| Give your digital collection a personal touch while increasing your holdings and circulation at no additional cost by adding local content to your digital library website in OverDrive Marketplace! On the Local Content tab, you can upload new content or edit existing content for which your library has copyright, such as historical documents, local author interviews, community resources, and more.
Local content is supported in the following formats:
eBooks uploaded in EPUB or PDF format will appear on your digital library website within 24 hours. All EPUB files will be added to a processing queue where an OverDrive Read version of the title will be created.
MP3, music and video files will be submitted via FTP to OverDrive for processing, ensuring they are optimized for viewing or listening in OverDrive Media Console.
OverDrive Marketplace users with high level permissions have automatically been enabled with the 'Local content' user right. If you think you should have access to 'Local content,' contact your library's Marketplace administrator to enable this for your account.
For additional information, including steps to get started with local content, view the Marketplace User Manual located on the Support tab in OverDrive Marketplace. Please contact your OverDrive Account Specialist with any questions.
Heather Valentine-Gold is an Account Specialist with OverDrive
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Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Local Content in OverDrive Marketplace
Amazon Kindle Matchbook Offers Readers Print and Digital
| Amazon announced a brand-new value-added feature for its consumers in its new Kindle Matchbook program. Under this new structure, readers can have a low-cost shook edition of any book they have already purchased in print, dating back to 1995. There are already over 10,000 titles approved by their publishers for inclusion in Matchbook, some going back as far as eighteen years ago. "If you logged onto your CompuServe account during the Clinton administration and bought a book like Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus from Amazon, Kindle MatchBook now makes it possible for that purchase—18 years later—to be added to your Kindle library at a very low cost," said Russ Grandinetti, Vice President of Kindle Content. "In addition to being a great new benefit for customers, this is an easy choice for publishers and authors who will now be able to earn more from each book they publish." Authors who self-published their titles through Amazon’s CreateSpace and Kindle Direct Publishing platforms also have the option as the rights’ holders of their works to include their titles in Matchbook simply by logging into their KDP dashboards and enrolling their content. This program is something that digital publishing proponents have clamored for since the current state of ebook sales. The ability to bundle content in this way has been experimented with, but this is the first full-scale model of making any title available at the publishers’ discretion.
Amazon Kindle Matchbook Offers Readers Print and Digital is a post from: E-Reader News |
Pre-Orders for the Kindle Paperwhite 2 Now Available
| So I just got done posting the article about how the details have leaked about the 2nd generation Kindle Paperwhite. At the time I was writing the article, the description page for the Kindle Paperwhite 2 at Amazon wasn’t working. But then I was thinking about adding the link to the article in case Amazon […] |
Kindle Paperwhite 2 Details Leaked
| Earlier today Amazon slipped up and accidentally started displaying the new product listing page for the 2nd generation Kindle Paperwhite. They have since taken the product listing page down, but not before someone snapped some screenshots listing the new features. The Kindle Paperwhite 2 appears to be an incremental update. Not much has changed and […] |
First Look at Sony Reader PRS-T3 (Video)
| The folks over on Librista.es, a Spanish-language blog, have somehow managed to get their hands on the new Sony PRS-T3 ahead of launch, which is expected to come as early as tomorrow. There really aren’t any new details about the reader that we haven’t already seen in the earlier leaked documents, but there is a […] |
Help fund computing labs for girls in Afghanistan
| Will Goldie is a Boy Scout in California, working on his Eagle project. It’s an ambitious one: working alongside Trust in Education, a group that organises educational, economic and business development programs in rural Afghanistan, he’s raising funds to equip a computer lab for a girls’ school. The Pi will form the centrepiece of what Will’s doing, and he has an Indiegogo running, starting today, to raise the money. Will’s been emailing with Eben about his idea for a little while now, and we’re really pleased that he’s been able to start putting it in place. The major cost here is the monitor (display technology remains an aggravatingly expensive part of the equation when you’re buying everything as new); Will’s calculations say that it will cost $190 to set up each computer when peripherals are taken into account. He’s aiming to raise sufficient money for ten, but if he exceeds that goal any extra money will go into providing more computers for the girls. It goes without saying, but we would very much like to see him exceed his goal. This project presses all my buttons. Teaching computing, reaching girls in environments hostile to their education, enabling young women to access opportunities and options that were previously closed to them: making a big difference with a small device. I’ve put my money where my mouth is on this one, and have funded the project – I really hope you will too. |
