B&N had an opportunity with the Nook to move the ebook reader market progressively forward.  And I thought the Nook was very good device.  I own a Kindle, and have since before the Nook came out.  To be honest, when the original Nook came out, I seriously considered getting one.  It had some features that I wish the Kindle had.

So when the rumor mill began churning out word of a color Nook, I was excited. I have been looking forward to the release of a color e-ink reader.  Color me disappointed that the NOOKcolor is actually a backlit LCD rather than e-ink.  I have to be honest, for the money (NOOKcolor is $249), I’d spend a little more and buy a full-blown iPad.

Here’s the site with info.  Do you homework.  If it suits your desires in a reader, great.  But don’t be fooled into thinking this device is a color e-reader.

Amazon introduces $139 Kindle with wi-fi as it competes with Apple’s iPad

Kindle to Go ‘Mass Market’

Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts ofpublic domain books. The project tries to make these as free as possible, in long-lasting, open formats that can be used on almost any computer. As of December 2009, Project Gutenberg claimed over 32,000 items in its collection.

If you have a lot of classics in your “To Be Read” file, you can bet the text if available from Project Gutenberg since most of these books are older and have passed into the public domain.  Project Gutenberg is careful to verify the status of its ebooks according to U.S. copyright law. Material is added to the Project Gutenberg archive only after it has received a copyright clearance, and records of these clearances are saved for future reference. Unlike some other digital library projects, Project Gutenberg does not claim new copyright on titles it publishes. Instead, it encourages their free reproduction and distribution.  Most books in the Project Gutenberg collection are distributed as public domain under U.S. copyright law.

Although still considered experimental by PG, most of the books are now available already formatted in EPUB and MOBI formats.  That means you Sony, Nook, and Kindle users can read these on your device with no messy conversions required.

PG indexes all of their books and for data-hounds, this information is downloadable and searchable.  Further, you can download ISO files (CD images) containing all books on PG, or categorized by genre (like Sci-Fi).

If you are really ambitious, you can read most of the Harvard Classics (Five Foot Shelf) on PG.

I highly recommend reading some of the articles listed on the PG About Page.

But publishers said it is still too early to gauge for the entire industry whether the growth of e-books is cannibalizing sales of paperback books, a huge and crucial market.

Publishers had better get on the ball or they will find themselves in a similar situation as the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) when they found they were out in the cold on the CD vs. MP3 debate.  I understand the ripping a CD to MP3 is a different situation than converting a hardback book to an ebook.  But, honestly, ebook DRM is a joke, and there is already a plethora of content (both legal and otherwise) available on the Internet.

Wake up publishers!  Stop jerking us around with your pricing/availability games.  If you want to control the game, you are going to have to get up to speed real soon.  Otherwise, Apple and Amazon will control it for you.

Another interesting tidbit for you “iPad is the Kindle-killer” folks out there:

Of the 1.14 million James Patterson e-books sold as of July 6, nearly 868,000 were from Amazon.

Read: Amazon Says E-Book Sales Outpace Hardcovers – WSJ

If your library offers this service, you are in luck!  You can get this content onto your Kindle.  Conveniently, for Kindle owners, Kindle can read the MOBI format.  In fact, it is widely known that Kindle’s proprietary format AZW is merely MOBI in disguise.  The only thing you need to focus on is how to get an appropriate MOBI serial number to register your device with the library.  This number is known as the PID number.

Fortunately, most of the heavy lifting has already been done for you.  Igor Skochinsky has written a couple of tools that will get a valid PID from your Kindle serial number and will convert the MOBI file to an AZW readable by your Kindle.  All this for the grand total of $0!

The catch is that you will need to have a language called Python installed, as the tools are written for the Python language.  If you are not familiar with Python, but can follow simple instructions, you will still be able to do this.  Go to http://www.python.org/download/ and download a copy of Python.  I recommend you stick with the 2.x version of Python as this tool (and others) are known to work with 2.x but not 3.x.  Get the appropriate installer.  For most of you, this will be straight-up Windows (and possibly 64 bit).  (Honestly, if you are using Linux, you probably don’t need my help on any of this…)  Download and install according to the directions.

Now get Igor’s tools from http://igorsk.blogspot.com/2007/12/mobipocket-books-on-kindle.html.  He has conveniently included some simple to follow instructions on how to use the tools.  Basically, you will open a command prompt to run python, then create a PID from your Kindle serial number (keep a copy of your PID somewhere and you won’t have to repeat this step in the future), and lastly, you convert the MOBI file to AZW with your PID.

Now you can just transfer the file to your Kindle and read away!  This is great for MOBI books you might have purchased elsewhere (of before you had your Kindle), or for libraries that offer MOBI books.

