Plastic Logic announces content partners, open publishers platform

Plastic Logic's Reader may not be headed for mass consumption until 2010 (though certain "key customers" should see it in 2H 2009), but at least we're getting a bit of assurance that said dates won't slip yet again. Today, the outfit has formally introduced its first partners in crime: Ingram Digital (e-books), LibreDigital (e-newspapers), Zinio (e-magazines) and a direct relationship with Financial Times and USA Today. We're also told that prospective buyers (you know, ones that skip out on Amazon's hot 'n fresh Kindle 2) can expect an e-content store where readers can download all sorts of engrossing material. Speaking of which, the company has also announced the simply-titled Publishers' Program, which is completely "open" and designed for content creators, publishers and content aggregators to "create, format, sell and distribute content for easy viewing and use on the Plastic Logic Reader." More details are, of course, tucked away in the read links below.

Read - Content partners
Read - Publishers' Program

[Mike10010100 Posted Feb 9th 2009 6:12PM]

Wow! An open source e-book reader that wants to play nice with small publishers! Maybe they could partner up with Amazon. Seriously. The best of both worlds....

[kjb434 Posted Feb 9th 2009 6:15PM]

Why would Amazon beat up their Kindle by supporting another reader?

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 9th 2009 6:36PM]

Maybe because a good CEO knows that content is more important then the device in the long term. Someone buys a reader once, but content? Over and over again or so Amazon would hope. What if the Amazon's MP3 store only worked with the Zune? I'd hope they would see this as an opportunity more then a competition.

[gp Posted Feb 9th 2009 7:04PM]

@kjb434

Because they are different devices with different purposes. The Kindle is for reading books, while Plasitc Logic's reader is for documents, and its size make it perfectly suitable for magazines and newspapers. Maybe Amazon will do another kind of Kindle (possibly licensing Plastic Logic's technology), but it surely makes a lot of sense having a reader like that in addition to the Kindle.

[gp Posted Feb 9th 2009 7:07PM]

Ah, and let's not forget technical books, which are next to impossible to read on small screens like the Kindle's.

[Roberini Posted Feb 9th 2009 6:26PM]

So what are some of the options if one wants to read some of those books in the public domain floating around the internets? Kindle looks proprietary to Amazon's own content. Any ideas?

[Plothole Posted Feb 9th 2009 6:46PM]

Kindle does allow you to upload your own content. It's just limited in the formats that it supports, so you might have to do a bit of conversion.

[gp Posted Feb 9th 2009 7:13PM]

I've got a Sony PRS-505 (about $270 now) and I'm utterly satisfied with it. In addition to the large amount of books available in its format, it can read PDFs and TXTs. Also check out 'calibre', an open source (and cross platform) e-book manager that is able to convert most formats.

[vitriolix Posted Feb 9th 2009 6:31PM]

Partner up with a Safari Books Online subscription and we'd buy one for every engineer in my department here... that screen definitely looks wide enough for programming books, unlike the Kindle's paperback size.

[gp Posted Feb 9th 2009 7:17PM]

Well said. As I said above my Sony is wonderful, but for reading books only. I'm eagerly awaiting Plastic Logic's reader for all my technical stuff.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 10th 2009 12:20AM]

You could always adjust the font size on the Kindle to view and study code snippets. Besides the best coding examples are those that express a solution to a problem in the lesser amount of code. But it is true, too often programmers code their functions the size of their monitors lol.

[Sea Urchin Posted Feb 9th 2009 6:32PM]

I work in publishing. I better find a new job quickly, ha?

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 9th 2009 7:09PM]

So I can now publish my crappy writing without signing with a publisher?

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 11th 2009 7:20PM]

Yes you can! Welcome to the Internet! And 1990.

[NeoteriX Posted Feb 10th 2009 9:39AM]

So, it's not coming until 2010 now, eh? I hear Duke Nukem is supposed to come out then too...

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 10th 2009 12:15PM]

Do any of these e-book readers support switching to landscape mode?

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 11th 2009 7:24PM]

Don't know, but I see no reason why you couldn't just make a sideways PDF even if they don't. It looks like this device might be a rather nice size for reading manga/comics - for which ordinary ebook readers like Sony's or Amazon's should be fine, except when the artist decides to use a double-page spread? Suckage.

I wonder who will first come out with a clamshell two-epaper-screen ebook reader? Better still, if they finally come out with that flexible screen technology so there isn't a gap in the middle.

[(Unverified) Posted May 28th 2009 6:50PM]

yes they support landscape. some with a button on the face some with a selection in a menu

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 8th 2009 4:20PM]

my eyes will get so tired from looking at it! i rather stick with a real book.