A new legal battle is brewing. This time between publishers and copyright owners over the right to digital versions, or e-book versions, of published titles. Facing declining book sales, both the family of William Styron and his publishers want to produce e-book versions of titles like “Sophie’s Choice
According to New York Times:
Mr. Styron’s family believes it retains the rights, since the books were first published before e-books existed. Random House, Mr. Styron’s longtime publisher, says it owns those rights, and it is determined to secure its place — and continuing profits — in the Kindle era.
To be sure, this question applies to a large number of books, some of them very valuable commercially. The digital fate of e-book versions of most so-called back-list books seems to be open to dispute, concerning books, for instance, by Joseph Heller, Ralph Ellison, John Updike and others.
E-books, with no printing costs and cheap digital distribution, represent an increasingly attractive and potientially profitable publishing channel. And, of course, the only one that is growing for the moment.
More and more readers seem to buy e-book readers. Kindle, by Amazon, is a huge hit. And now Barnes & Noble has released its own e-book reader, the Nook. The third major contender among consumers is Sony’s e-book reader, the PRS-600BC and PRS-700BC.
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New York Times has published a comprehensive review of e-book readers, but these for the moment seem to be the major competitors.
Nook is the device on the top, and below are pictures of Kindle and the Sony reader.
It’s hard to say which is the best. They all seem to be very good. Their prices are fairly similar too. I suspect that to a large extent it is a question about what your shopping and reading habits are and which company you have the strongest relationship to.
It will be interesting to follow what is happening in this area in the near future. Readers are faced with several good choices, and with more to come. Publishers and copyright holders, on the other hand, seem to be destined for huge battles in court until the merits of copyrights and publishing rights can be clearly established.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Call me old-fashioned or a Luddite of some sort, but the idea of books being on “reading devices” makes me want to vomit. I suppose I’ll have to get used to it sooner or later. Ugh.
I know how you feel. I love “real” books too
However, I was recently given a Kindle as a present, and I have to say it is a neat little gadget with a nice little screen. I am currently reading War and Remembrance, and it is very heavy to hold while reading. I sometimes wish I’d been reading it on my Kindle instead.