06:01 PM by fjtorres in E-Book General | News

I know, shocking...
The Digital Reader Blog has a nice summary of the judge's ruling.

http://www.the-digital-reader.com/20...ue-unhindered/

It’s been nearly 10 months since the booksellers filed an anti-trust lawsuit alleging that Amazon and the major publishers had colluded to shut indies out of the market. This suit argued that in agreeing to license content to Amazon which used Amazon’s proprietary DRM, the publishers had effectively shut out indies from a major part of the market. It also argues that Amazon had an illegal monopoly in the ebook market.

Just to put this lawsuit in perspective, let me remind you that it was filed in the midst of an unrelated DOJ anti-trust lawsuit which proved that 5 of the 6 major US publishers had conspired with Apple against Amazon with the goal of raising the market prices of their ebooks. If someone could explain how 5 publishers simultaneously conspired both with Amazon and against Amazon, I would be willing to pay big money. Also, the DOJ disclosed in the summer 2012 that Amazon was investigated as part of the investigation into Apple and the 5 publishers. Furthermore, the DOJ declined to file a lawsuit against Amazon, reporting that they did not find any evidence of wrongdoing.

With that context in mind, it should probably come as no surprise that Judge Rakoff didn’t buy any of the booksellers arguments.

Sadly, Nate went light on the snark this time.

A lot more at the site including this:

Under the Sherman Anti-trust Act, the plaintiffs had to prove that Amazon had a monopoly and that the retailer had acquired or maintained that monopoly “as distinguished from the growth or development as a consequence of a superior product”.

The judge ruled that they failed to prove either point, and in fact the arguments made by the booksellers defeated themselves.

I suppose there are now *two* "corrupt judges in Amazon's pocket".

06:18 AM by soondai in E-Book General | News

Around a year and a half ago I got my first email from Amazon promising a credit from the price-fix-6 publishers. I think it vaguely intimated I could expect it around a year and 3 months ago.

Got another back in September. Looks like the legal wrangling is finally over and the credits should appear early next year.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/b...arly-2014.html

07:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Week in Review

If you've been too busy to check out MobileRead this week, check out our usual roundup:

E-Book General - News

• PocketBook CAD Reader
• YotaPhone: A Fully Functional LCD/E-Ink Phone on Sale Now!

E-Book General - Deals, Freebies, and Resources (No Self-Promotion)

• Baen January 2014 Bundle - Expires Soon - 7 books/$18

11:56 AM by faithbw in E-Book General | News

I was doing a Google search for e-ink and saw this:

http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/04/y...hone-hands-on/

It's not perfect (what gadget is?) but I think it's pretty cool.

It's on sale in Europe for 499 Euros. No word on when or if it'll be available in the U.S.

07:22 AM by Dulin's Books in E-Book General | News

Just stumbled upon this in my news reading

http://gigaom.com/2013/12/02/e-ink-p...ing-cad-files/

The 13.3-inch Android tablet uses the latest E Ink Fina display which has less than half the weight of a similar glass-based TFT and is less than half as thick as well. The PocketBook CAD Reader has a 1 GHz dual-core chip and runs Android 4.0.4 with 2 GB of memory and 16 GB of internal storage. It also has an 8,000 mAh battery, Wi-Fi and an integrated 3G radio as well as Wacom digitizer support.

ohh Nate has it on his front page as well http://www.the-digital-reader.com/

06:28 AM by pdurrant in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

Just a reminder that if you want to buy Baen's January 2014 Bundle, seven SF/Fantasy books for $18, you only have TWO WEEKS left to buy it. The bundle will come off sale sometime on the 15th December, and the full bundle can be downloaded by those who've bought it sometime from the 16th December 2013 onwards.

The total cost of the individual books will be about $58. So if you don't already have any of the books in the bundle, that's a discount of 68%!

The books in the January 2014 bundle are:

Revolution: Book Three of the Secret World Chronicles by Mercedes Lackey, Cody Martin, Dennis Lee, and Veronica Giguere
1636: Seas of Fortune by Iver Cooper
The Forever Engine by Frank Chadwick
A Liaden Universe Constellation, Volume 2 by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
A Rising Thunder by David Weber
Sunset of the Gods by Steve White
The Iron Breed by Andre Norton

07:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Week in Review

Just in case you've missed anything, here is the list of our frontpage news this week.

E-Book General - News

• Nook Windows 8 app now available internationally

E-Book General - General Discussions

• Neil Gaiman on Libraries and Reading
• Survey finds that 62% of 16 to 24-year-olds prefer paper books to e-books

E-Book General - Reading Recommendations

• December Book Club Vote

10:26 AM by K. Molen in E-Book General | General Discussions

Sixteen to 24-year-olds are known as the super-connected generation, obsessed with snapping selfies or downloading the latest mobile apps, so it comes as a surprise to learn that 62% prefer print books to ebooks.

Asked about preferences for physical products versus digital content, printed books jump out as the media most desired in material form, ahead of movies (48%), newspapers and magazines (47%), CDs (32%), and video games (31%).

"It is surprising because we think of 16-24s as being attached to their smartphones and digital devices, so it does shout out," said Luke Mitchell of agency Voxburner, which researched questions about buying and using content with 1,420 young adults.

The two big reasons for preferring print are value for money and an emotional connection to physical books. On questions of ebook pricing, 28% think that ebooks should be half their current price, while just 8% say that ebook pricing is right.

The top-rated reasons for preferring physical to digital products were: "I like to hold the product" (51%), "I am not restricted to a particular device" (20%), "I can easily share it" (10%), "I like the packaging" (9%), and "I can sell it when used" (6%)...

Full article here: http://www.theguardian.com/books/201...printed-ebooks