Breaking news: eReader format licensed for Stanza on iPhone

We've never hidden the fact that our favorite ebook reader is eReader.  We've used it for years on just about every platform and currently both Kevin and I are big fans of eReader on the iPhone.  Another reader from Lexcycle, Stanza, has been one of the most downloaded apps for the iPhone since its release.  Stanza is a great reader application but Kevin and I lamented the fact that it could not handle content purchased in the eReader store.

Today's breaking news will make fans of Stanza and eReader very happy indeed.  Fictionwise, the company behind the eReader format, is announcing a licensing deal with Lexcycle to provide access to the eReader format to Stanza on the iPhone.  The Stanza folks are also launching their own Stanza eReader store providing total access to the 40,000+ eReader library within Stanza.  The version of Stanza that was released in the past few days will already handle eReader content but it had not been announced until this news broke.  You can read your eReader content with Stanza right now if you try it.

The folks at Fictionwise will continue to provide the eReader iPhone app so this deal broadens the options for users who have eReader content.  It's all about choice, you can continue to use the eReader app or Stanza, whatever floats your boat.  Fictionwise just wants their content everywhere and this is only the first move in that direction.  They intend to make other licensing deals in the future.

Full press release after the jump.

eBook reader preparing for Android Marketplace but you can get it now

You won't find FBReaderJ in the Android Marketplace just yet, but after another fix or two, it should be submitted. The reader software has long been available for computers running Windows or Linux and also runs on several Linux-based phones. I've used FBReader on a Nokia Internet Tablet and it's a solid application; my issue has always been one of of content as most of my eBook library is constrained by some DRM format. FBReader doesn't work with any of those titles, but does support a large number of non-DRM content types: HTML, FB2, TXT, RTF, and ePUB to name a few. The Android version currently supports OEB, ePUB and FB2 for starters, with other formats to follow.

TeleRead says the FBReaderJ version for Android can be directly downloaded and installed to your Android handset if you're feeling adventurous. The app is written in Java and the developers expect to build a version for J2ME devices, so there's a ton of phones that could support it in the future.

Amazon Kindle deal: $309 this week with code

This news is a few days old, but for folks lusting after an Amazon Kindle, it's worth the mention. Oprah Winfrey featured the Kindle on Friday's episode, which is the one where she shares her favorite things. Although I didn't watch the show this year, it's actually one that I usually catch. No, I don't hear about any new devices or anything, it's simply interesting to see what items make Oprah's cut.

Jeff Bezos was on the show as well and after sharing all of the wonderful features of the eBook reader, he and Oprah teamed up to offer a $50 discount code that's good through the end of this week. Use the code OPRAHWINFREY to nab a Kindle for $309. That's a pretty solid deal for a device that uses eInk and has integrated EV-DO for near-instant book purchases in Sprint 3G coverage areas. If that deal isn't appealing, try the super-secret discount code of KEVINISAGEEK; your Kindle will be pre-loaded with every book I've ever written for the all-inclusive, extra-special price of just $359...

University of Texas to try digital textbooks

I am happy to hear that one of the major universities in my home state is going to get on the ebook bandwagon.  The University of Texas will begin a test using digital ebooks in place of those expensive dead-tree versions.  Students will pay $25 - $40 for the digital versions and download them to their computers for use.  There are so many advantages to going ebook for universities that students should be jumping for joy.  This would be very useful for those students lucky enough to be using a Tablet PC.  You could write notes right on the textbook pages.  All of the textbook information should be searchable too.  Yowza!

(via Ars Tecnica)

iPhone bigger ebook reader than Kindle or Sony Reader

That new Sony Reader looks pretty sweet, but there's an unexpected ebook reader that is far bigger.  That ebook reader has even surpassed the much ballyhooed Amazon Kindle, another dedicated ebook reader with a much larger distribution than the Sony.  What is the device that has achieved a bigger status than the Sony or Amazon devices?  The iPhone, of course.  Now before you issue a big raspberry over that news I will jump in and say I can easily believe that.  I am a big consumer of ebooks and I consume them on my iPhone.  Sure the screen is very small compared to those "real" ebook readers but as I've stated before the iPhone is always with me so it wins in the ebook reading department. My ebook reader of choice is the eReader software on the iPhone but recently another reader was released for free in the Apple App Store and that one is changing things.

Stanza is a free ebook reader that handles a lot of different ebook formats and it's become a hugely popular program. Forbes is reporting that over 395,000 copies of Stanza have been downloaded since its release just a few months ago and over 5,000 copies are downloaded every day.  Since Forbes estimates Amazon will sell 380,000 Kindles in all of 2008 that makes the iPhone with Stanza the biggest ebook reader around.  Throw in my favorite eReader on the iPhone and it's not even close.  It's important to note that the ebooks used in Stanza are not paid ebooks, they are free where the Kindle's and Sony Reader's are largely paid books.  So are eReader's ebooks (paid) but I'll bet the iPhone is still bigger than the other two readers.  And they're supposed to be the most distributed readers in the world.

