Good Reads Are Good Reads On Paper or a Screen
Lots of news these days about books going electronic and e-readers and the continuing death of print.
Two articles today that I read online. One, a column in the LA Times, is about GoodReads, a popular site for book lovers that started in 2006. The site has reading clubs, book giveaways, author chats, literature quizzes, quotations, trivia and many of the features of a social neywork (friends, followers, news feed etc.). They have about 3.5 million members which is small compared to Facebook, but big for a book site.
Otis Chandler built the site and he faces the classic web site business problem of how to make money from the Web audience. Chandler says that "Book reviews in newspapers, well, those are gone. Independent bookstores are almost gone. Chains will probably be gone soon. It's all happening online now."
Otis Chandler's great-great-great-grandfather founded the Los Angeles Times, so he has print ink in his blood even if he is fighting the genetics.
The second article was on The New Yorker site. It's about yet another "Kindle Killer" from the company Kobo. (Why do new apps and devices have to kill the earlier product? Can't they co-exist and compete?) Kobo is now partially owned by Borders and they built the Borders iPhone app. But Borders stores seem to have disappeared - and Barnes & Noble has announced that they are considering selling. Who's left?
The Kobo ereader is in the e-book battle and they have an online store whose catalog of e-books that can be read on almost any mobile device (except the Kindle!).
The Kobo e-reader is scheduled to hit the magic 99 dollar price point by the magic holiday shopping season.
Kobo - like Amazon with the Kindle and Apple with iPods - looks at the devices as marketing tools for the content. But Kobo seems really intent on allowing the content to be on any device you want it on.
Shift happens.
Two articles today that I read online. One, a column in the LA Times, is about GoodReads, a popular site for book lovers that started in 2006. The site has reading clubs, book giveaways, author chats, literature quizzes, quotations, trivia and many of the features of a social neywork (friends, followers, news feed etc.). They have about 3.5 million members which is small compared to Facebook, but big for a book site.
Otis Chandler built the site and he faces the classic web site business problem of how to make money from the Web audience. Chandler says that "Book reviews in newspapers, well, those are gone. Independent bookstores are almost gone. Chains will probably be gone soon. It's all happening online now."
Otis Chandler's great-great-great-grandfather founded the Los Angeles Times, so he has print ink in his blood even if he is fighting the genetics.
The second article was on The New Yorker site. It's about yet another "Kindle Killer" from the company Kobo. (Why do new apps and devices have to kill the earlier product? Can't they co-exist and compete?) Kobo is now partially owned by Borders and they built the Borders iPhone app. But Borders stores seem to have disappeared - and Barnes & Noble has announced that they are considering selling. Who's left?
The Kobo ereader is in the e-book battle and they have an online store whose catalog of e-books that can be read on almost any mobile device (except the Kindle!).
The Kobo e-reader is scheduled to hit the magic 99 dollar price point by the magic holiday shopping season.
Kobo - like Amazon with the Kindle and Apple with iPods - looks at the devices as marketing tools for the content. But Kobo seems really intent on allowing the content to be on any device you want it on.
Shift happens.
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