Amazon and Google make books extra portable

It looks as though you can all but throw out the library card that's been hiding behind all of the other plastic in your wallet. With the announcement of Amazon's 230,000-plus Kindle e-book titles being formatted for your cellphone, the idea of actually going to the library is one step closer to becoming completely obsolete.

The company hasn't disclosed when the titles will be available nor the compatible devices, but if you simply can't wait to get rid of your hardbacks, you can always invest in the newest version of the Kindle, which is set to be revealed later this week.

In addition to Amazon's mobil upgrade, fellow new-media giant, Google, is expanding its Book Search to cell phones. The company already has more than 1.5 million public domain works available online and has struck an agreement with the Association of American Publishers that will bring even more books to you with the click of a button.

If all of that isn't convenient enough for you, you can check out the newest advancement in digital reading. HarperCollins has decided to embrace its consumers' shrinking attention span with the creation of its V-Book, a super-abridged version that feature the basic concepts and highlights of a book as read by the author. The first book is Jeff Jarvis' 23-minute What Would Google Do? And while the concept seems, well, a bit lazy, the digital $9.99 version sure looks good next to the hardback's $26.99.

News

Emily Blunt and Jason Segel on board for Gulliver's Travels

News

Download The Damnwells' One Last Century for free

6 Comments

Click to leave a comment.

By Steve LaBate on February 10, 2009

This is a disgrace. Why would anyone want to read a novel on a cell phone? And "super-abridged versions that feature the basic concepts and highlights of a book as read by the author?" I swear, I would not be surprised if that terrible movie Idiocracy was actually a telling prophecy for where our culture is headed. Sure, sounds awesome: All the libraries will become obsolete because people who've acquired ADD from constant, obnoxious media bombardment are reading Cliff's Notes versions of classics and thinking they're getting the real thing. Doesn't anyone care about aesthetics anymore? About the experience of sitting in a quiet, comfortable place and digging into a novel? (Instead of reading in your car at red lights, or in line at the post office?) And what about the pleasing tactile feeling of holding a hardcover book in your hand and flipping a page? That wonderful woosh it makes as you turn expectantly to whatever might be next. Can't get that on your cell phone. Embracing this condensed cell-phone-reading BS is like thinking staring at your computer and playing shitty-sounding mp3s through tone-starved earbuds while surfing the Web is any substitute for kicking back in your living room with some 180-gram vinyl played through a top-notch sound system while you're doing nothing but listening. Yes, technology is great when it improves something, but it's not just great because it's the latest thing being foisted on us by GoogleMacSoftAzon. To quote fictional author Hank Moody, "I'm just an analog guy living in a digital world." Slow down and think for a change - we'd all benefit from some careful consideration as to whether the latest gadget or application is actually sensible and worthwhile, rather than being swept up and blinded by its sparkly newness.

By Steve LaBate on February 10, 2009

And lest you dismiss this as simply the complaining of a grumpy old luddite... I'm just shy of 30, which means I've still got mad cred with the kids.

By chasedaway on February 10, 2009

I've always found the idea of an e-reader like the Kindle to be cool (even though buying books at a bookstore is a completely unique--and great--experience).

Books on cellphones...not so much, just because it would be such a hassle to read; most phones still have relatively small screens. The iphone can pull this off because the whole thing is a screen, but most others can't.

I draw the line at "abridged" books. That is absolutely terrible. Our culture already reads far less than it ever used to, which is why I'm okay with the idea of e-readers--it's getting books out to people in a "modern" way. But to shorten and abridge books to a bite-sized on-the-go morsel??? It's a BOOK...there are nuances of plot and characterization that MUST be explained and experienced over a multitude of pages. Yeah, condense Huck Finn into a 20 page "highlights" addition. Won't work--you'll lose all of the subtleties.

Or how about we condense movies into 5 minute highlight reels? Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings--ABRIDGED." Right.

And I can't imagine authors going along with this "abridged" idea. I'm an aspiring author myself, and if publishers think that "the future" is in abridged sections of something I took months or years to create, hell, I'll just write short stories.

By garrett on February 10, 2009

Previous commenters: You're upset that companies are abridging books to reach a wider audience. OK, fine.

Do you understand that you've formed this opinion after reading an abridged New York Times article?

I am amused.

By M@ on February 13, 2009

Since the library still offers *free* books, I don't think I'll be abandoning them anytime soon. That, and the fact that I still don't own a cell phone.

By LaShawn on February 13, 2009

Regarding that we're reading this from an abridged article--we did not pay $9.99 for it.

It's outrageous to pay such a high price for an abdriged anything. I'd rather get the whole thing for that.

But we're still in the beginning phases of ereaders. As the technology get better, prices get more manageable, and more publishers jump on board, I think things will even out. I haven't bought a Kindle yet because the price is too high for me, but if they can offer a way to view PDFs and pages in color, I'd be interested.