New Entry in E-Books a Paper Tiger; New York Times, 8/6/09

David Pogue via New York Times; New Entry in E-Books a Paper Tiger:

"You get five free out-of-copyright books to start you off (“Dracula,” “Sense and Sensibility” and so on)...

Besides, if you want free, out-of-copyright books, you can get them on the Kindle, too. They await at Gutenberg.org and other free sites...

And remember, you can never lend, resell or pass on an A or B e-book. You’re buying into proprietary, copy-protected formats — which can have its downsides. Last month, for example, Amazon erased “1984” and “Animal Farm” from its customers’ Kindles by remote control, having discovered a problem with the rights. Amazon refunded the price, but the sense of violation many customers felt was a disturbing wake-up call...

Buying a “free” book entails a 1-cent charge on your credit card, which is refunded at checkout (huh?)...

Barnes & Noble’s e-book initiative has some bright spots: the iPhone and Windows apps are mostly excellent, the concept of free access to public-domain books is sound and being able to read your e-books on your laptop is a no-brainer.

But over all, this is a 1.0 effort — which, incidentally, the company acknowledges. It vows to address the shortcomings."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/technology/personaltech/06pogue.html?_r=1&hpw