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Month: March 2012

Do Not Pass Go! eBook Prices May Drop As EU And US Double-team Apple And Publishers

Do not pass go do not collect $200Ars reports that the European Commission is teaming up with the US Department of Justice investigating allegations of collusion and price-fixing in the eBook market by Apple and several large publishers. Apple and publishers Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Pearson’s Penguin, Hachette Livre, and Macmillan are accused of working together in order to keep eBook prices artificially high, in some cases higher than the printed edition.

This alleged collusion is behind the move to the agency model in the eBook market by Amazon, Apple, and Barnes & Noble. In the agency model, publishers, rather than the retailer, set the prices of eBooks. Prior to that change, Amazon set its own prices for eBooks, often at a deep discount over the paperback cover price. Most Kindle eBooks costs $9.99 and less during that time, much to the chagrin of publishers who feared a rapid erosion of the printed book market. This changed after several of the large publishers threatened to withhold their books from the Kindle store unless Amazon agreed to the agency model they had worked out with Apple. Following this change, eBook prices rose dramatically, in some cases exceeding the cost of print.

If the EU and US actions against Apple and the publishers is successful, they will likely see large punitive fines and be forced to abandon the agency model. This could see a reduction in eBook prices which in addition to increased happiness for book readers, in this writer’s opinion, could also spark a boom in sales of eBooks and readers. Anything that grows the eBook market is quite welcome here!

Reading Manga On The Nook Color

Viz manga on Nook Color Tablet

Viz manga on the Nook Color looks pretty good!

Honestly, I was not a big fan of the 7 inch tablet. That screen size is just too small for most of what I do with my 10 inch iPad. So when I learned that Viz manga was available for the Nook Tablet and the Nook Color, my first question was, how readable is that going to be?

Viz has yet to support panel mode viewing for its manga on the iPad, but the large screen of the device makes that unnecessary. And while I have enjoyed manga on my eInk based Nook, I found that often the bottom edge of the page is cut off and smaller text can be a challenge to read. So how would this play out on a 7 inch screen?

The short answer is, wonderfully! I bought Fushigi Yûgi: Genbu Kaiden, Volume 1 by Yuu Watase, to read on my wife’s Nook Color. The Nook Color has the same size display screen as the Nook Tablet, so my observations should be valid it too.

The art work looked great and the text was quite readable. The smaller screen is only evident for double page spreads. You can turn the Nook to landscape orientation to see the full image, but it scales down a lot leaving  a fairly large black border. And you can tap to zoom anything you want to get a closer look at which came in handy for some of the author’s notes.

So if you love Viz manga, and don’t have the budget for an iPad, the Nook Color ($169) or Nook Tablet ($199) are great alternatives. And both Nooks can add up to 32GB of additional storage via microSD card which is important if you’re reading a lot of multi-megabyte graphic novels like manga. This expandability gives the Nook tablets a decisive edge over the Kindle Fire for this use case. That, and the fact that Viz manga is not available in the Kindle store right now.

Viz Manga Now On Nook Tablet/Color

One Piece on the Nook TabletI was pleasantly surprised today by an email from Viz proclaiming the arrival of Viz Manga such as One Piece, Naruto, and others on the Nook. Viz manga has been available on their web site and the Apple iPad for a while now. The iPad makes an especially good platform for reading manga with what I think is the perfect sized display. So I really wasn’t expecting to see Viz support the Nook.

I might also add that the email seemed to imply that the eInk Nook might also be supported. However a quick visit to the Barnes & Noble web site put that notion to rest. The site clearly indicates that Viz manga titles require the Nook Tablet or Nook Color with software version 1.4. And don’t get any ideas about reading these titles in the Nook reader software either. I tried reading a sample in the Nook reader on my iPad and Mac only to be informed that the title was not supported there.

Viz Manga on Nook Tablet

Popular Viz manga comes to the Nook Tablet and Nook Color. Sorry, none for eInk Nook!

Honestly, I cannot see any advantage to Viz in locking these Nook titles to the hardware like that. The primary beneficiary would be Barnes & Noble if the availability of Viz titles drives some Nook Tablet sales. The price drop to match the Kindle Fire, a price point that seems to be costing Apple at least a few iPad sales, along with some compelling content may be just the thing readers need to give the Nook color tablets another  look. Especially the younger, manga reading demographic who can’t afford iPads. And I might add that Viz manga is not yet available on the Kindle Fire.

Hopefully we’ll see some joint marketing from Barnes & Noble and Viz to promote this like crazy!

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