OK, the best eBook reader on the planet just got better. It starts shipping March 11. With still a base price of $499 and Android has nothing priced like this even close baby.
Dual Core 1Ghz Processing
9 times better graphic power but not a better display *sigh*
Front and Back cameras
Thinner than an iPhone and 1.3 pounds in all.
Teddypig are you not aware of the fact Kindle and Nook and Kobo might get kicked out of the App Store? Well yeah, if they want to play in Apple’s sandbox then pay them for using their app store to sell content and competing with them in their sandbox. I don’t see Amazon inviting all the other retailers to play on their Kindle.
Nothing is for free and someone always has to pay.
My thing is when people talk about all this they forget to mention one thing. iBooks and Kindle and Nook and even Kobo are just delivery systems based around proprietary DRMs.
It’s the DRM that makes them different delivery systems everything else is illusion and labels and marketing speak.
If you only buy non-DRM content like Gay Romance from Samhain Publishing or Loose Id or Liquid Silver Books or any number of other non-DRM ePublishers who have positioned themselves on the consumer’s side in this market then why worry? Buy direct from that non-DRM ePublisher or hang out like I do over at All Romance eBooks and stay away from the silly DRM pushers people.
The only people who are upset with Apple at all about any of this are people who want a free ride to begin with or who have bought so heavily into a specific DRM platform. Which is an incredibly stupid thing to do by the way given the nature of the beast and what has suddenly happened to various and sundry DRM platforms in the past.
How many Microsoft Lit eBooks have you seen lately?
I buy PDF non-DRM and transfer it right at time of purchase to my iBooks all while using the iPad and I never have to use my computer to do any of this. Just as convenient as any Kindle.
No Amazon or Nook or Apple DRM in sight is an added benefit.
My point is NOT to buy into the DRM debate and stay away as much as possible buying DRM eBooks. I don’t want Amazon or iBooks or Nook to win. I am buying the best hardware to read my eBooks on not the DRM and that should always be my first and only consideration. That is more than any Nook or Kindle or even Kobo can say.
When they come out with an acceptably priced Android tablet I will give that an honest shot but the battle wages on and the whole eBook reading ground we are on today is shaky at best with Borders gone it’s only a matter of time for the big publishers to start falling and let’s make sure DRM goes down with them.
Go order far cheaper and on sale paperbacks from those neanderthal publishers who are heading for the “agency model” cliff and make sure you only buy non-DRM directly from the ePublishers or from an independent retailer like All Romance eBooks that you choose to support.
Please quit giving Amazon or iBooks or Barnes & Noble so much of your time or money for eBooks when they are hell bent on selling you DRM poison people and I honestly believe you will end up paying for that convenience some day maybe with your whole library going down in flames because I don’t see brighter days ahead for dead tree publishing at the moment.
So stop the insanity you Gay Romance readers out there. Think Different!
This Susan Powter moment brought to you by Apple.
Tags: iPad
kel wrote,
I was hoping for retina display, but even without, the new beastie looks great.
While I hate DRM, I do buy an occasional DRM title, but I buy it in PDF or EPUB from independent online bookstores then read on txtr or bluefire. Initially, I added the Kindle app and the Nook app on my iPad, but I’ve never needed or used them so I got rid of them.
Link | March 2nd, 2011 at 6:16 pm
TeddyPig wrote,
There are a few ebooks you can only get on kindle and so yeah I got them but if that app were to disappear close to all my ebooks would still be on my iPad. I think that is the safest way to ride right now.
Link | March 2nd, 2011 at 6:34 pm
Emilie wrote,
I didn’t know Kobo had DRM as well. That seems really counterproductive for a smaller company.
I know DRM means Digital Rights Management. As it applies to e-books, I have the idea (and this may overlap with other Amazon things) that you are leasing the book, not owning it; that you can only read it on their devices, more or less, and only a certain number of their devices, otherwise they take it back. Apparently they can take the book away any time they feel like it. Is this at least somewhat accurate?
Now, if you buy from an e-book publisher or a retailer like ARe, you own the book outright, correct? I mean, I can put a copy of the book on my desktop computer, on a USB drive, on an e-reader, so it’s not like it can get pulled back. I just saw somewhere that you could only read on so many devices with Sony. I wish I remembered where I saw that. Does that sound right?
