“Customers haven’t exactly been shy about purchasing e-books, if Apple’s numbers from earlier this year are any indication,” Elizabeth Fish reports for Macworld.
“This week, Apple released a new section in its online bookstore in the U.S., aimed at selling more bite-sized ebooks,” Fish reports. “The section, dubbed ‘Quick Reads,’ offers a small range of short-form books—from short stories to manuals—which can be purchased for $5 or less.”
Fish reports, “The release of Quick Reads is the latest example of an attempt to fill a gap between longer items, like traditional books, and shorter items like Web posts.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Arline M.” for the heads up.]
So this is news now
It was news to me!
So.. Kindle Singles?
I just read a short(er) story (more like a short novel) on my iPhone, purchased using the Kindle app. It was quite excellent and priced at 99¢.
Apple should make ebooks purchased through the iTunes Store readable on the computer (using iTunes). You can listen to music and watch videos on a Mac and on an iOS device, so why are ebooks only viewable on the iOS device? It makes even more sense with these shorter “Quick Read” works, because reading one would be about equivalent to reading long articles on a website; we do that all the time on a computer.
I like using Amazon’s Kindle app and store because I can read the ebooks on my iPhone AND there is a Kindle app (free from the Mac App Store) that lets me read the same ebooks on my Mac. Progress in reading books are kept in sync automatically through “the cloud,” so I can go back and forth seamlessly.
As with all Apple’s services, selling ebooks is primarily meant to help sell more iPad, iPhones, and iPod touches (and retain loyal customers). Actually selling the ebooks is only a secondary purpose, just as selling music is a “value-added service” that helps drive sales of iPads, iPhones, and iPods. Apple is NOT going to less any fewer iOS devices if customers are able to read their ebook purchases on the computer screen.
Hey ken1w buddy, you do know you can create your own ebooks in ePUB format to add to iTunes Books section and then on to your iPhone and iPad, don’t you? I find the iPhone barely manageable to read books on (nevertheless I’ve read quite a few Hemingway novels on it) but the iPad is the perfect medium for reading ebooks.
Download an app called ‘calibre’ to your Mac. There are lots of online resources telling you how to use it. You can read ebooks you’ve created using the app. It’s a pity though that you can’t read ebooks on the Mac on iTunes. I think the idea is to encourage you to purchase an iPhone or iPad to read ebooks on. Don’t shoot me, I’m only the messenger.
Well, I realize the “primary” purpose of the iTunes Store is to help sell more Apple hardware, not to sell the content. But I can listen to music and play videos from the iTunes Store on my Mac, so it seems inconsistent to not let me read ebooks in iTunes too. Just open a window with the text formatted nicely… Apple is not going to sell fewer iOS devices because I can read purchased ebooks in iTunes, or put another way, customers are not buying iOS devices ONLY to read ebooks.
It doesn’t really matter for me as a customer. I can buy the ebooks from Amazon through the Kindle Store, and read them fine on my Mac and my iPhone. The Kindle apps for Mac and iOS are nicely done. I have not purchased any ebooks from the iTunes Store. But I’ll still use an iPhone (not a Kindle device), so Apple does not lose either.
I find reading on an iPhone to be very comfortable, versus reading a paper book. I read more efficiently with shorter lines of text (less side-to-side motion with eyes), and the landscape layout line length (on iPhone) is ideal for me. Having fewer lines of text “per page” also works well for me. Plus, I can read with the lights turned off and in any comfortable position. Plus, an iPhone is lighter and easier to hold than paper books or an iPad, and i can just pull it out of my pocket even if I only have a few spare minutes to read.
I read more books now, since I’ve been using my iPhone to read.
Ugh, calibre makes me nuts. Maybe it’s the interface, which looks like it was made for Mac OS 9 or earlier, or that I find it completely non-intuitive, but I just can’t bring myself to use it.
However, if you already have it, Scrivener makes excellent ePubs. I wouldn’t go out buy it just to make ePubs with it, but if you already own it (it’s my primary word processor), give it a whirl. You’ll like it.