Sony PRS-700 reader announced with sidelight and touchscreen

I had to take some time off this morning to run Dad over to the local Target where I saw a nice end-cap display of the Sony PRS-505. The price was good too, but of course as of today, the PRS-505 is old news. Sony announced the expected successor: the PRS-700, which should hit stores next month. There's a price increase for the upgrade of course; look for the 700 to retail around $400. So what do you get for the extra money?

Aside from a minor external redesign, there's a touchscreen and an LED sidelight. The light alone might convince more than a few to purchase or upgrade. As far as the touchscreen, I'm on the fence on whether or not the extra price justifies the feature. I'm guessing the touch technology is adding a good 10% or more to the overall price, but does it add 10% or more functionality? I'm thinking not, although I'm sure some would argue. Here's why: you can flip pages with the touchscreen and you can highlight passages using the stylus and touchscreen. No handwritten notes, at least not by the touchscreen; for notes, you have to use the on-screen keyboard.

There's something to be said for touch with the user interface and overall experience of course. However, I'd personally like to see more functionality from the touchscreen expense. Perhaps this will come in the form of a future software upgrade?

BeBook: multi-format ebooks support

BeBook has announced their ebook reader that can handle a variety of digital formats.  The reader will be released in the UK for GBP229.99 and handles over 20 ebook formats out of the box.  The reader has a 6-inch reflective screen that the company claims will make around 7,000 page changes on a single battery charge.  There is an SD slot to augment the 512MB of internal memory and the reader uses E-Ink technology for the display.  The BeBook reader looks pretty well-designed for maximum usability and should be a good alternative in the growing ebook reader category.

(via Gizmag)

No 3G in the iRex 1000 series Digital Reader

Earlier this week iRex launched the 1000 series Digital Reader device and I wondered if it actually replaces a printer as opposed to a notebook. Regardless of what it replaces, one thing it won't have is 3G wireless broadband which some folks were claiming it would. I scoured the press release earlier this week and saw mention of WiFi and Bluetooth on the high-end model, but that was it.

I reached out to Loeki van der Lee at iRex at that point and he responded early this morning. "You can find the technical specifications on our website," he says. He also cut and pasted a line from the specs and highlighted the following bit: "WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity."

So that's it then: no 3G in any of the iRex 1000 devices, not even the one priced at $849. It's not a Kindle killer and not really much of an eBook reader either. This is definitely a device geared towards the corporate audience for reading documents on an eInk display that they would have otherwise printed or viewed on their notebook.

Perhaps the iRex Digital Reader replaces a printer, not a notebook

Last week we wondered who might buy an $850 eBook type of device from iRex. Today we have sparse but official details on the iRex 1000 series Digital Reader thanks to a press release (PDF) at MobileRead, yet the question still remains. Granted, I'm only looking at the press release and official product page, but I'm still not sold on this unit when the target audience is already toting a notebook computer around the office. If the iRex 1000 was in the $200 to $300 range, I might feel differently. Unfortunately, the base 10.2-inch unit will set you back $649. Adding a Wacom digitizer for notes and annotations adds another $100. Want WiFi and Bluetooth: that gets you to $849. That's a lot of coin for a standalone device with limited purpose.

The device itself looks nice: 16-color grayscale with 1024x1280 resolution, Secure Digital card slot with a 1 GB card included and mini-USB connector for data transfer. It's definitely lighter and thinner than most portable computers as well, coming in at 570 grams and 1.2 centimeters thick. It's not the hardware that concerns me at this price; it's the functionality and file formats it supports. iRex says the 1000 series works with Unsecured Adobe PDF, TXT, HTML, Mobipocket's DRM PRC files and JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF and BMP images plus "additional formats supported in the future." There appears to be some companion Windows software involved also since you can print "Microsoft Office documents, e-mails and Adobe PDF documents" to your iRex 1000 in lieu of printing them to paper. Maybe that's the device this is supposed to replace. Instead of printing off your e-mails, Word docs and such: shoot them over to the iRex 1000 and save a tree.

How many $850 electronic paper devices do you think will sell?

I'm sitting here sadly shaking my head because of the Forbes article I'm reading. They're covering some new standalone eBook devices and I'm shaking my head due to the anticipated prices:

"Though Plastic Logic won't yet reveal the price for its device, iRex says its basic reader will start at $650. (By contrast, Kindle sells for $360.) Adding a writable screen to the iRex reader will cost another $100, and equipping it with wi-fi, Bluetooth and a 3G cell connection for downloading documents will raise the price to $850."

Now I realize that the devices are geared towards business customers thanks to the large 10.2-inch eInk display that is touch-capable for annotations with a stylus. But that actually illustrates a problem that I think is a larger issue than the price: is there really a market for this type of device in the business world? Folks in the enterprise who want to read PDFs, Word docs and HTML already have mobile devices that can handle those functions. We call them laptops. Yes, it would nice to have a thin, printed experience type of device but is there a driving need for such a thing... especially at a price like this? I don't think so, but I'm not the market, so I'm curious to hear your thoughts. I just see limited use in a standalone device like this that probably won't stop the suits from carrying their laptop in the first place. Maybe the unveiling of the new iRex device next week will offer more insights as to the value.

(Image: Forbes)