I know this is all making me sound computer-illiterate, or at least illiterate about DRM, but I’m trying to figure it out.
Link | March 2nd, 2011 at 7:03 pm
TeddyPig wrote,
As long as the ebook does not say secure at are then it should be non-drm
Link | March 2nd, 2011 at 7:19 pm
Emilie wrote,
Okay, so if it’s on sale at ARe or wherever and says “secure” it does have DRM. That’s a good bit of information to remember. Thank you. Did you do a previous post explaining the other things I asked about? Did I basically have the right idea about what can happen with an e-book with DRM?
Link | March 2nd, 2011 at 8:19 pm
TeddyPig wrote,
Yes I was just thinking I had a picture of what we were talking about here it is….
http://www.teddypig.com/2011/02/how-to-buy-ebooks-on-the-ipad-without-walls/
Link | March 2nd, 2011 at 9:26 pm
Sunita wrote,
I’ve been reading ebooks since memoware had free books for the Palm, through the early companies (Peanut Press!) and then on to today. I strip the DRM from every ebook I buy (when I want a book I don’t care if it’s non-DRM or not, I just take the DRM off if it comes that way). I read across two platforms (kindle and epub), so this way I can read any of them wherever I want. I also bounce back and forth among ereader software programs (bluefire, kindle, goodreader, or stanza).
The Agency pricing has done more to drive me away from my old reliable reading habits than anything else, I think. I read a lot more m/m and category romances now, and I’m quite happy doing that.
I don’t have an iPad, I have a Kindle DX for academic pdfs. It’s much lighter in weight and I like the e-ink screen. I read on my iPhone a lot so the iPad is not as attractive, I guess. But the new one does look like a beautiful piece of machinery.
I’m one of the people railing about Apple and Agency 6 and DRM. It’s more the feeling of letdown, though I know that’s my own damn fault. I just put up a post about it: http://bit.ly/dY3Huw
Link | March 3rd, 2011 at 3:32 pm
TeddyPig wrote,
“I have a Kindle DX for academic pdfs.”
I almost got one of those for doing the same thing. I don’t really have a thing against eInk but only the “contributing factor” when people buy an Amazon or Nook eBook from some ePublisher like Samhain through them to read.
Then “that purchasing” from Amazon or Nook or Kobo is the real issue not the hardware.
The evil is the DRM and it is the “leveraging agent” being used to create the hoopla with the consumers and it is DRM that is the real problem and not the hardware.
The iPad actually comes with the most options as to eBook formats and abilities in reading them I have ever had next to a full on computer.
Link | March 3rd, 2011 at 4:43 pm
Ella Jane wrote,
Very interesting post Teddypig.
I agree. Some publishers make it easy to not care about any of that. For instance Dreamspinner allows to download an ebook in every format so whatever happens one is sure to have the right copy for the surviving reader… but not all pubishers do that: Loose Id makes a customer choose. Carina no longer sells pdf now! I completely agree: I hate being taken hostage by the DRM clan, Amazon & whoever wants to lock me into their system. The ebooks are just text (really small files without the cover picture); it could be so simple. I’m not computer-savvy enough to be able to strip the DRM from an ebook. Can you recommend a link or something explaning how to do that?
Second question is about the reading app. I use the Kindle for PC reader because I like how there is only the text on the screen without any other disturbing buttons & things. But it’s very limited to take notes and the more one highlights the slower the computer is (because retains all of them in the short term memory). Plus there is no way to organise the library, have folders, rename the ebooks, etc. Have you written a post comparing the softwares to read the ebooks?
Thanks
Ella Jane
Link | March 4th, 2011 at 7:54 am
TeddyPig wrote,
Everybody’s organizing is very primitive at the moment but iBooks started allowing me to organize my non-DRM PDFs…
http://www.teddypig.com/2010/12/using-apple-ibooks-organizes-your-non-drm-pdf-ebooks/
It’s not a perfect way to do it but it works for me to some degree.
Link | March 4th, 2011 at 8:28 am