MP3 Headlines & News for December 16, 2009

Plenty of skeptical eyebrows were raised when some researchers and analysts predicted an explosive holiday season for eBook readers earlier this year.

Then Amazon stock reached an all-time high thanks to "best-ever" Kindle sales in November. Meanwhile, Barnes & Noble is "scrambling" to fill out orders for its recently released — or soon-to-be released, depending on your point of view — Nook eReader, which the company can't make enough of to meet current demand. Sony is also citing stronger than expected demand for shipping delays involving its own new device, the Wi-Fi enabled Reader Daily Edition.

The whole eDrama is certainly fueling plenty of healthy debate. Despite the successes enjoyed by eBooks this holiday season, some folks are still opting for the Grinch position, including comparing the whole eReader holiday hullabaloo to fruitcake. Others, meanwhile, aren't ready to label the whole eBook boom as a passing fad.

So do you think eBooks are here to stay or are they this decade's more literate version of the mullet? Regardless, there's no doubt that this Christmas will be quite merry for eBook makers.

Photo © Amazon

For tips on buying an eBook reader, check out our eBook buying tips. Need to know which eBook reads what? Here's our eBook File Compatibility Chart.

Are eBook Readers a Fad or Here to Stay? originally appeared on About.com Portable Entertainment on Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 at 00:20:19.

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Via Tania

• Become Forest (Grafton Primary Radio Edit) (3:57)

Dragonette

• Pick Up The Phone (Richard X Remix) (3:45)

Little Dragon

• Blinking Pigs (3:39)

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Free Music Downloads This Week originally appeared on About.com Digital Music on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 09:00:14.

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The big question now is, "what is Apple going to do with its latest acquisition?" For many consumers, the obvious answer would be an integrated streaming music element in the iTunes Store. Arguably, this is something that Apple should have done a long time ago, rather than sticking to an outdated pay-per-click only service. But wait a minute? Could Apple also be thinking of using cloud storage? There's little doubt that if they also implemented this, it would cater for consumers who want to be able to stream their music and have a secure remote storage solution.

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Is Apple Finally Jumping Into The Streaming Music Business? originally appeared on About.com Digital Music on Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 at 09:11:40.

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Apple's iPod line typically gets all the attention. Being an iPod owner myself, you can even say I am somewhat guilty of drinking the Apple Kool-Aid.

Still, the Cupertino-based company doesn't have a monopoly on solid music players. In fact, there are — gasp — some devices out there that beat some of Apple's offerings within the same class.

Take the diminutive Sansa Clip+ (or Plus, depending on your typing preference). Head-to-head, I think this plucky portable beats the iPod Shuffle hands-down (and yes, I happen to own a Shuffle, too).

For one, it actually allows you to easily pick what music to listen to. You can even adjust your equalizer settings on the fly. In short, it's a control freak's dream come true (which, ironically, means Steve Jobs should be loving this thing — well, except maybe for the decidedly non-Apple looking outer case design).

For more, check out my Sansa Clip Plus review.

Photo by Jason Hidalgo

Sansa's Latest Clip Player is a Plus originally appeared on About.com Portable Entertainment on Monday, December 14th, 2009 at 02:08:12.

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Traditional book publishers suffered another blow in the eBook arena as a popular business author moved the rights to electronic versions of two of his works to a company that will sell them exclusively at Amazon.

Stephen R. Covey, author of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," has shifted the eBook rights of the aforementioned work and a book yet to be published to RosettaBooks, the New York Times reports. The eBook rights used to be held by Simon & Schuster — the same company that recently announced it would delay eBook versions of 35 big titles in 2010 by four months after the hardcover release.

One of the big winners in the deal is Amazon, which will have exclusive rights to selling the eBook versions of the two titles for one year. Upping monetary gains for authors is apparently one habit of highly successful eBook publishers when it comes to getting rights. Covey is set to earn "more than half of the net proceeds" that RosettaBooks rakes in from the Amazon deal. In contrast, the normal digital rate from traditional publishers is 25 percent. Even Covey's son said the higher royalty rate was a factor in the switch.

With eBook readers gaining even more popularity, it would be interesting to see how traditional publishers respond. One thing's for sure: Those contracts they write up now are definitely going to include "eBooks" and "digital distribution" in them.

Photo © Amazon

'7 Habits' Author Shifts eBook Rights to Amazon originally appeared on About.com Portable Entertainment on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 00:58:48.

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If you like to exclusively get your new books via their "e" version, be prepared to wait, at least if they're coming from these two publishers.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Simon & Schuster and Hachette Book Group will be delaying their eBook version releases — 35 big titles for Simon & Schuster in early 2010 and a "vast majority of titles" for Hachette. Lead times for hardcover books will be four months for Simon & Schuster and about three to four months for Hachette.

The news comes at a time when the eBook reader industry is experiencing huge sales growth. Simon & Schuster says the delay is a move that must be done now before the eReader install base reaches a level that would make implementing a delay impossible (I guess it's kind of like how newspapers now are having a hard time charging for online content after offering it for free for so long. I'm specifically talking about changing the consumer mind set, of course).

The CEO of Hachette sounded even more dire, calling the move necessary for the preservation of the industry while describing the $9.99 typically charged for eBooks as "bargain-basement" pricing. In short, they're not making as much money off eBooks as they do with real books. 'Kind of reminds me of the ruckus raised by the music industry when digital music downloads first started to take off.

So what do you think of the move? Regardless, it would be interesting to see if more publishers follow suit.

Photo © Barnes & Noble

Two Publishers Delay eBook Versions of Books originally appeared on About.com Portable Entertainment on Thursday, December 10th, 2009 at 02:37:25.

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Is the third time of the second time a charm?

With Amazon dropping its Kindle 2.3 update around Thanksgiving, Kindle owners have had plenty of time taking it out for a spin.

So is it everything you hoped it would be? Or was the update weighed, measured and found wanting?

Personally, I think native support for more file formats would've been nice. But that's just me.

If you happen to have no idea what I'm talking about, here's the quick lowdown on the Kindle 2.3 update.

So How's That Kindle 2.3 Update Treating You? originally appeared on About.com Portable Entertainment on Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 at 00:07:49.

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