Surprise Ending for Publishers: In 2020, Business Was Good

Like everybody else, book publishers will be happy to see the end of 2020. But for many of them, the year has brought some positive news, which has been as welcome as it was surprising: Business has been good. From a report: With so many people stuck at home and activities from concerts to movies off limits, people have been reading…

Internet Archive Kills Its Free Digital Library Over Copyright Concerns

The Internet Archive’s National Emergency Library is finished. The non-profit repository for digital preservation, which began offering millions of e-books for free to address the closure of libraries during the pandemic, buckled under a joint lawsuit filed by major publishers including Penguin Random House and HarperCollins. From a report: Publishers said lending out books without compensation was “mass copyright infringement.” The…

Explore the universe from home

Explore NASA’s online activities, e-books, podcasts and other content. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/nasa-podcasts-online-activities-ebooks-link…

ReMarkable’s Redesigned E-Paper Tablet Is More Powerful and More Papery

An anonymous reader shares a report from TechCrunch, written by Devin Coldewey: It’s no secret I’m a fan of the reMarkable, a tablet with a paper-like display that’s focused on text and sketching rather than rich media and games. The sequel to the original, announced today, looks to make a good thing even better. Designed for the creation and consumption of…

Why the Second-Hand eBook Market May Never Take Off

Europe’s highest court on Thursday ruled that the exhaustion of copyright does not apply to e-books. “The court says that offering ‘second-hand’ e-books for sale qualifies as an unauthorized ‘communication to the public’ under the 2001 InfoSec Directive,” reports World IP Review. Not only could this ruling have implications for the book industry, but for the digital film, gaming and music…

Slashdot Asks: What Did You Like/Dislike About iTunes?

iTunes is officially dead with the release of macOS Catalina today. Apple decided to break apart the app into separate Apple Music, Podcasts and TV apps. “Each is better at its individuals task than it was as a section within iTunes, which was teetering on collapse like the Jenga tower of various functions it supports,” writes Dieter Bohn via The Verge….

Microsoft Is Killing EPUB Support In Edge Classic

Microsoft is killing support for the EPUB document format in Edge classic, and it won’t be supported in the new, Chromium-based version of Microsoft Edge. Thurrott reports: “Download an .epub app to keep reading,” a notification in Edge classic reads when you load an EPUB document. “Microsoft Edge will no longer be supporting [sic] e-books that use the .epub file extension….

Libraries Are Fighting To Preserve Your Right To Borrow E-Books

Librarian Jessamyn West writes for CNN: For the first two months after a Macmillan book is published, a library can only buy one copy, at a discount. After eight weeks, they can purchase “expiring” e-book copies which need to be re-purchased after two years or 52 lends. As publishers struggle with the continuing shake-up of their business models, and work to…

New York City’s Public Libraries to End Film Streaming Through Kanopy

Public library cardholders in New York City will no longer have access to tens of thousands of movies through Kanopy as of July 1, when the New York, Brooklyn and Queens public libraries end their partnerships with the streaming service because of the cost, the libraries said Monday. From a report: The San Francisco-based platform, which notified library cardholders by email…