 1: Kindle Apps

The Amazon is the world’s longest river and has such crosses much territory and many lives and is not unlike its namesake, the world’s biggest bookstore and ecommerce player. As with all huge concerns there are many changes and events taking place at all times and last week was certainly eventful for what Amazon did as this week may be eventful for what other competitors do.

Next month, Amazon will be inviting software developers to build "active content" for the Kindle Store later this year. The Kindle development kit will enable developers access to programming interfaces and tools to design applications for the device. Announced are an international Zagat guide and the intent for mobile games publisher Sonic Boom to create word games and puzzles.

The Kindle Development Kit (KDK) is set to go into limited beta in February 2010, and will include programming interfaces, tools and documentation together with a Kindle Simulator, capable of mimicking both the regular and DX models on PC, Mac and Linux systems. However Amazon has released some specifications and pricing details for KDK developers. The max file size is set at 100MB, (compared to the iPhone's 2GB ) , Files larger than 10MB will have to be transferred via USB, offensive content will be banned and VIOP is not permitted. Developers who provide content over 1MBare to be charge to pay for 3G data costs.

Amazon can't possibly be under any illusion that today's Kindle has a limited life and is not able to compete compete with iPhones, Android devices, tablets or other general-purpose devices. The E Ink display is too limiting and would be like asking TV developers to go back to black and white, non touch screen programming. In addition the sales and therefore the market for ebook eink device apps is small compared to iPhones, iTouch, smartphones, Android and the rest. Even if Citigroup estimates that Amazon sold at least 2 million Kindles in 2009 and account for about 70% of all e-reader sales is correct it hardly passes the so what test. That's a small fraction of the number of iPhones and iPod Touches in circulation.

If the objective is to enable publisher partners to break free of the ‘fixed content’ model and to start exploring interactive digital books then this poses other challenges as the platform is not functionally rich and again begs the question why bother?

Next in Amazon Part 2: DRM Free

'Help! I'm stuck in a Sony factory'

While we were in India managing all things digital we got sent this highly amusing photo. It was taken on Saturday in Waterstones Canary Wharf and begs the question if someone else has distribution challenges...

Further Education's Digital Tectonic Plates

We were recently in Iceland which among other things is living proof that tectonic plates can collide, or pull apart and from it can come benefit. In Iceland’s case it is free energy. The tectonic plates between free and paid for Further Educational content is equally fraught and offer much for all, but some would suggest that we can’t wait for nature to take its course on this occasion.

The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) has reported the findings of its ‘e-books for Further Education (FE)’ research to make 3000 e-books freely available to every college and sixth form in the UK. In the next 5 years, the project aims to enable all students in FE in the UK to access online course texts to support their studies.

The research studied UK student usage of 36 online textbooks at 127 universities during the period November 2007 to December 2008. In that time, 46,000 visits were made and more than 761,000 pages were viewed. More than 50,000 university staff and students were surveyed. The e-books on offer via the project were chosen by ballot system by colleges across the country, with more than 80,000 votes cast. It also compared print sales of the same textbooks during the period which fell during the print-sales-only period 18.7% and fell 13.7% during the subsequent free-access period.

The study recommends that publishers develop better e-text platforms, which could include removing digital rights management, making content available to plagiarism detection software vendors, and having e-books include and conform to ISBN standards. It claims that many students viewed the texts online, and did not download them even though downloading was an option. Most of the textbooks were scanned for content, not read completely, and the incidence of cutting and pasting information was high. This is very interesting as it would support the view that online is important and that online is used for reference and mashing of text. It would indicate that merely replicating the physical book as an ebook may be not what is required. This clearly presents many publishers with not a DRM issue but a rights issue as it suggests that it isn’t the content that needs protecting but the rights cleared to facilitate mash-ups which is a subtlety but different perspective.

JISC wish the new ebook titles to be available to students at anytime, anywhere which again raises some interesting issues. Colleges will also be able to build a digital library of e-books tailored to meet the needs of all its students and buy additional e-books at specially discounted prices to add to their collection. What is not clear to us is whether all the books will be made free under the same terms or will the additional ones be restricted?

It is hoped that the results will give publishers the confidence to release more e-books. We see both pluses and minuses here as there should be the realism that students with little discretion always buy what is required for their courses. However we note that they still want print and this would suggest that the Flat World Creative Commons approach would make sense. This suggests that there is an opportunity for superior product development and integration.

Details of how to subscribe to the online catalogue

Details of the e-books for FE project can be found at JISC

The ABA's Digital Move Makes BookSense

When we wrote the Brave New World report some 3 years ago we clearly saw the glass as half full for the bookseller. It was clear that what was required was a way of supplying and servicing the channel. However, many publishers wanted digital to be direct, aggregators wanted to control the files and build up their own market, chains wanted to go alone and manufacturers saw an opportunity to lock in their devices.

The news that the American Booksellers Association, have adopted Adobe's Content Server 4 (ACS4) digital rights management server architecture to serve files to customers of their member bookstores, not only makes true Booksense, it is what we envisaged 3 years ago, It is the logic that underpins the Gardner Books Digital Warehouse and is being adopted by other wholesalers and distributors in many countries.

