This is old news by now, but it’s still worth mentioning (even briefly). Barnes & Noble introduced their newest member of the Nook family: The Simple Touch Reader.

There’s really no innovative features here. It sports a 6″ touch screen, weighs in at 8 ounces, and claims a 2 month battery life. My initial impression is that it’s a lot like my Sony Reader Pocket Edition, only this Nook has a touch screen.

Here’s an excerpt from the press release B&N published on 5/24:

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My family and I are currently in the process of moving. Things are hectic, all of our belongings are boxed up and I can’t seem to find anything I need. However, I do have internet access and my computer.

I will try to get at least 2 posts in this week. Barnes & Noble just released a new Nook, so I want to be on top of that story. I also have another post in the works. But I can’t promise anything right now. My family and getting settled into our new house will be taking priority for the next few days (of course, my family always takes priority over everything!).

If you’re leaving a comment for the first time, it must be moderated. Because I’ll be running around like a madman trying to get everything unpacked, it could take up to 24-hours to get your comment approved.

Thank you for your patience and I look forward to getting back into my blogging groove!

- Brad

The largest online retailer Amazon.com, announced today that they now sell more ebooks than print books. It was only back in July 2010 that Amazon announced ebooks were outselling hardcovers.

As expected, the phenomenal growth has continued. And I believe this trend will continue for the foreseeable future, especially as Amazon continues to lower the price of their bestselling Kindle eReader.

In their press release, Amazon said:

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Amazon is no stranger to controversy. From remotely deleting titles from the Kindle to requiring POD publishers to use Amazon’s BookSurge. And despite these controversial moves, they continue to blaze trails through the digital publishing world.

It’s not surprising there are many who aren’t too happy about Amazon’s growing dominance in publishing. Some are even saying that Amazon is wrecking the publishing industry. The biggest beef publishing insiders have with Amazon, is their highly aggressive digital publishing platform that include several imprints:

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I want an Amazon Kindle. Yes, I already own an iPad, iPod, iPhone, Sony Pocket Edition eReader, Blackberry and Macbook. So why in the heck would I want an Amazon Kindle?

Being the ebook junkie that I am, it’s only natural that I’d want the latest and greatest. I also like to try out different devices from different companies – a big reason why I switched from my iPhone to a Blackberry.

I use my Sony Pocket Edition and iPad for reading ebooks. The iPad is great. It beautifully renders ebooks and the Kindle App makes it a breeze to buy all the books I want. Yet the problems with eye strain keep it from being perfect. The Sony eReader has a step up on the iPad in this regard.

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We often hear about authors and publishers speaking out against piracy and how piracy will be the death of the publishing industry. But rarely do we hear about authors pirating their own work.

Is this some kind of publishing bizzaro world? I thought so when I first read this post from Goodreader. In part, it says:

We have found through our research that certain authors have been deliberately been leaking their own books to popular Bittorrent sites such as the Pirate Bay and Demonoid. From the authors we spoke with there were two main reasons why they initially did this. The first factor was to publicly denounce the torrent site for pirating their works and then capitalizing on the ensuing television, radio or online attention that came along with it. The second reason was far more nobler, to share their books for free on sites that often have copyright infringing material.

The first reason I don’t really understand. Uploading your own book to torrent sites and then denouncing them? Seems pretty counter intuitive to me. It’s like murdering someone to make a point that murder is bad.

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Just as I start taking my blog in a new direction by concentrating exclusively on reading, writing and publishing in a digital age (my new tagline!), I read something that makes me feel a little dejected.

I read a post from the Teleread blog entitled “I’m Losing Interest in Ebook News.” This isn’t one of those ebooks-are-ruining-publishing posts. Far from it.

The main argument is that there are so many changes happening in the ebook world, and happening so fast, it’s impossible to keep up with everything. It’s almost a futile effort.

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One of the great things about ebooks is that they can be published very fast and into the hands of consumers in a short amount of time. With print, the book needs to prepared, printed, stored and shipped.

So when major news breaks, like the recent killing of Osama Bin Laden, authors are able to publish (usually self-publish) their books within weeks of the event.

Mediabistro posted an article that explains:

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File this post under “More fearmongering about the end of publishing.” Another industry analyst has come out saying that the publishing industry is in serious trouble. And guess what’s being blamed? Ebooks!

I’d love to be able to ignore these types of articles, but I just can’t help trying to counter the techno-phobia out there by people who can’t envision publishing being anything more than selling traditional print books.

An analyst from IHS iSuppli gives us this dire warning:

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Before you gasp in horror and set fire to your computer, I will qualify this post title by saying that ebooks are going nowhere. In fact, ebook popularity will continue to explode in popularity.

I’m referring to dedicated eReaders, like the Amazon Kindle. They are threatened by tablet computers. The Apple iPad has thrust tablets into the center of the tech world.

It seems that people want devices that can multitask, rather than just perform one task, like reading ebooks. This Huffington Post article explains:

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