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- iPad to Offer 30,000 Free e-Books at Launch
If you were concerned that you’d only be able to read things on your iPad if you ponied up some cash for the privilege, even if that amount turns out to be less than expected, worry no more. The NDA-busting source that’s been showing off all things iBooks to AppAdvice.com has revealed another tantalizing detail.
Specifically, it’s the news that the iPad will launch with 30,000 free e-books. That’s mostly public domain content, which you should technically be able to get on your device anyway with a little elbow grease, but it’s a great deal better being able to access the directly and wireless via the iBookstore.
The free books will be provided via Project Gutenberg, which has set about archiving digital editions of public domain books using the Internet. Any and all free titles will be DRM-free, as opposed to the DRM-enabled paid content.
Apple’s decision to offer the books on launch day is seen as stemming from two major motivating factors. First, Apple wants to curtail any kind profiteering by third-party companies using public domain content. If you’ve glanced at the Books section of the App Store, you’ll see that quite a few developers won’t be pleased with this move, but I applaud Apple for putting the customers first.Of course, Apple’s not acting purely out of concern for others. It’s also anxious about looking somewhat content-bare when the iPad does launch, at least regarding iBookstore content. 30,000 titles should flesh out the ranks nicely, even if some of Apple’s overtures to publishers providing paid content don’t come through on the day.
Now when it comes to apps, free ones do much better than their paid cousins. I’m curious to see if this trend continues with books. For whatever reason, I find myself shying away from public domain books on my Kindle, and I suspect the same will happen with the iPad. Any predictions regarding your own reading habits?
Related GigaOM Pro Research: Evolution of the e-Book Market
Переслать - Syncing Does not a Backup Make
Syncing data to the Internet (“the cloud”) is all the rage these days and with the coming of the iPad, we’ll surely see more of it. Whether you are using MobileMe, Dropbox, or any one of the variety of other syncing programs, you may be one of the increasing number of people using these services to backup their data.
The problem, though, is that syncing is not backing up.
Syncing’s main focus is making sure your data is accessible and identical at multiple locations. If you have a disaster at one of these locations, a syncing service will make sure you still have access to your stuff. That’s handy and is seen by people as a way of backing up. Lose your iPhone and your contacts are accessible via the web. Sync to Dropbox and if your MacBook hard drive dies, you can access your synced files via the web or another computer.
Unfortunately, syncing operates under the age-old computer principle of Garbage In Garbage Out. When syncing is working properly, a change made on one device is propagated to the web and to all other devices. If that change was unintended, the service might have a previous revision, but don’t count on it. A problem with data on one device is copied to all other devices in your sync scheme.
When it’s not working properly, stand back because things get ugly. I was a recent victim of this. I’ll be polite and won’t mention the name of the service, but it wasn’t a “sweet” experience. Somehow this company’s database was corrupt for my account and instead of syncing changes I made on my Mac to my PC, the server decided I had deleted a critical folder. I literally watched as the software started deleting folders from my Mac without warning or confirmation. I immediately unplugged my Internet connection to minimize the damage. While only the fates of the cloud know what really happened, the post-mortem analysis I had with their engineers indicated my PC’s sync database somehow “thought” I no longer had a folder on my hard drive and then told the cloud to delete it from other computers. Blame it on a PC to mess up a Mac. Of course, their server didn’t have a backup. A two-fisted punch right to the gut.
These same concerns also hold true for your calendars and contacts from MobileMe. Even though you sync them to the cloud, you should still perform a local backup of your Address Book and iCal. Don’t be lulled by the siren of the cloud assuring you that your data is safe. The cloud is a jealous mistress who can swipe data right from your hard drive. Being old school, I don’t fully trust syncing or the cloud and so I fully backup my hard drive via Time Machine and dedicated online backup services. While my sour experience was annoying, I was able to quickly recover.
Others have not been so lucky. Account and database corruption are a fact of computing and because syncing doesn’t only copy data, but remove it, it’s not a backup solution. A true backup solution cannot remove data from your drive, only copy it. Whenever I read backup software reviews, commenters ask why synchronization services aren’t mentioned. Now you know why.
Don’t rely on services like MobileMe and Dropbox as a backup. Your data will thank you.
Переслать - iBookstore Pricing Leaked: Cheaper Than Expected
According to at least one source, pricing of e-books sold through Apple’s iBookstore will not be as expensive as we were initially led to believe. Many sources put the original price of bestsellers between $12 and $14, as compared to the $9.99 sweet spot offered by Amazon, which was then jeopardized as publishers rushed to work out new arrangements following the iPad announcement.
A new report by AppAdvice.com’s Alexander Vaughn suggests that reports of higher pricing may have been greatly exaggerated. Vaughn was lucky enough to be privy to a “not-so-NDA-complying preview” of the iBookstore in action, and he notes that a significant portion of the New York Times’ bestseller list are actually offered at $9.99.
The pricing is actually in keeping with comments made by Steve Jobs at the iPad’s unveiling, despite all the subsequent reports that pricing would likely favor the Amazon platform, at least until publishers raised prices there, too. Jobs said iPad e-books would be similarly priced to ones available on Amazon’s Kindle platform, in an interview with Walt Mossberg that was caught on camera by All Things D’s Kara Swisher.
Vaughn’s information seems reliable, especially since he includes a photo seemingly taken with his iPhone’s camera of the iBookstore running on pre-release iPad hardware. The screenshot clearly shows a number of titles with $9.99 price tags attached. Vaughn states further that of the 32 books in the New York Times’ bestseller list, 27 are priced at $9.99, including the top 10. A few books on the list did appear to be selling at the higher $12.99 price point.
There’s always the chance that this could just be Apple using dummy prices in an early iBookstore mock-up, and that real pricing will be more in line with what we’ve been hearing, but if so, it seems odd that it would even bother peppering in some more expensive books. I’d say it’s more likely that these are the types of prices we’ll see on launch day, which is very bad news indeed for Amazon, but great news for the ebook-buying public.It could be good news for Amazon, too, though, depending on how iBooks sell. If publishers that refuse to go down to the $9.99 price point are spurned by customers, they’ll probably eventually be forced to step in line with the others in order to compete. Lower prices across the board are a good thing for Amazon, because strengthens that company’s position when it comes to negotiating with publishers. On the other hand, if the iPad becomes overwhelmingly popular, Amazon runs the risk of becoming completely irrelevant in the e-book market it helped to pioneer.
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