How much trust do you put into those 5-star reviews on Amazon, or glowing reviews on any e-commerce site, for that matter? Smart online shoppers know to thoroughly research a product before forking over part of a payday, but when a $10 Kindle cover boasts a 4.9 rating out of nearly 5,000 reviews, would you really be suspicious of shenanigans in a sample size that large? Perhaps you should be.
Time is running out if you still haven't slid any presents underneath the Christmas tree (for those of you who celebrate the holiday), and you have even less time if you prefer to shop online. But it's not too late to snag a Kindle online, not yet anyway. Amazon is offering free two-day shipping -- a deal normally reserved for Prime members -- to customers who order any Kindle device, including the Kindle Fire, by 8PM PT on December 21 (tomorrow).
Owners of Barnes & Noble's Nook Color eBook reader now have access to the largest-ever software update to their device. According to B&N, the update adds over 100 feature enhancements, access to top video and music services, popular apps, comics, and more. One of the more subtle but most requested feature upgrades is the ability to read books in portrait or landscape mode, as well as more text and font size options to play with.
Forget all the talk about a down economy and lack of disposable income for a moment. None of that seemed to affect Amazon, the online giant who peddled more Kindle devices this past Black Friday than ever before. Overall Kindle sales jumped four-fold compared to last year, and the popular Kindle Fire tablet remained the best selling product across all of Amazon since its introduction 8 weeks ago, Amazon said.
Welcome to the world of digital media, a world where its inhabitants are constantly looking over the shoulder for fear of pickpockets. This fear is prevalent throughout the digital music industry, and apparently eBook publishers are just as skittish. In case we need to be reminded of this, just look at Penguin's recent departure from the OverDrive lending service.
Barnes & Noble is banking on better hardware and strategic relationships with third-party content providers being enough to sway potential Kindle Fire buyers over to the upcoming Nook Tablet. Officially unveiled this morning at a press event in New York, B&N confirmed what we already knew via leaked internal documents, which is that the Nook Tablet will be in stores November 17 for $249.
Amazon just upped the ante in the eBook reader wars by announcing a new benefit for Kindle owners with an Amazon Prime membership. It's called the "Kindle Owners' Lending Library," which is, well, a lending library for Kindle owners who are currently or plan to become members of Amazon's $79/year Prime service. The online library gives Prime members access to over 5,000 books to borrow for free, including over 100 current and former New York Times Bestsellers.
Amazon has officially cut the ribbon on its library lending program for Kindle. If you live near one of the more than 11,000 participating local libraries and have a library card, you can check out eBooks from your Kindle or Kindle app similar to the way you borrow dead tree equivalents, only you don't need to leave your couch.
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