Sunday, March 22, 2009

It is a step

We are grateful to Google and Sony for making almost a half a million titles in the public domain available in formats optimized for Sony's E Reader. Unlike Kindle, Sony is fully compatible with Adobe PDF's and, although you can read these books in their prior form, having them in a form optimized for the Sony E Reader is definitely a plus. But, don't pat yourself on the back for too long Sony - you have a long way to go with the E Reader and I will tell you what needs to be done even if you will not listen.

Some might question the value of this collection, but I do not. My interests include Egyptology, Philosophy, Comparative Religion, History, Hinduism, Buddhism, Mythology, Anthropology, as well as Hermetic and Esoteric Studies and there are many treasures in this collection including works by Breasted, Budge, and Fraizer. I will not even try to list all of the great Philosophy one can find among these books. As for those who prefer fiction, there is more than enough here to keep one very well entertained during a lifetime of airline flights. The next time you think of buying a book by King, Kellerman, or Clancy, take a look at the works available - you are sure to find books here that are much more enjoyable than those of these kings of pop fiction.

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Thursday, March 19, 2009

Why You Should Worry

Imagine you could only access the internet with one brand of computer and through one ISP, or that you could use 2 or 3 brands of computer and 2 or 3 ISP's but you could not access the entire internet with any one computer and with any one ISP. A drag right? Well...

If things stay the same way they are now, one of these 2 scenarios could happen in electronic publishing. That is why the publishing industry must adopt a universal format that can be used by the any manufacturer of ebook readers.

I have a Sony PRS-505. I can't say why, but reading with it is great - I can't put it down. The only problem is that all of the books I want to read are not available in ebook form. Furthermore, I do not have access to all of the ebooks out there because many ebooks are in a different format.

I have suggestions for the publishing industry, for book sellers, for Sony, and for Amazon that I will lay out over the coming weeks. Furthermore, as soon as I figure out how, I will create routine so that you will be able to send an e-mail message to publishers, ebook reader manufacturers, book sellers, congressmen, and even the President urging the establishment of a standard and open format for ebook publishing.

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