I work at a Waterstone's branch in the UK, and I can say now, if you haven't already heard (Publishing News and TheBookseller have been all over it) we will be stocking the Sony Reader in our stores as of around September.
To be honest, when we got the PCs in our stores for our customers to browse our online store I felt that technology was encroaching on the traditional bookstore a bit too much. Our stocking of an e-book reader is something I'm not best pleased with.
Obviously we are posturing to take on Amazon, possibly pre-emptively, and the Kindle. Still... the absurdity. I love gadgets as much as the next guy, but why reinvent the wheel?
Amazon advertises the Kindle as a "wireless reading device"..... *cough*BOOK*cough*
Still, if indeed e-books do take off. I think support of multiple formats is a must for these devices.... that or the BA and PA settling on an industry-wide standard.... because I hate the prospect of Amazon becoming to ebooks what Apple is to music. One company having a monopoly on both the sales of ebooks and ebook readers is a terrible thing for the book industry in my opinion, and I really hope they don't make the mistakes made by the music industry.....
So in summary.
Bah to ebooks, but if they are a necessary evil, support for multiple formats or forms of DRM: good, Amazon becoming the sole significant player in the ebook industry: bad.
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I work at a Waterstone's branch in the UK, and I can say now, if you haven't already heard (Publishing News and TheBookseller have been all over it) we will be stocking the Sony Reader in our stores as of around September.
To be honest, when we got the PCs in our stores for our customers to browse our online store I felt that technology was encroaching on the traditional bookstore a bit too much. Our stocking of an e-book reader is something I'm not best pleased with.
Obviously we are posturing to take on Amazon, possibly pre-emptively, and the Kindle. Still... the absurdity. I love gadgets as much as the next guy, but why reinvent the wheel?
Amazon advertises the Kindle as a "wireless reading device"..... *cough*BOOK*cough*
Still, if indeed e-books do take off. I think support of multiple formats is a must for these devices.... that or the BA and PA settling on an industry-wide standard.... because I hate the prospect of Amazon becoming to ebooks what Apple is to music. One company having a monopoly on both the sales of ebooks and ebook readers is a terrible thing for the book industry in my opinion, and I really hope they don't make the mistakes made by the music industry.....
So in summary.
Bah to ebooks, but if they are a necessary evil, support for multiple formats or forms of DRM: good, Amazon becoming the sole significant player in the ebook industry: bad.