Amazon Japan Overtaking the Competition
| One of Amazon’s most recent global marketplace initiations has been in Japan, where device manufacturers at one time found a slow adoption of digital reading. Rakuten, at one time the leading e-reader manufacturer in Japan–and now parent company of Kobo–reigned supreme, but that’s quickly changing, due in large part to Amazon’s model as much as to its devices. So what is Amazon doing that the other guys like Sony and Rakuten are not? First, the competitive pricing–a tactic that certainly did not win the world’s largest digital retailer and friends in the US, as evidenced by the excuses born out of the recent Department of Justice investigation and lawsuit against Apple and several publishers–that Amazon could support made e-readers finally something more of a tool than an investment. Until the Kindle made an appearance, devices were just too costly to support the everyday reader; Amazon was able to discount the devices and make up the difference in not only ebooks, but also in other products it sells from its online marketplace. Also, Amazon finally brought Japanese consumers ebooks that they could purchase one time and read forever, unlike the original digital reading models that sprung up which only allowed ebook rentals. But more importantly than even price or availability of content was possibly the company’s brand itself. Amazon bills itself as a meet-all-needs market portal, and has an easy to use interface that consumers readily enjoy browsing. The recognizable brand and the reputation for stellar customer service all lead readers to stop by Amazon’s website to browse and shop. Of course, content isn’t hurting. In the nearly one year that Amazon Japan has been open to consumers, it has grown a large catalog of Japanese-language titles, adding several thousand titles each month. This also includes access to Amazon’s English-language titles, as well as the self-published titles through Kindle Direct Publishing from authors around the world.
Amazon Japan Overtaking the Competition is a post from: E-Reader News |
News Corp Announces New Digital Newspaper Advertising Exchange
| News Corp is developing a new advertising exchange network for their big digital newspaper and web properties. This will allow the company to cut out the middle man and do away with their various affiliates and third party advertisers. The intention is to have more control and be able to deal with advertisers directly. The Sun and Times in the UK and the Wall Street Journal are News Corps flagship newspapers and all of them have adapted the paywall approach. In some cases this strategy has not worked out, for example, the Times traffic has dropped by as much as 90% since the launch of the new paywall. Advertisers are often fairly fickle with investing in digital newspaper websites, as the reach is quite low. News Corp intends to leverage every single one of their properties under one banner and allow advertisers to place ads across a wide spectrum. The News Corp Global Exchange, will bring together the ad space of 50 websites and mobile/tablet products including Times.co.uk, TheSun.co.uk, NYPost.com, TheAustralian.com.au, MarketWatch.com and News.com.au. “Content aggregators would like to commodify our content, while data scrapers would like to aggregate our audience,” said Robert Thomson, chief executive of News Corp. “The only way to reach the world’s greatest content and the most prestigious and lucrative audiences is directly through our digital properties. Third parties are no longer invited to the party”. One potential monkey wrench in News Corps plans is the announcement that Yahoo is launching their own advertising exchange network. The Yahoo network is based in Australia and recently conducted a trial with 50 major online entities. This is notable because News Corp owns The Australian newspaper and The Australian already signed a contract with Yahoo to use their network. This situation has to be resolved in short order and is likely a huge priority with the upper echelon of News Corp. management. It will be very interesting to see how much time and energy is needed to build brand awareness in the News Corp Exchange Network. Something like this is going to take a ton of time and money to build proper momentum. Likely, other newspaper publishers are going to monitor this entire project closely for their own properties. News Corp Announces New Digital Newspaper Advertising Exchange is a post from: E-Reader News |
Monday, September 2, 2013
Microsoft Announces the Purchase of Nokia
