Fictionwise speaks out- eReader is safe

One of the cool things about having a highly visible forum like jkOnTheRun to speak my concerns about different topics is that sometimes we get responses from those involved in the topic.  This happened today because I recently voiced my concerns that the Fictionwise purchase of eReader might spell disaster for eReader customers like me.  Steve Pendergast, one of the founders of Fictionwise, recently posted a comment to my concerns that is so significant it must be bumped up to the front page:

Hi,

I'm Steve Pendergrast, one of the founders of Fictionwise.

Just to set the record straight, we are absolutely *not* going to shut down the ereader format or the ereader web site.

The eReader format and ereader.com web site are both extremely important to our strategy going forward. We love the easy, flexible DRM method, and we won't change it or make it incompatible with past purchases.

Fictionwise has a long history of going out of our way to protect our customer's investment in their purchases. By owning the eReader format, nobody can ever take that format away from us. Every other DRM format we support is owned by a competitor of ours who could pull it away from us at any time. When you think about it that way, I think you see how important the eReader format is to Fictionwise after this acquisition, and how it would be inconceivable for us to throw that away.

What we do plan is to port the eReader software to a much wider range of devices, giving everyone who has ever bought an eReader ebook, or who will buy one in the future, as many choices as possible on how they read their books.

Hope this puts your more at ease!

-Steve P.

That you did, Steve, and I appreciate your reaching out to our readers with the facts.  I hope the merger of eReader goes well for you guys and I will continuing to patronize the eReader store.

Comments

[B]

I was going to comment on a founder of an ebook company saying "Hope this puts your more at ease," but then I see "and I will continuing to patronize." lol. Live by the spellcheck, die by the spellcheck.

Seriously though, this is good news.

[David]

I'm ready for eBooks! I'm over buying paper books, reading them, throwing them out or donating them. Problem is, everytime I want to read a certain book, it never seems to be listed on the eBook site as avaialble. I thought all books were in digital format before being printed. Why aren't they all available?

The lack of titles I want to read is what is holding me back. They're not too old or obcure either. In fact most were or are pretty popular.

[wileyj]

I have been using eReader about as long as Kevin. I have a huge bookshelf of titles. I like the ability to carry my iPAQ with me to read waiting for appointments and reading a bit at night with the light off to not disturb my wife.
I hope they get eReader ported to linux soon. The eeePC needs a reader along with its other tools
..wiley
NW Houston

[R]

Great news! Can' wait until I can read my eReader books on an eInk device.

[Alslayer]

This is some wonderful news. I would love to see a port of eReader to the Nokia 770,800,810 devices. Maybe even a version for the iPhone when they open it up. I can't wait to see what they port next.

[Matthew Miller]

James,

Any chance you could ask Mr. Pendergast if there are plans to bring eReader support to devices like the Sony Reader? I know that Fictionwise now has about 50% of their library in Sony Reader format and would love to bring the eReader library to the Sony Reader.

[Aaron]

Porting eReader to the iPhone, the Sony and Amazon e-ink devices, and Linux....that's the holy grail innit?

At that point I could really not worry about what laptop or phone I'm on. I'd have access to all my books.

[KevinA.]

This is extremely great news as most of my ebook purchases were from ereader.com. I was a bit worried since Motrocity is associated with ereader and PalmGear. I've not been happy with the PalmGear transition and turned my off to PocketGear.com. So, while I was initially apprehensive and concerned, I'm happy to hear this news.

[borax99 (Alain C.)]

Good news, let's hope they stick to the plan - my idea of ebook heaven would be to read my ereader and Mobipocket content on the Sony Reader!

[Justy]

This is fabulous news! Now to wait and see if I will be able to read my eReader books on my new Cybook Gen3. :)

[Deb]

Agreed - this is great news! I've got a collection of more than $1000 worth of ereader format books. I'd LOVE to be able to finish reading them on my upcoming Kindle! And to re-read the ones I have already read.