How To Build An ePub eBook Library For Your iPad

As everyone’s anticipation to own an iPad increases, I’ve discovered that some Mac owners have never dipped into the ePub eBook pool.

This post is a brief guide to building a library of DRM-free and legally-free ePub eBooks.

I Won’t Miss Flash. Here’s Why, In One Image.

The site for the Sony Reader used to load quickly. Recently they did a revamp and clogged it all to hell with Flash. I had to go there today to find out a two-second bit of information: What dictionaries were in the Sony Reader.

I had to wait forever for this crap Flash to load first!

Click = big

Count the spinning wheels! And those are only the ones on-screen. There’s a bunch more off-screen too!

(Don’t bother trying this on your iPhone. Sony might have an iPhone-friendly version of the site.)

My crap desktop PC is old. A 1.6GHz Celeron. But still — the CPU in the iPad is a 1GHz A4. How much of that CPU do you want to see wasted on some insane web designer’s Flash wanking?

Kill off Flash, Apple. And good riddance to it!

Sony Dash: Part Two

Researching the Sony Dash turned out be a rather disappointing experience.

It’s basically a revised Chumby.

There’s nothing bad about that in and of itself, except the hype surrounding the Dash made it seem more than that.

What’s worse, the Chumby cannot do all of YouTube. Even with a widget, the result is frustrating and disappointing.

Any device that cannot provide access to all of YouTube is dead on arrival. Period.

Palm’s Foleo was ridiculed for not being able to access YouTube.

It also didn’t help that Hawkins had no defense against Mossberg’s question about the Foleo being able to access YouTube videos.

What makes Sony think its Dash is an exception?

I’ve got news for Sony: it’s not!

Everyone — every potential customer — is going to ask about full access to YouTube. The moment they’re told they can access a pre-digested selection of videos, all interest will be murdered.

Right now, we don’t know the hardware specs of the device. Sony was coy. Perhaps they were gauging interest before committing to a final version.

Well, lots of people are interested. But no full YouTube = no sale.

Don’t screw this one up too, Sony!

Previously here:

Sony Dash, Part One

Sony Dash, Part One

Watch this YouTube video:

This seems to be the first time Sony has really gotten something in the past four years.

I’m sitting here with a PC sabotaged by Microsoft Windows updates that makes YouTube videos look like slideshows now. It didn’t start out that way.

I’m the perfect candidate for the Dash. I could use it right now just for YouTube. The US$199.00 price is also amazing.

Unfortunately, it won’t be out until April. And much can change between now and then.

I’ll have at least one more post about the Dash as further information comes in.

CES 2010 Note 1

There won’t be a parade of device announcements on this blog. Go elsewhere for that.

So far the only thing that intrigues me is the Sony Dash. I’ll post more once I know more.

The parade of landfill-ready eInk devices continues. I’ll probably do one big post about that procession of FAIL.

My initial take on Blio was that it was shit, then I caught a two-second glimpse of it running on an iPhone. Why didn’t they say so from the bloody start? Their website is pathetic for useful information. This is no way to go about doing things.

I’m still waiting for information about the Notion Ink tablet and Pixel Qi’s partners.

That hp mini-tablet Ballmer held up last night? Puhleeze. It’s fingertip-hostile Windows 7. Next!

Sony Bets The Farm On 3D TV

I came in late to a live vidcast from CES of Sony announcing something called the Dash. I missed that completely and am disinclined to look it up so close to my sleep time.

I did, however, see Howard Stringer pimp and pimp and pimp for 3D TV. Discovery Channel 3D HD. ESPN 3D HD. PlayStation 3D. Blu-Ray 3D.

Did anyone out there ever ask for 3D? Anyone?

Ray Bradbury hates television being such a “distraction.” But he apparently owns a large flatscreen HDTV. That’s something I’ll never own.

And I will also never own a 3D HDTV, either.

I don’t care that no one would ever see me watching it …

… I still don’t want to risk looking like a dick while doing so.

At least Sir Howard had the sense not to imagine a 3D Sony Reader.

Five Things Book Publishers Still Need To Learn

Because, really, I need to bang my head against a wall yet again.

1) You are not competing with one another for readers.
Stop thinking of the TV model, where — once upon a time — three national networks actually competed for viewers because there were no VCRs, DVRs, or Internet to time-shift their programs that ran simultaneously. People do not read Simon & Schuster or Doubleday or Random House. They read writers. If I read Ken Bruen right now, it doesn’t mean I can’t read Christopher Fowler later. One book does not cause me to “miss” another book, as watching a program on ABC once made me miss a program on CBS.

2) The only time you compete with one another is for talent.
You let yourselves be suckered into book auctions to prove this. You still prove this by offering best-selling talent ridiculous contract deals that are going to blow up in your face within the next two years. That talent can cut their own deals now with other companies that are hungrier than you.

3) You are competing these days for attention.
Here I am on the Internet, instead of reading a book. Here you are, reading this instead of a book. Gotcha. But it’s not just the Internet, it’s music, movies, what’s left of TV, and it’s especially videogames. Videogames, in fact, are not your competition — they are your enemy. They are stealing away your future customers. How are you going to entice them back?

4) Bookstores and distributors are no longer your customers.
Tower Records, Blockbuster Video — that’s the future of bookstores. You now have to reach readers, the final customer standing, directly. The traditional distance between you and readers is disappearing. Instead of dealing with this new closeness, you’re letting Amazon, Sony, Google and — too soon — Apple step in as new intermediaries. This is suicidal. Even Fox and NBC realized this and created Hulu to battle both Apple and Google (YouTube). What are you doing?

