LISNews: Librarian News

Cory Doctorow says Amazon's Kindle 2 text-to-speech feature is not so much violating authors' copyright but rather basic consumer rights.

Dropping $359 (£251) on a device whose features are subject to the outcomes of ongoing negotiations to which you are not a party is, frankly, nuts. Would you buy a car if it was known that your air-conditioner and stereo system could be remotely disabled?

Today’s typical e-book reader is a woman, “between 40 and 50 years old, who tends to have a higher-than-average income and level of education.” A few years ago, by contrast, the most likely consumer of e-books was a male gadget freak.

More at the Christian Science Monitor

Here is the Amazon record for the paperback edition of Red Mars (Mars Trilogy) that sells for $7.99

The Kindle edition can be downloaded for free on Amazon: Red Mars (Kindle edition)

This is a good strategy by the publisher. Red Mars is the first book in a trilogy. If people download the first book and really enjoy it they may buy the second and third book. Those sell for $6.39 a piece. Green Mars -- Read More

The following story is on NPR. There is a message that the audio will be available at 7pm eastern. There is text that can be read now.

As the book industry attempts to move from hardbacks to downloads, booksellers and publishers are struggling to prevent readers from pirating eBooks the way some music fans pirate music.

On the front line of that effort is digital rights management technology, or DRM, that is embedded into eBook files. DRM lets the companies control how copies can be made of eBooks and which devices can display them. But some users say DRM also prevents them from reading the eBooks they've bought.

Full piece here.