Brendan Sherar, CEO of Biblio.com was kind enough to answer a couple of questions regarding Amazon's acquisition of AbeBooks and how it might effect the overall used, rare, and out-of-print online market and Biblio in particular.Book Patrol-What effect do think Amazon's acquisition of AbeBooks will have on the used, rare, and out-of-print online market? Brendan Sherar -I believe it is unhealthy for the overall market, because it further removes competition and choices for collectors, readers, and booksellers alike. In a free market economy, that is generally accepted to be a bad thing. When competition and choice are reduced or eliminated,...
Breaking News: Amazon buys AbeBooks
The king of online bookselling just got stronger. No details of the transaction where disclosed and the deal expects to close in the fourth quarter of 2008.Amazon Press ReleaseAbeBooks Press Release forthcomingBook Patrol take forthcomingTim Spalding's post over at The LibraryThing blog (AbeBooks is a minority stakeholder in LibraryThing)This is a huge acquisition with tremendous implications for the bookselling trade. In one fell swoop the industry as been turned on its head, again!
Zoomii : A Virtual, Virtual "Bookstore"
When Amazon.com burst on to the scene as the world's first virtual bookstore who knew that it would eventually turn an entire industry upside down. Overnight, practically every book in print was made available at discounted prices to anyone with computer access. It wasn't long before the traditional independent new bookstore began to die.Now comes Zoomii "an online version of a real bookstore with Amazon's low prices, secure payment and fast shipping." Zoomii takes Amazon's entire catalog and turns it into a visual browsing trip. Essentially an Amazon affiliate, with all order processing done by Amazon, that utilizes Amazon's powerful...
Kindle: Smoldering in the Uncanny Valley?
A loupe is something every bookseller should have in their toolbox. I most frequently use mine to help identify prints in books (etching? engraving? woodcut? mezzotint? aquatint?). They are also useful for making out faded, erased, or otherwise-difficult-to-read writing, differentiating between printed and authentically signed autographs, and the like.Yesterday, I decided to turn my loupe on the Kindleto see what the type looked like under closer examination. I was rather shocked at what I saw. The letters, even under high magnification, look remarkably like type on a physical page. I expected to see at least some evidence of pixelation, and...
KINDLE: Initial Impressions
Last week I confessed to having bought a Kindle, Amazon's new e-book reader. I've had it for almost a week now and thought I'd report on my initial impressions...1) Many commentators and Amazon reviewers have talked about how the design of the Kindle makes it too easy for you to accidentally hit one of the side buttons and turn a page when unwanted. There is some truth to this, but I found it no more annoying than pressing the wrong key on the tiny keypad of a Blackberry, hitting the wrong link on the tiny iPhone screen, or for that...