iBook app for iPads is a decent alternative for e-books.

Nowadays, e-readers are becoming more and more popular and some of the most popular like the Amazon's Kindle often sold out. And now with the recent launch of the iPad which has enjoyed a tremendous success, some people may be tempted to use their tablet as an e-reader. Indeed the iPad's color display and touch capabilities make the iPad's iBooks app a decent e-book reader. People who have no experience with E Ink from a traditional e-reader, may not mind the iPad's LED backlit screen. Compared with others e-book readers' book stores, the experience with the iPad's iBook app's book store is smooth and effective though it lacks the level of details past the big categories.
The iBook's books prices are competitive almost on par with those of the Kindle and the Nook though the selection may not be as wide as those. Expect for that selection to grow with new deals being made with a variety of publishers.

For more, see pcmag.com

New improved Amazon Kindle DX is set to go on sale July 7 at a lower price.

It was not a very long time ago when Amazon reigned supreme in the e-readers market with its Kindle models. That what then and now the e-reader market has became very crowded with new players entering the field almost every day; those players range from well known to lesser known. And now with the release of the iPad tablet which is a multiple functions device that can serve as an e-reader and with more tablets from different manufactures to enter the market in the near future, one can only feel Amazon line of thinking: how to hold on to its market share? It's response came last week with the announcement of the upcoming release of its high end Kindle DX model loaded with new features at a reduced price of $379. It will go on sale July 7 and will joint the standard and more popular Kindle e-reader already offered at the reduced price of $189 after competitor Barnes & Noble dropped the price of its Nook e-reader.
According to TechNewsWorld, "the new Kindle DX comes with an improved screen contrast, zoom capability for handling PDF files, a collection of tools that allow readers to better organize their reading materials and offer the ability to share selections from books and periodicals via social networks using the free 3 G service that is available with the device."


For more, see TechNewsWorld.com

Sony to offer digital books in open format.

Sony announced last week that starting next year, it will offer digital books only in the ePub format which is an open standard created by a group of publishers like Random House and HarperCollins. What that means is any digital book sold by Sony will be readable not only on its own e-reader known under the Reader brand, but on any other e-reader. In another move, Sony plan to eliminate its proprietary anti copying software in favor of a new technology from Adobe that restricts how often an e-book can be copied or shared.
Sony is also planing to introduce later this year, a third Reader that will let users download e-books wirelessly just like the Amazon Kindle.

For more, see pcworld.com