| Microsoft are the new owners of Nokia. In a move which took many by surprise, Microsoft will now own the Finnish company's devices and products division in a deal worth $5 billion. Another $2.2 billion will go towards acquiring licenses of all of Nokia's patents so that the entire deal works out to $7.2 billion. All this while everyone thought Nokia is working hard to regain its status of being among the top handset makers in the world with active collaboration with Microsoft. The above deal is also reminiscent of the search giant Google acquiring Motorola last year. "We announced some exciting news today: We have entered into an agreement to purchase Nokia's Devices & Services business, which includes their smartphone and mobile phone businesses, their award-winning design team, manufacturing and assembly facilities around the world, and teams devoted to operations, sales, marketing and support," revealed Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in a letter to Nokia employees. The above deal will also mark a return of Nokia CEO Stephen Elop who had left Microsoft to join Nokia as its chief executive. He will now be back at Microsoft as the executive vice president of the devices and services division. Elop though is also in the race to replace Steve Ballmer once the latter's tenure comes to an end by next summer. Microsoft termed the deal as a 'smart acquisition', which is quite relevant given the less than commanding position that Nokia is into right now which also is a shadow of what it was even a few years ago. The above deal also reinforces the Richmond based company's ambitions in the smartphone segment. The Windows Phone 8 platform has emerged as the third largest so far, beating BlackBerry 10 in the process but is way beyond both iOS and Android, the segment leaders right now. WP8 market share has jumped to 8.2 in Europe while its worldwide share of the smartphone market grew from 3.1 percent to 3.7 percent in Q2, 2013. (As per IDC). “Today’s agreement will accelerate the momentum of Nokia’s devices and services, bringing the world’s most innovative smartphones to more people, while continuing to connect the next billion people with Nokia’s mobile phone portfolio,” revealed Ballmer and Elop in a joint statement. The deal though is still awaiting shareholder and regulatory approval and is expected to come to a conclusion by Q1, 2014.
Microsoft Announces the Purchase of Nokia is a post from: E-Reader News |
Kobo Aura, Kobo Glo and Kobo Aura HD Triparison
| Welcome to another Good e-Reader Comparison Video! Today we compare all of the current generation Kobo e-Readers directly against each other. Conduct a nighttime reading test of the Kobo Glo, Kobo Aura and Kobo Aura HD. This will give you a sense on how the same book looks on all three devices. The Front-lit screens that allow you to read in the dark has undergone constant refinement as each generation is released. Many people often wonder how the glowing display looks side by side and if its a viable reason to upgrade devices. We have seen from our own data that e-reader owners are the least likely to upgrade whenever a new model comes out. If you have the Kobo Glo, should you upgrade to the Aura? In this video we lay it all out, so you can judge for yourself. Kobo Aura, Kobo Glo and Kobo Aura HD Triparison is a post from: E-Reader News |
Sony PRS-T3 e-Reader Revealed
| The Sony PRS-T3 has been leaked before the official press event in a few days and we now have a sense on what it looks like and the finalized hardware. On the surface it looks very much akin to the T2 and only has marginal enhancements. The Sony PRS-T3 has a six inch e-Ink Pearl HD display screen with a resolution of 1024×758 pixels. You can pinch and zoom to have more control over your internet and PDF experience. This is the same type of functionality that the new Kobo Aura has. You have 1.2 GB of internal memory to play around with when you take it out of the box for the first time. This will be enough for most users, but you can increase it up to 32 GB via the Micro SD Card. The exact dimensions are 107 x 160 x 8.8 mm. and you will get around eight weeks of battery life out of the e-Reader. This device does not read a ton of different eBook formats, but you can read the popular ones with ePub, PDF, TXT. There is also a photo section with the support of JPG, GIF, PNG and BMP. Buying books is fairly simple using the dedicated Sony Reader Store, although the Spanish website that sent us all of the photos does not have access to the store yet. On the software side of things Sony is still using the Android operating system. You can borrow eBooks directly from the library using the Overdrive app, but it is only available in the US, UK, Canada and Ireland. The T2 main selling point was the Evernote and Facebook integration and the new T3 model has both of these still on it. This e-Reader also has WIFI, so you can simply connect right up to the Sony Store, Overdrive and the internet. Sony has maintained the quintessential drawing app, that allows you to take notes with a freestyle approach. You can use a stylus for more precision and actually take notes in the book. The one thing Sony has always done well is allow readers to make underlines or take notes directly on the book. This is useful because with PDF’s you can simply draw all over it and save the book in its current state. This will allow you to basically have two copies of the book, one virgin and one with your changes. Useful for students and people who are doing research or even belong to a book club. There is no front-lite on this e-reader and many people should be all up in arms about it. Sony has publicly proclaimed that they fail to see the point of an illuminated screen. The T3 does come with a case, but does no have the reading light that was leaked a few weeks ago. Instead, you have to buy this additionally and should cost around $60.00. Speaking of prices, the T3 e-Reader is poised to retail for $189.99. Thanks to Estudio Dos of the Librista website for answering a million questions and taking a bunch of custom photos for this reveal!
