Notes in the Margin Weblog

Kindle Cost Cut to $139 as Price War Begins – NYTimes.com:

Amazon is hoping to convince even casual readers that they need a digital reading device. By firing another shot in an e-reader price war leading up to the year-end holiday shopping season, the e-commerce giant turned consumer electronics manufacturer is also signaling it intends to do battle with Apple and its iPad as well as the other makers of e-readers like Sony and Barnes & Noble.

The ereader dilemma grows ever more complex. . .

Business & Technology | Amazon.com’s Kindle fails first college test | Seattle Times Newspaper:

If Amazon hoped for honest feedback when it started testing the Kindle DX on college campuses last fall, it certainly got its wish; students pulled no punches telling the Seattle Internet giant what they thought of its $489 e-reader. But if Amazon also hoped the Kindle DX would become the next iPhone or iPod on campuses, it failed its first test.

Borders Books announces e-reader with apps for iPhone, OS X and the iPad:

Announcement (once again from The Unofficial Apple Weblog) of yet another dedicated ereader device, this one to be sold by Borders.

A tale of two mediums: Despite the iPad, traditional books aren’t going anywhere.:

Over on The Unofficial Apple Weblog, writer–and reader–Michael Grothaus compares reading a novel both in its traditional, printed format with reading it on the iPad. For his experiment he read alternating chapters of the same novel in paperback and in the iPad’s iBooks application. He also read each format in the kinds of situations in which one normally reads: at home, during his commute (on London’s tube), and at a park or cafe.

Grothaus’s treatment seems balanced and fair overall. However, as some commenters point out, if you’re a reader of new novels, you’re more often reading a hardcover book than a paperback, and that’s a significant difference when comparing the printed book and the iPad in terms of weight and of ease and comfort in handling.

I’d like to see someone carry out this same experiment using one of the other dedicated ereaders (e.g., Amazon’s Kindle, Sony’s Ereader, or B & N’s nook) in place of the iPad. A comparison between the various forms of reading and the act of listening to an audiobook, particularly while commuting or driving, could also be informative. I won’t have time to try out any of these things for myself until I finish my dissertation, but if someone else carries out the experiment, I’d love to hear about it.

Is it creepy that Amazon is tracking most-highlighted Kindle passages? – CSMonitor.com:

In a blog for the Christian Science Monitor Rebekah Denn asks, “Do you think Amazon is invading privacy by tracking which passages readers most often highlight on their Kindles?” What she says about the most-quoted books may surprise you, but don’t forget that the sample size here is quite small.

Even more interesting, I thought, is the question she asks about these notes in the margin: “Am I in the minority here, or do people highlight differently on an electronic reader than they do using neon markers on paper?”

Do E-Readers Cause Eye Strain? – Bits Blog – NYTimes.com:

The act of reading is going through a number of radical transitions, but perhaps none is more fundamental than the shift from reading on paper to reading on screens. As consumers decide whether to make this jump and which technology to use, one key question is how reading on a screen affects the eyes.

The whole recent news flurry over (1) the introduction of Apple’s new tablet computer, the iPad, and its potential as an ebook reader and (2) the price war between Amazon, maker of the Kindle, and publishers over the price of ebooks was too fast and furious even to try to keep up with.

But here’s a topic we should all take an interest in: How will reading ebooks affect our eyes? According to this article, the news isn’t bad, but you might want to check out these recommendations for avoiding eye strain.

As for reading ebooks, that’s one activity I personally plan to do until I go blind.

A Deluge of Devices for Reading and Surfing – NYTimes.com:

You’ve heard of Amazon.com’s Kindle. And you probably know that Apple is likely to introduce a tablet computer this year. Soon you may also be hearing about the Alex, the Que proReader and the IdeaPad U1 Hybrid.

Those products are part of a new wave of slender touch-screen tablets and electronic reading devices that dozens of companies, both well known and unknown, brought to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.

This article from the New York Times includes a three and a half minute video focusing on several new ebook readers under development around the world.

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