5) Technology companies are out to rob you blind.
Amazon, Sony, Google, Apple are the new four kingdoms. Who knows Simon & Schuster, Random House, Doubleday, et al? No one. Ask anyone, “Who published The DaVinci Code?” and they’ll say, “Dan Brown.” The technology companies are counting on your past — and continued — complacency, lack of technical know-how, lack of focus and vision, and brand invisibility to strip mine you into oblivion. Google is stealing your future: metadata. Fight back.

Is The Amazon Kindle An Outright Fraud?

Amazon Says Kindle and E-Book Sales Set Records

Amazon.com said Monday that its Kindle e-reader has become the most gifted item in the company’s history, but didn’t provide specific sales numbers.

Boldfaced emphasis added by me.

This is the game Amazon has been playing since the introduction of the Kindle. A “Look over there!” game of misdirection that smells of outright fraud.

It’s well past time for Amazon to put up or shut up.

Honest companies don’t continue to hide something like this.

Honest companies show transparency.

Honest companies understand that real numbers are related to real shareholder value.

What is Amazon’s game here?

Is it the standard Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt ploy? Put fear in the minds of your competitors, put uncertainty in the minds of book publishers, put doubt in the minds of eBook device buyers?

Listen, it’s been claimed that Dan Brown’s blockbuster The Lost Symbol sold 200,000 eBook editions. But that was available in multiple formats. Plus we’re not even certain that number is either truthful or accurate.

Doesn’t anyone realize what an absolutely crappy sales figure that is given the hype the Kindle has gotten since its introduction?

Sony slogged for years and years and years, plastering ads all over the place — and managed to sell “only” 300,000 Readers.

I put “only” in quotes there because compared to the non-existent number of Kindles out there, that’s the impression left in comparison.

FUD.

We have been through a decade of outright fraud as noted in this New York Times column by Frank Rich. The fraudulent invasion of Iraq, the fraudulent hype of Enron, the fraudulent low-interest mortgages.

I’m saying until Amazon releases a true number, it smells as fraudulent as the rest of those, period.

And all of you publishers in New York City? It’s time for you to grow some balls.

I’m giving you a task: The first week in January, all of you issue a joint press release stating what your largest eBook sellers have been on the Kindle.

I have a feeling all of you are going to be shocked at the low cards you’ve been holding, while thinking your “competitor” has been holding a high card, making money hand over fist via Amazon Kindle Store downloads.

Do it!

Let’s end this stench one way or another.

Barnes & Noble’s Incompatible Non-Universal ePub

I don’t know why this should shock anybody.

Still, it makes the PDF press release [PDF link] title all the more ironic:

Adobe and Barnes & Noble Join Forces to Standardize eBook Technology

“By standardizing on EPUB and collaborating with Adobe on a content protection standard based on Adobe technology, Barnes & Noble is delivering the richest range of content available, across a broader array of devices than anybody else,” said William J. Lynch, president of Barnes & Noble.com. “Consumers can feel confident that when they buy their digital content from BN.com, they can read it on more devices than any other bookstore.

Boldfaced emphasis added by me.

Let me parse this.

By standardizing on EPUB — ah, good! Everyone except Kindle is on the same page now. ePub for everybody! You can buy ePub here, there, and even everywhere — at Barnes & Noble and all other ePub-pusher storefronts — and it will run on anything that uses ePub.

Um, no.

Because of this:

they can read it on more devices than any other bookstore — the key words are devices and bookstore. Meaning, those devices must run the software of the bookstore, meaning Barnes & Noble.

Which then makes the next sentence in that press release an outright lie:

This collaboration with Adobe further delivers on our commitment to provide the digital content our customers want, anytime, anywhere and on whatever device they choose.

Boldfaced emphasis added by me.

What if I choose a Sony Reader? Or a Cooler? Or Astak?

Out of luck.

Because of this:

Adobe is integrating Barnes & Noble’s eReader social content protection technology into Adobe Content Server, Adobe Reader Mobile SDK and, eventually, into Adobe Digital Editions.

Boldfaced emphasis added by me.

Barnes & Noble’s eReader social content protection technology — this is the eReader DRM feature, which places the eBook buyer’s name and credit card number in the eBook file. So, if you pass that file on, there’s your name and credit card number for everyone to see.

No other device aside from the Nook and those running the Barnes & Noble eReader software can deal with this form of DRM.

ePubs purchased at Barnes & Noble will “stay in Barnes & Noble.”

The only hope is that as other manufacturers — Sony, et al — update their device firmware, they will add this method of DRM to it.

It’s not just device firmware, either: Adobe Digital Editions and Sony Library will both require updating too to handle this.

In summary: The Nook can read ePub with the special (for now) Barnes & Noble “social DRM” as well as all other Adobe DRM ePub files (from public libraries or bought even from Sony’s Reader Store). The reverse is not true: No device other than the Nook right now can process the new “social DRM” scheme the Nook uses.

When will ePub again be “universal?” Adobe says by the end of 2010.

How’s that for a hell of a wait?

Additional:

Customer FAQ: Adobe and Barnes & Noble

Multi eInk eBook Device Fondle Report

Note: Crappy graphic for illustrative purposes only. Devices are not to relative sizes.

Last weekend I was frustrated in my attempt to fondle a live Barnes & Noble Nook. The only working unit was still locked away in an office and the person with the key wouldn’t arrive until 2PM that day (I was there at 10AM!).

This weekend, I went back to the same Barnes & Noble. What the hell, let’s see.

And they had two live Nooks.

After fondling the Nook, I went on to fondle three other eInk eBook devices and have drawn some conclusions some of you will find surprising.