Sony PRS-T3 e-Reader Revealed is a post from: E-Reader News |
MagPi issue 16: out today!
| There are a few changes at the MagPi, the free community magazine about the Raspberry Pi. First of all, you’ll notice they have a new website, with a new and easier layout. And as of today, as many of you have requested, some articles from the magazine are being converted to be readable in HTML format as well as published in the usual whole-magazine PDF form. So far, the team at the MagPi has converted Issue 13, and they’re planning on converting their entire back catalogue to HTML over the coming months, so eventually all articles from all the back issues should also be available to view as separate web pages. It’s a bit of a labour of love, and the team is made up entirely of volunteers, so please be patient while they work! They’ve also set up a blog for MagPi announcements, which you can find at www.themagpi.com/blog/. This month’s MagPi is the fattest issue so far, with an article on PATOSS, the rescue-bird monitor we covered here in July, going into much more detail about the setup than has been available before, and explaining what progress Jorge Rancé has made since Pato and his broken leg hit the Raspberry Pi blog this summer. There’s more on the skutter robot (hurrah!), with tutorials on adding sensors. You’ll find out how to drive LCD displays, learn about FPGA, and read the usual smorgasbord of software tutorials. This month’s issue comes with two competitions for Pis and accessories – you can read the whole thing over at The MagPi. |
fEnerGenie ePP2 eReader/ePaper Printer Set For IFA 2013 Launch
| Jostling for space among the plethora of new gadgets that's waiting to be unveiled at the upcoming IFA 2013 event will be a humble ereader device which, according to reports from its developer,addresses readers’ responsibility to Mother Nature. The ereader in question, the EnerGenie PP2 from Danish company Gembird, is very similar to any e-ink-based ebook reading device out there. However, its makers want to convince us the EnerGenie PP2 is in reality an e-paper printer. Here is how the company behind the device is justifying it being labeled as an e-paper printer. When connected to the computer via a USB cable, the device is recognized as a printer. Pressing the print option will transfer the document to be printed onto the EnerGenie where it remains saved. The document can then be called up and displayed on the 9.7 inch e-ink display the device offers, any time it is needed. The 1600 x 1200 pixel display also helps the cause, though while this makes for a nice way to save paper, that's only as long as the document is in black and white. Also, it's a two-way journey with the documents, as the same can also be sent back to the PC. Meanwhile, the EnerGenie PP2 also includes a stylus which can also make impressions on the display. What this means is that the pen can be used to modify the document or add a signature and so on. The rest of the spec story speaks of a 80 Mhz processor powering the device, together with a 256 MB RAM and 4 GB of internal memory. There is also a micro SD card slot to allow for more storage. The device runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread, though it's unlikely users will be allowed access to the operating system. There’s a 2350mAh battery that will be providing the power, which it must be said will be quite enough given the power saving credentials that e-ink based displays are known for. However, what comes as a downside is the intended pricing, which at 399 to 499 Euros translates to about $530 to $660. That makes us wonder if there will be enough buyers to splurge on an e-paper printer, no matter how committed they may be towards the green cause. Meanwhile, here is a video of the device in action.
