ebooks

Amazon has just outed the latest version of its mid-range Kindle model, the Paperwhite, and it now has the single-best feature from the pricier Kindle Voyage model, while keeping its $119 price tag. The new Paperwhite has a 300 pixels-per-inch e-paper display, making text twice as sharp as the previous generation, and offering a reading experience that's much easier on the eyes. The new e-reader is available to order now, but Amazon says shipping will begin on June 30th.

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Following a similar investigation into Apple, the European Commission is now targeting Amazon with an antitrust probe over its ebooks business and potentially anti-competitive practices. As Amazon is the largest ebooks distributor in Europe, the EC want to focus on the company's contracts with publishers. Of utmost concern is an apparent requirement that publishers tell Amazon about deals with their competitors, specifically if they are offering better prices. The EC believes clauses like these "seem to shield Amazon from competition."

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Amazon has added audiobook reading to its Echo personal assistant, allowing the pillar-like speaker to regale owners with Audible ebooks. The update is the latest in a series of improvements to Echo which Amazon has pushed out, and follows Google Calendar integration which was installed late last month. Echo will also synchronize its place in each audiobook with Amazon's apps on other platforms, to make the listening experience effectively seamless.

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You expect different fonts in the books you read than on the Web pages you read, and so it is common for some fonts to only be found in books -- they're tailored for the long-form reading experience, and altogether visually pleasant. Apple will reportedly be switching up its system fonts for better readability, and Google is doing something similar with its Google Play Books specifically. The Internet giant has unveiled a new font specifically for ebooks, and it's called "Literata".

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Those who like to read digitally have likely heard of Oyster, the monthly subscription service geared towards avid readers. At $9.99/month, getting the most out of Oyster is easy if you read one or more books monthly. If you don’t, you might have wondered why you’re subscribing — why not just buy books as needed? It’s a crossroads many have found themselves at, but you no longer have to leave Oyster if you’re not interested in subscribing. Today, Oyster is launching an eBook marketplace, where you can buy digital copies of books.

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In October 2013, Scribd introduced a monthly ebook subscription service that provides users across multiple platforms with all-you-can-read ebooks at a set per month price. That service has been chugging along nicely since then with few notable changes...until this week. The company has just recently added thousands of comic books to its ebook subscription service, giving users access to more than 10,000 comic books and graphic novels from in excess of ten different publishers, including IDW and Marvel.

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During that magical transition period from physical music discs to digital files, you likely bought your first MP3 player and then stared down the massive pile of CDs filling your bookcase. Thus came the long process of ripping your physical media so that you could use it on the newest piece of technological marvel, and all was well in your world. We're seeing that same kind of transitioning happening with books, with many beholding their slim Kindle and likewise eyeballing all those heavy books lying around, but merging the two together isn't quite as simple.

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Last summer, Amazon introduced its Kindle Unlimited subscription ebook service, something that gives users access to hundreds of thousands of books for a flat rate via their Kindle. The benefits are obvious, and those who consumer a lot of books in a month will find it helps cut down on the monthly budget. As with many other services, Amazon hasn't been open about its statistics on the subscription option, but Nielsen has stepped in to fill that void, dropping some numbers to give an idea of how the service is used.

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Ebooks and paper books each have their own benefits -- nothing is quite as satisfying as watching the number of pages dwindle as you read a physical book, for example, but a Kindle packed with ebooks is far more convenient than a heavy backpack. Having each version of a book -- both paper and digital -- is the best of both worlds, but more or less double the expense. Some publishers have rolled out options to get an ebook edition of a book you already own, but finding those options isn't always simple.

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It's been several months now since any news has been heard about Apple's settlement in a class-action lawsuit over the company's ebook price-fixing. Reuters is now reporting that a U.S. District Judge has approved a settlement amount of $450 million in what was described as an "unusual" accord.

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This morning Barnes & Noble's NOOK family expanded with an app that'll turn the audio on with books. The NOOK Audiobooks App is the first "no-commitment" app from Barnes & Noble to offer audiobooks for both Android smartphones and tablets - that means no subscription costs or anything - and it'll be released by the ned of this week. This release will not be limited to any one brand of Android smartphone or tablet, while Barnes & Noble will continue to offer their Samsung Galaxy Tab NOOK devices through the future.

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Suddenly, and without much of the fanfare the actual dispute had, Amazon and Hachette have settled their differences. The two companies announced Thursday morning they’ve signed a new multi-year contract which will (naturally) see Hachette-published books on Amazon. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but both parties were complimentary of the agreement. In Amazon’s original complaint, they said their aim was to keep eBook pricing low. In announcing the deal, Amazon executive David Naggar noted “financial incentives” for Hachette to deliver on low-priced eBooks.

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