Some important notes to remember:

• I personally believe that law-abiding citizens should not be restricted to how they utilize content.  For example, if I am allowed to check out a paper book from the library and return it, I shouldn’t be restricted to the device I use to read an ebook from the the same library.  That does NOT mean that the end user license agreement allows this!  If not, then it is up to you as to whether you do this or not.
• This may or may not work on all MOBI files.  (I have encountered some that do not.)  No warranty is expressed or implied.
• Remember that Amazon has the ability to look at your Kindle when the wireless is on.  If you are in fact in violation of any agreements, they can find out.  What kind of bad things can they do to you?  I’d rather not find out.
• If you call Amazon for any support issues, they can look into your device.  See above.
• I can’t guarantee that this will not damage your Kindle.  It works for me.  If it doesn’t work for you and you damage your Kindle – well, that’s your problem.
• You can treat these like any other book while ON the Kindle, but I have had issues using Kindle software for the PC and iPhone.  Same goes for keeping notes and syncing.

• Collections - this is something that was, in my opinion, long overdue. I have about 50-60 books on my Kindle and paging through the library is simplified significantly with this feature.
• Facebook & Twitter – post your highlights and notes to Twitter and/or Facebook directly from your Kindle.
• Popular Highlights – personally, I don’t like this feature. I think it brings up significant privacy issues. While Amazon insists that they don’t track personal data with this, it just serves as a reminder that Amazon has a window into your world when you use a Kindle. Also, I’m not sure I will make use of looking at other people’s highlights.
• PDF Pan and Zoom – excellent. I use PDFs on my Kindle and honestly, if you have a 6″ version, it’s been less than workable.
• Password Protection – I probably won’t use it, but definitely a plus if you live or work with snoopy people.
• More Font Sizes and Improved Clarity – I have to admit, I didn’t notice a difference with the “improved clarity.” The print on the Kindle was excellent before. Apparently, it’s even better now (although I can’t tell the difference).

It is easy to upgrade – in fact, most people need do nothing other than leave the wireless turned on, Kindle will upgrade itself automatically.  If, however, you have made use of the popular “Screen Saver Hack,” you may find that your Kindle didn’t update.  You then might be inclined to upgrade manually.  You’ll need to uninstall the screen saver hack first!  (Make sure you use the uninstall bin file included with the hack to do this.)  Once you’ve uninstalled the screen saver hack, then you can update the firmware.

This firmware upgrade adds some great features, my favorite of which are the Collections and Twitter/Facebook post.  This, coupled with the recent price drop to $189 makes it a good time to get a Kindle
if you don’t already have one.  Oh, and if you’re one of those people that thinks you’d rather have an iPad, this price drop makes it much more reasonable to own both.  Let me tell you, if you read a lot, you’ll appreciate the e-ink type screen more than a backlit tablet.

Photos of the B&N e-book reader here.

I have now had a significant amount of time to get to know my Kindle and I have to say it outperformed my expectations. As an owner of a previous generation Sony (PRS-500), it is an improvement.

There are consistently reports on the Internet of certain devices being a “Kindle Killer” and I have to say that, as an ebook reader, the Kindle is hard to top. I own an iPhone and an iPod Touch. The fact that people deride the Kindle as not being a “do-all” device leaves me scratching my head a little because there is NO WAY I would be interested in reading a book on my iPhone. And the reports of the larger screen iPhone/iPod Touch media device, I would say that I would not read a book on those either, at least not for an extended period. The back-lit screen is just not the same as paper. If you read a lot of books and want to do so electronically, an e-ink device is a must.

So then a comparison to the new Sony devices would be in order. Sony released a new reader with wireless broadband similar to the Kindle. I have to admit this was a major selling point for me and a big reason why I continue to like it more than my Sony. There are some issues with the new Sony in the wireless area that would prevent me from recommending it over the Kindle. They have marketed that the Sony agreement with Google Books opens up the doors to millions of free books for the user. That is true. However, how much public domain content do you typically read? I mean, if you mostly read books published before 1928, great; it’s a seamless plethora of content. But, the popular public domain works are out there in mobi or azw for the Kindle already as well. And if you are even remotely saavy, converting epub to mobi or azw is a snap. So for now I’ll stick with the Kindle.

And they’ve dropped the price AGAIN! This is probably a marketing effort to combat the Sony and others (Irex, etc) from gaining any ground. That’s fine by me because I think the consumer benefits from a price war.

Well, I finally did it. I bought myself a Kindle.

I’ve wanted one ever since they came out, but I hesitated early on with the 1st generation device. Due to the high price tag at launch, and the varied reviews, couple with the fact that I wasn’t sure I would even enjoy using an eBook reader, I decided to buy a refurbished Sony PRS-500. I liked the Sony and found the screen to be as easy to read as a regular book, unlike a backlit screen on a computer or other device. When the Kindle 2 came out, I thought I would upgrade but again, I could not justify the price tag.

But Wednesday, Amazon cut the price of the Kindle to $299. That’s still not cheap, but it was enough of a move to get me to buy. I bought one and got next day shipping and had the device in my hand by Thursday afternoon.

I already love it! The screen is easy to read, and it has 6 font sizes compared ot the Sony’s 3. I wasn’t crazy about the form factor originally (it looked like there was too much real estate used that wasn’t “screen.”) but I found it to be easier to hold and read like a book compared to the Sony.

I’m just getting to know the device, so I can’t do a full review, but that will come later. For now, suffice to say that if you like to read and have been contemplating an eBook reader, this is one nice device.