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

Kindle to Go ‘Mass Market’

While everyone salivates around the iPhone part of the ruling, one specific needed detail was indeed missing from the list – circumventing eBook DRM to convert the text to a format for another device.

Here’s an example:

You own a DRM protected eBook that you bought for your Sony Reader. You later purchase a Kindle. Kindle cannot read the EPUB format that your book is in, but you want to read the ebook on your Kindle. Can you circumvent the DRM in order to convert the ebook to MOBI format? Most license agreements at present say “no.” Amazon’s agreement specifically states that all you own is the right to read the content on the Kindle. You don’t own the book itself.

This is quite unlike a hardback book where you own the physical copy of the book. You bought it and you can do what you want with it. You can give it away, you can sell it, you can even burn it. What you can’t do is photocopy it and redistribute the content.

Ebook licensing ideally should duplicate this model. But at minimum, it needs to allow for law-abiding citizens to be able to crack the DRM in order to read content we purchased on some other device.

A step up from this would include the ability to deal with content from the library. Here’s an example:

My library offers ebooks as PDF, EPUB, and MOBI. But sometimes there are books that are in only one format (let’s say EPUB). I want to read that on my Kindle, but I can’t without circumventing the DRM and converting it to MOBI format, which clearly violates the EULA. But I only want to read it on a different device. I’m not going to strip the DRM and host it on some bit-torrent site or otherwise redistribute it. I just want to read it on an incompatible device.

I am waiting for the Library of Congress to rule on these issues as well, but I won’t hold my breath. It seems that they are more concerned with the iPhone than they are with people who just want to read. In fact, when this story was announced, I could only find one article out of 478 on news.google.com that actually detailed the ebook component of the decision. The vast majority (read: all the others that I searched) only talked about the iPhone, even though ebook text-to-speech circumvention was also part of the decision.

When all e-books are blocked from screen readers or e-reader read aloud functions, and no digital edition is available with such accessibility features.

– from DMCA revised: unlocking, jailbreaking phones, e-book text-to-speech, deemed fair use

Here is the text of the statement: Statement of the Librarian of Congress Relating to Section 1201 Rulemaking

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

Do you have any used books lying around? Ones you’ve already enjoyed, but you’re never going to read again? I did, and I finally found a great way to share them with other people!

It seems that a few guys were sitting around one night talking about all the paperback books that they purchased over the years while traveling on business. Each of them had a large stack of books that they had read, so they decided to set up a website at http://www.PaperBackSwap.com/ that allows all of us to swap books with each other.

Let me tell you how it works — because it is so easy! I listed a bunch of books on the site (listing 10 books gets the first member in your household free credits!) and I got 2 free book credits to get started. So you can order 2 books right away – free of charge — and have them mailed directly to you! No strings attached. No gimmicks. No spam mail. Nothing. You just have to love reading books.

When another member selects one of my books that I have listed, I mail it to them. Yes, I pay for the postage. But then I get another book credit and I can select a book that I want. So another Club Member returns the favor and mails me one of his or her books free of charge. For every book I mail out, I get another book in return – a true shared system!

When someone requests one of your books, all you have to do is print two pieces of regular paper from your printer which includes the mailing address and the recommended postage. Apply the postage, and drop it in the mail. Hey, for a typical paperback, you don’t even need to go to the post office.

Right now the annual club membership is free.

You really need to check this out. And if you do sign up, please click through this link.

If you use the link above to join, I’ll get a free book when you post your first ten books (and you’ll still get free books for posting them!)

My children have a similar love of reading.  My oldest is generally hauling a stack of books home with each trip to the library.  And when those are finished, they are asking for more.

A friend of mine recently asked how do you instill a love of reading in your children?  What is the secret?

I would certainly admit that some of it is natural instinct.  But I don’t believe that accounts for 100% of the process.  First, I lead this family by example.  The children often see me with a book in hand.  How can I expect them to read and love reading if they don’t see me doing it.

At an early age, we read to them.  We started with the usual list that would include Dr. Suess.  But even when they could read for themselves, we continued to read as a family; especially in winter when the sun sets early and it is just too bitter cold to go outside.  Instead of turning on the television, we would gather ’round and have family reading time.

Avoiding the television can be easier than it sounds, but it takes commitment.  It also takes setting an example.  For us, we don’t waste our money on fancy digital cable.  Sure, there are features and channels I’d like to have, but at what cost.  We do have basic cable, and even that is probably more than necessary.  We also do not have video games.  This helps create an environment that encourages reading because we have eliminated distracting (and what we would consider detrimental) alternatives.

So if you want to foster a love of reading in your children, set an example by reading a lot yourself, spend time as a family reading aloud (it isn’t just for the wee ones), and turn off the TV.  You’ll be surprised at how well this can work.

The iPad, not being a specialized device, appeals to a broader audience; but serious readers still prefer e-ink to backlight.  So that makes the mainstream direct competition the Sony Readers and the Nook.  I like Sony’s devices (I own an earlier PRS-500) and the Nook as well, but I much prefer my Kindle.  I only wish that it had open support for the EPUB format, which would open up a world of content beyond Amazon.

To me, this closed system is not only counter-intuitive, but also out of character for Amazon.  They gained market share from Apple in the MP3 market by offering DRM-free music that was not restricted to iTunes and the iPod.  Why they don’t do the same for ebooks is beyond me.

So if you have a Kindle (or are thinking of getting one), you need to know how to get EPUB formatted books onto your device.  I am not going to tell you how to hack DRM so you can steal books and share them amoungst your friends.  What I will do, however, is to give some insight on how to change the format of content you have access to in order to read it on your device.

First, you need to get a copy of Calibre.  (Incidently, Calibre is a good tool to have anyway.  It is a great program to catalog a large collection of ebooks and you can use it to transfer ebooks to your various devices and to also convert to various formats.)  The Calibre site is http://calibre-ebook.com/.

Calibre can be used to convert different formats to other formats, both in the program and via command-line.  The EPUB to MOBI conversion works very well and I have used it on EPUB books from a variety of sources.

There are many public domain books available from Google Books that can be downloaded as EPUB.  I have had mixed success converting these to MOBI for my Kindle, but I have found that as Google continues to work with their technology, the conversions have improved.

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.

Of course, to make any use of this feature, you need a pair of red/cyan anaglyph glasses – those iconic cardboard glasses for viewing in 3D.  But the point is that it’s cool and fun – and isn’t that what reading is all about?

To view a book in 3D on Google Books, add &edge=3d to the book’s URL (Note: be sure to add this parameter before the # in the URL).  (Honestly, they had it right when they first released this feature with a link to the 3D version.  But I guess they figured anyone geeky enough to use it, was also geeky enough to figure out how to add a query string parameter to a URL.)

• 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.