Piracy and the Authors Who Don’t Mind

As the age of technology produces even more advancements, people young and old have discovered the ways of piracy. For years Hollywood and the music industry have been bending over backwards to stop people from pirating their products. As the Internet and e-books become increasingly popular, pirated books are popping up on many P2P (peer-to-peer) file sharing networks.

Penguin vs Amazon – Book Fights Reach Libraries

Previously on Penguin vs. Amazon, Amazon cut prices for Penguin’s new releases of ebooks down to a discount price of $9.99. Penguin retaliated on April 1^st by refusing to let Amazon carry any of its new ebook releases anymore. Amazon counterattacked by making those same books, in hardback form, that $9.99 price. Other companies had long since come to agreements with Amazon on pricing deals, but Penguin was stubborn. Eventually, Penguin too came to an agreement, and all seemed finally at peace. The peace was tenuous, however, and all knew that it would only be a matter of time.

Kindle Fire: Rekindling the Love for Kindle

Amazon recently announced its newest line of Kindles. They are the Kindle, Kindle Touch, Kindle Touch 3G, and the Kindle Fire (great pun, right?). Affordable, simple, functional, the new Kindles prove Amazon hasn’t been completely asleep in the tech-race.

E-Books vs. Books: The Green Debate

Original image on NYTimes.com

I always have been a book person. I’ve been collecting them since I was three, from the Sesame Street how-to-count books to Maurice by E.M. Forster. I love the feel of books, the smell of them, everything about them. Also, vainly enough, I like the way books look on shelves; I have a tendency to arrange them by color. There’s just nothing like a book!

Newest Ebook Reader Promises Much

Barnes & Noble recently unveiled its newest digital reader: the Nook Simple Touch Reader. The Barnes & Noble website brags the new device has the longest battery life of any digital reader on the market with Wi-Fi off, seven font sizes (from extra extra small to extra extra large), and a super portable size and weight. It also has a full touch screen and has improved e-Ink. It also will provide access to NOOK Friends, a social reading experience.

A Kindle Carol: What My Book-Signing Experience Would Have Lacked

Audrey holding "New Moon," by Stephenie Meyer and waiting in line for a book-signing.

A few years ago during my senior year of high school, my mom gave me permission to skip school to attend a book release with some friends at a Barnes and Noble bookstore 45 minutes across town. We met in the school parking lot at 5 a.m. to carpool and make sure we were in line by six, and then waited six hours for the actual release.

The book? “The Host” by Stephenie Meyer. For those of you who aren’t familiar with who Stephenie Meyer is, I’ll give you a brief rundown.

Stephenie Meyer is responsible (single-handedly, in my opinion) for the sudden outburst of obsessions surrounding werewolves, vampires and the actor Robert Pattinson. Ringing any bells?

Borders Reorganization Plan, Will It Work?

Feb. 16, 2011, isn’t a significant date to most people. For Borders Inc., however, it is a date probably still ringing in the ears of executives and employees. On that date, Borders Inc. filed for bankruptcy.

Electronic or Traditional Books? An Irrelevant Question

The battle continues as the printed book industry fights the crippling effects of e-books. Undeniably, the increasingly popular new technology has bullied the dwindling traditional medium. E-book sales trumped hardback sales this summer, consumption of the former swelling 191 percent from last year, as reported by The Association of American Publishers . Contrarily, the printed book saw sales decrease in every category but one.

From the Ad Nauseum Department: The Digital vs. Printed Textbooks Debate

Another article about the high price of printed textbooks cropped up yesterday at The Chronicle of Higher Education that once again, as occurs in most discussions about this issue, missed several key points. In particular, Jeffrey Young, the article’s author, points to initiatives such as Flat World Knowledge and/or bulk licensing of ebook titles from major textbook publishers via course materials fees to help students out with this dilemma. And, while there can be something gained with an outside/naive perspective—be from Young or the college administrators he quotes—I’m ever amazed by some of the assumptions made about textbook publishers in general and digital textbooks in particular.