The news that Sony is in involved is in fact more noise. ACS4 is agnostic not exclusive and is fully supported by an increasing number of ebook devices, also support secure Adobe ebooks (PDF) and the only exception to this common ground is the Kindle.
So we are now seeing a significant shift with the major opposition to Amazon not being Sony, iRex, Cooler, Plastic Logic, BeBook but the file server that joins them together - Adobe’s ACS4.How will resellers react to the opportunity that now clearly enables them to participate? Will consumer buy local or from the chain, or from the aggregators? Will publishers commercially enable the current channel to fully participate, or back the ‘stack them high and sell them cheap’ merchants?

Today it is hard to envisage an alternative to ACS4 and once it’s SDK option is taken up by mobile players, we will start to see a level of interoperability sought by many. This is a bold step by the ABA and as long as we steer clear of the false repository wars, we may now see a significant digital step change that is makes it possible for all to partisipate.

Sony PRS300 and PRS600 Service Manuals?

Market rumours of a new Sony reader took a further step forward today with the leak of two service manuals on the Internet. The new models appear to be a PRS300 and a PRS600 which would obviously replace, or compliment the PRS500 and PRS700 respectively.

To view the documents as PDFs: PRS300, PRS600

The most depressing aspect of the specs is the continuation of their BBeB format. Sony championed the adoption of the 'open' epub format and Adobe’s ACS4 DRM but seem to forget to mention Adobe ebooks (PDF) which play perfectly in the device and are fully supported by ACS4 and widely adopted and still talk about their own format as if the market cares.

An eReader With a Difference

The "E-Alim EL1000" is certainly one ebook reader with a difference. Forget the 7” LCD touchscreen, stereo speakers and microSD expansion slot, the ability to store and display pictures and video. The reader, whose name translates as "the electronic scholar," is claimed to be the first Arabic ereader.

It can displaying the Qur'an in six different Arabic fonts and translates the Qur'an into 24 different languages: Albanian, Azerbaijani, Bosnian, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hausa, Indonesian, Italian, Latin, Malaysian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Tamil, Thai, Transliteration, Turkish, and Urdu. The device also contains Tafseer (Qur'anic commentaries) in voices of 6 famous Reciters, Hadith (information about Muhammad's way of life), prayer times and Qibla Direction for major cities of the world and other religious materials. It is even supplied with an external analog compass so that users can oriented themselves properly for purposes of prayer.

The E-Alim EL1000 has been launched in the United Arab Emirates where it is available for 917.5 Dirham (approximately $250) and is expected to sell around 10,000 units this year.

It is interesting move in that it has an appeal to a huge audience and has taken a narrow, but multi media approach to its market.

For more info visit enmac.com

The Price Is Right

We walked around Adsa (WalMart UK) this week. Denim jeans £3 and designer denims for £14, hardback and paper books, that are both current and fighting for sales in every other bookstore offered at 50% off. We can now buy most popular CDs between £5 and £8 and yet we still refer to this as ‘rip off Britian’.

The reality is that players such as the supermarkets have driven out production and supply chain waste and moved from production based, to market and demand driven costing. The physical manufacturing, distribution and replenishment processes have been squeezed and yesterday’s prices now look a total rip off.

Amazon and the chains have broken the price of books as it relates to the list price, but not necessarily as it relates to cost. Book prices have dropped but jacket prices have often increased to compensate.

Enter the ebook. We have written many times on the issue of pricing ebooks and the price alignment with other formats. The reality is that in a demand and market driven environment and especially one where one digital book looks the same as any other, a price point will happen. Music, DVD and other media markets may have their anomalies, but in the main, price points still prevail irrespective of the production cost.

So when Sourcebooks recently decided to withhold the release of the ebook, so it didn’t impact the hardback sales, we ask once again – is it wise.com?

Amazon is creating an eBook price point of $9.99 that, irrespective of your position, is likely to stick. Ask Apple about iTunes and their infamous $0.99 price point. The challenge is not how to continue to confuse consumers and fight price points but how the market can make such a move work and still reward the author.

When we look at some of the significant business model changes that are happening today, we realize that we must be flexible and even prepared to burn the model altogether. For example, look at Spotify music streaming service, which still pays royalties but is ‘free’ at consumption. Look at how network carriers have created bundles of services and in doing so have effectively cut the cost to their customers.

We still have not found the answer to the potential digital rent for free from a library versus digital pay to buy retail models.

The one person we must continue to reward is the creator. Interestingly there appears little reason why they can’t be paid more frequently, if not in real time for their digital sales.

Barnes & Noble Launch Iphone Bookstore

Barnes & Noble have announced the launch of its iPhone and iPod touch app. , promising users access to millions of titles. The Bookstore app enables users to access millions of titles, click on a jacket and within seconds they receive product details, editorial reviews, and customer ratings. Consumers may find and reserve a copy at the nearest B&N retail location, or make purchases via their BN.com account. The Bookstore also offers details on upcoming Barnes & Noble events, directions to their 777 bookstores in 50 states, bookseller recommendations, video clips and author interviews.

Earlier this year B&N acquired digital ebook retailer Fictionwise for $15.7 million and announced that they were is collaborating with Sprint and an unidentified manufacturer to develop an ebook device to rival Amazon.com's Kindle.