fEnerGenie ePP2 eReader/ePaper Printer Set For IFA 2013 Launch is a post from: E-Reader News |
Readers Quite Negative on Pre-Ordering eBooks
| Many of the leading online digital book stores all offer pre-orders for eBooks that are not yet out. Many tend to only focus on books that are coming out within a few months and most never disclose their actual sales figures. According to a recent data report Good e-Reader ran, readers overwhelmingly are quite negative about ordering books in advance. When you order a real book in advance, often you get it a few days or a week before the commercial release. eBooks on the other hand don’t give readers any real benefits of ordering them. There are no discounts or anything really compelling about ordering advance and our readers simply don’t do it. This data report is a strong indication on the mentality of your average reader that buys both real books and digital ones. Readers Quite Negative on Pre-Ordering eBooks is a post from: E-Reader News |
Brazilian National Book Fair Kicks off in Rio
| The Brazilian National Book Fair has just opened up to the public in Rio and is running from August 29 to September 8th. Every single major publisher from South America was in attendance and there was even special areas for foreign books, notably from Germany and France. Anyone worried that youth are distancing themselves from reading would have been warmed at the overwhelming presence of children and teens. Many were part of school visits or brought by their parents. One of our readers Albert Silva attended the event on Sunday and mentioned “Digital books had an extremely modest presence, represented by Amazon and Kobo, but the impression was that their stands were about readers and technology. I saw very little mentioned of digital books themselves or the reading experience (dictionary, cheaper books, instant 24/7 buying, etc.) which seemed to be taken for granted.” The Amazon and Kobo booths were about as far away from each other as possible. Albert elaborated that “I visited both, and even though it is quite understandable the only things on display were the readers and tablets, the representatives seemed entirely focused on the technological capabilities such as resolution and RAM. They also hyped up their financing options because electronics in Brazil are frightfully overpriced due to 70% import tariffs. ample prices, converted to US dollars are the Kobo AuraHD, which retails for US$270, or the Kindle Paperwhite for US$200.”
Brazilian National Book Fair Kicks off in Rio is a post from: E-Reader News |
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Digital Comics Best-Sellers for September 1 2013
| Here’s my weekly look at the digital comics best-sellers, or at least a snapshot taken on Sunday evening. 1. Injustice: Gods Among Us #33 ComiXology had a lot of comics on 99-cent sale this weekend, but the only one to crack the top ten list is Justice League #8, at number 10. Five more made it into the top 20, though, all of them Justice League issues (leading up to the Trinity War crossover; apparently some folks had some catching up to do). In fact, the first non-Justice League sale comic to pop up on the best-selling pages is the Red Hulk graphic novel, which is below number 60 in the rankings. This is interesting because it shows that however many comics comiXology is selling at that 99-cent price point, there are far more customers willing to pay full price for this week’s new comics. 1. Injustice: Gods Among Us #33 Amazon also had Justice League comics on sale for 99 cents, and again, only one made it into the top ten list, but the long tail is much shorter here—there’s only one additional Justice League comic in the top 20. This is the “Comics & Graphic Novels with Kindle Panel View” list; the other list, of straight-up Kindle comics, consists entirely of single issues of Injustice: Gods Among Us except for two issues of Justice League; three more show up when you stretch it to the top 20. While the Panel View readers go for quite a few graphic novels, the other list is entirely single issues. 1. Injustice: Gods Among Us #32 What you’re not seeing here, because I filtered them out, is a lot of free Nook books, both previews and full issues of comics, including several issues of the digital manga magazine Gen. The number 10 comic on my list is number 37 on the Nook best-seller list, meaning there were 26 free books that did better. iBooks 1. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic #10 Last week, I commented that this list had the most variety; this week, the ponies and Injustice dominate once more. And Batman: The Dark Knight Return continues to enjoy its post-San Diego sales bump. Digital Comics Best-Sellers for September 1 2013 is a post from: E-Reader News |
Kobo Aura Nighttime Reading Tests
| Welcome to another Good e-Reader Video! The New Kobo Aura e-Reader has a built in front-light that allows you to read in the dark and have control over the luminosity. Being able to properly configure the brightness depending on your environmental conditions allows for more flexibility to get them most out of your Kobo. Today we compare the Kobo Aura against the Aura HD, Kindle Paperwhite, and Kobo Glo. You can get a sense of how this device stacks up against the competition and how the overall reading experience is in complete darkness. Kobo Aura Nighttime Reading Tests is a post from: E-Reader News |
iStoryTime, TapJoy Bring Children’s Content and Value to Parents’ Devices
| From its initial days when parents were reluctant to put expensive devices in their kids’ hands, the children’s digital publishing market has exploded into an industry all its own. Part of the reason for that is there are very special considerations when introducing content to children via a tablet or smartphone. The typical methods of embedding ads or offering in-app purchases are not popular with parents who may have concerns about what their children view or what they have access to buy. Zuuka, the parent company of popular children’s novelization app book developer iStoryTime, has now teamed up with TapJoy to offer the value pricing that users can benefit from thanks to ads and purchases, but without putting young users at risk. Under this new model, parents will earn points towards free content by interacting with the ads offered through TapJoy’s mobile value exchange system, although young readers will not be exposed to them. Additionally, parents can make new book purchases, but can feel confident that their kids cannot stack up an expensive bill by accessing those purchase options. According to Steve Wadsworth, CEO of TapJoy, "With Zukka and the iStoryTime app, we are empowering parents to earn credits for use toward their family's favourite narrated books. We are seeing a trend of app publishers utilising the mobile value exchange model to enable their users to get the premium content they want." Some of the ways parents will be expected to interact with an ad are to take a survey or watch a video, while some of the companies have opted to allow parents to simply scroll through the ad. Zuuka has ensured that all of the advertising is pertinent to their customers’ needs and that none of it detracts from the reading experience for the children.
