e books

Tensions have been high between Amazon and its various publishers since the retailer launched its Kindle digital lending library, but Penguin has just upped the ante by pulling out of a distribution deal it had with e-book lender OverDrive.

OverDrive currently handles content distribution for the majority of libraries in the US. On Friday, Penguin announced that it would no longer offer copies of its works through OverDrive, or sell e-books/audiobooks to libraries.

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3M Library Systems announced it will launch an e-book lending service that will let iPad, Nook and Android tablet owners borrow e-books from local libraries.

The service, called 3M Cloud Library, will include software, hardware and content accessible from special apps or in libraries via touch-screen terminals.

While Amazon and Apple have been the big beneficiaries of the wave of interest in e-books, a smaller player has also been growing rapidly: Kobo, which has its own e-reader and online bookstore, has close to 4 million registered customers, and growth continues to accelerate.

Yesterday, the Dutch Government announced plans to outlaw downloading of all copyrighted material and measures to make it easier to block websites that facilitate copyright infringement.

An interesting move, particularly since a survey they published on the same day shows that artists’ views on file-sharing are not all that negative.

E-book device makers are increasingly looking to get into the tablet market for a few reasons: more control over the experience and revenues from apps are two big reasons.

Ironically, this is move back to where e-books all started more than 10 years ago.

PC World: "When Amazon recently removed copies of George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm from customers' de­­vices and digital lockers, I suddenly re­­membered why I prefer physical media over virtual versions:"

Pogue's Posts: "This morning, hundreds of Amazon Kindle owners awoke to discover that books by a certain famous author had mysteriously disappeared from their e-book readers.

These were books that they had bought and paid for—thought they owned."

The New York Times' David Pogue reports that Amazon has decided to pull certain copies of electronic books from its shelves.

And off of customers' Kindles, too.