... just not direct to a mobile network

So Nokia has failed to persuade the mobile networks to stock it’s “Comes With Music” phones, notably the

Tags: comes with music, mobile, Nokia, nokia 5330

This has been brewing in my mind for a while, so it’s about time I talked ebooks - and the devices on which they’re read. And AFullerView’s comments on the subject have nudged me to action.

Following Sony’s belated entry to the UK market, the likely arrival here of Amazon’s Kindle, and the already available Iliad, there’s been a lot of talk about the future of the humble-yet-mighty book.

Jeanette Winterson wrote an impassioned, if Luddite, piece about why she’s not a fan, though somewhat muddled up with a defence of the importance of spelling correctly… a somewhat linked, but discrete topic. Her main criticism is that ebooks don’t make it any easier to get books into people’s hands.

Well, I do and I don’t agree. Not sitting on the fence: I want to make an important distinction.

I don’t believe the ‘dedicated device’ route is a good way forward for reading ebooks. Particularly via the Sony eReader approach, which (in true Sony style, limits you to buying a proprietary DRM format of books that is at odds with the best range of ebooks available online, over at the excellent Fictionwise.

And there’s good news. If you own a decent smartphone, you can read books in a variety of formats right there - on your iPhone/iPod Touch (by far my favourite ebook reading device to date), on Windows Mobile devices (I’ve had a couple of those) and on old fashioned PDAs. I started reading ebooks back in 2002 on my Palm T3, and I’ve never looked back.

The screens have become gradually more eye-friendly. The range of books is slowly but steadily increasing. The price is appropriate - a little less than a printed book. Reader: this is the way forward. And as the digital ink that makes the Sony device look so good gains currency, the experience can only improve.

And if you go down this path, the green credentials of ebook reading are pretty decent too: you’re simply expanding the value from a device you already have, so no overhead there. And no trees.

Book 2.0 in action

Crucially, it means that hefty tomes, such as Neal Stephenson’s new 800 page wopper, Anathem, is reduced to something that puts no additional strain on my briefcase for my commute.

So, better screens on existing ’smart devices’ = less eyestrain, less backstrain, less bagstrain. And removes the ‘barrier to entry’ issue from Ms Winterson et al… it’s not just putting books in the hands of people who haven’t tended to read them, it’s putting the opportunity for entire libraries there.

= result.

Tags: digital ink, DRM, ebook, Iliad, iphone, iPod Touch, Kindle, smartphone, Sony eReader

My copy of New Media Age hit the doormat at last this morning, complete with a cover story about Amazon’s imminent opening of an MP3 store here in Blighty. How long has this been open in the States???

Anyway, alongside 7Digital and Play.com, iTunes is at last getting some serious competition. I like it!

Tags: 7digital, Amazon, DRM, iTunes, mp3, music

Bye Bye DRM

I blogged a couple of times on this subject already - this is really just an update. Seems Sandlines was pretty quick off the mark with this news yesterday, beating New Media Age, Brand Republic and the Guardian to the punch.

When I posted below, there were a smattering of Sony/Columbia etc titles available in MP3 format. 7Digital have now confirmed that they are 100% MP3. That means 4 million tracks. Oh, and that Glasvegas album is better value, this week only, for a fiver. You heard it here first

Tags: 7digital, DRM, mp3, music

I wrote earlier about Universal leaping whole-heartedly into the fray with a huge catalogue of artists now available in MP3 format. Now Sony have leaped into action as well. OK - so leapt is perhaps an overstatement… the new Glasvegas album is up on 7Digital today (a week or so later than on iTunes) in glorious 320 kbps MP3 format. There seem to be a few other back catalogue items in there too, but I’ve not done a thorough check and it seems patchy rather than as enthusiastic as Universal, Warners and EMI (in reverse order of committing) are today.

BUT, I’m genuinely excited that we may be seeing the end of ridiculously un-customer friendly DRM policies in the sale of music. Who knows, if they get round to TELLING people they’re doing this, maybe their sales might even increase a little…. I’ve long believed one of the reasons that *some* people download, um, illegally is because DRM makes life so blinking difficult to enjoy music that you have legitimately bought.

Now all we need is for Apple to soften their approach to syncing your iPod with more than one PC and we’ll be making REAL progress in providing a highly usable digital music experience. Hurrah!

Tags: DRM, glasvegas, mp3, music, sony

MP3 = Universal Music format

… and it’s a yes!!!

Well, perhaps I shouldn’t really try to claim credit for this, but right after I blogged (below) about how Universal and Sony should embrace the brave world of DRM-free music and allow their catalogue to be sold as MP3, I found myself looking at the 7Digital site and lo, there’s a whole swag of Universal’s various labels all offering MP3 format downloads.

That means artists like U2, The Killers, The Cure, Amy Winehouse, Sam Sparro, Kanye West, Jay Z… quite a long list.

I feel a spending spree coming on…

Tags: DRM, mp3, universal music

Our friends over at Nokia have announced their ‘Comes With Music‘ subscription service is going to launch here in Blighty first.

Comes with DRM Time Bomb

I’m a huge consumer of music - have been one way or another all my life - and I’m old enough to remember buying music in Vinyl (before it became cool again), cassette tape, CD, MiniDisc (remember that?) and now of course I buy most of it via download sites - MUCH prefering MP3 to the complexities and frustrations that DRM has inevitably brought to the process. So I come with baggage.

The only good thing about DRM (and there’s not room here to talk about all the bad stuff) is the opportunity for subscription services - rental of your content. And Nokia’s offering here is an interesting move ahead on what the likes of Napster and Vodafone (amongst others) already offer: this time the DRM is linked directly to the purchase of the device - so you buy your pay-as-you-go nokia phone, and you can download ‘all you can eat’. Then, 12 months later, the bomb goes off. You need to go out and buy another phone.

Neat trick: Nokia just turned the PAYG market into an annual subscription, of sorts.

D’you think they have people standing outside schools flogging these things?

Personally, Ihave an eclectic mixture of devices: a Sony Walkman music phone, an iPod Touch, a couple of other mp3 players - and I like my stuff to be playable whereever… so I MUCH prefer my music in MP3 format, thank you very much. Thanks to the mix of eMusic, 7Digital and Play.com, *most* of what I want to buy comes through in MP3 (legally!). I’m just waiting for (most of) Universal and for Sony to get with the programme… Come on guys!

Tags: DRM, iphone, iPod Touch, mp3, music, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Walkman