iStoryTime, TapJoy Bring Children’s Content and Value to Parents’ Devices is a post from: E-Reader News |
Kindle Announces Potential Refunds to Customers
| In a mass email to its customers yesterday, Amazon announced some good news for customers who’ve been awaiting news of the results of the Apple/Big Five settlement. Despite the fact that the email didn’t contain any concrete information on when customers will receive account credits or when those credits will appear, it was a small reassurance to customers that the wheels are at least turning. According to the email, “You do not need to do anything to receive this credit. If the Court approves the settlements in December 2013 and there is no appeal, a credit will appear automatically in your Amazon.com account that can be used to purchase Kindle books or print books. We will contact you when the credit is applied to your account. While we will not know the amount of your credit until the Court approves the settlements, it is estimated that it will range from $0.73 to $3.06 for every eligible Kindle book that you purchased. To be eligible, you must have a U.S. billing address and must have purchased a Kindle book published by Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin or Macmillan between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012. These publishers will provide the funds for the settlements. If you have already requested a check instead of a credit in response to the notice you received last fall, that request will cover these additional settlements and you do not need to do anything else. If you would like to request a check, you may do so by following the instructions included in the formal notice of the settlements, set forth below. You can learn more about the settlements at www.amazon.com/help/agencyebooksettlements.” The most interesting news in the email was also the least discussed. Throughout the investigation and the trial, Amazon has remained somewhat quiet, cautiously not weighing in on the alleged price-fixing. They seemingly only answered to how the actual resulting pricing model has affected their business model and not really discussed who may have said what behind closed doors, and whether or not it was intended to bring down the retail giant. But in the email, Amazon very pointedly mentioned that this settlement, if it goes through, will ensure that their customers continue to receive the best possible prices on ebooks. “In addition to the account credit, the settlements impose limitations on the publishers' ability to control eBook prices. We think these settlements are a big win for readers.”
Kindle Announces Potential Refunds to Customers is a post from: E-Reader News |
Flip PDF Software For Creating Page Flipping eBook Launched
| Flip PDF is a new software tool that can be used to create page flipping ebooks using HTML 5 . This will ensure the ebook will be compatible across platforms such as iOS, Android or Windows. Or in other words, the ebook can be read on popular devices such as the iPad/iPhone, Android devices, MAC and PCs. The software enables the user to create the page flipping ebooks in just three simple steps. The first step after having invoked Flip PDF will be to import the content in PDF format. Users will next have the option to select the theme and template that will go with the ebook. The last step will yield the ebook in HTML 5 format while also offering the option 'Also Make Mobile Version'. Following these easy steps will allow one to have their own ebooks that is compatible across platforms while also offering the look and feel of turning the pages of a real book. Users will also be able to send the ebook via email or published online. What's more, the Flip PDF application is completely royalty free, which means there are no fees to be paid to the company even if the book is published for commercial gains. This should come in handy for those in business as the software can be used to create some nice looking catalogs or reports where the page flips just as it would have done in the real world. All of this is achieved without having to write even a single line of a computer program. Flip PDF Software For Creating Page Flipping eBook Launched is a post from: E-Reader News |
