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BooksOnBoard Offers Vast New eBook Selection for Sony Reader


WEBWIRE

In a step to vastly increase selection - and save customers money and hassle - BooksOnBoard (www.BooksOnBoard.com) today introduced support for Adobe eBooks from the major publishers for the Sony PRS-505 Reader. Sony, as a result of strategic partnership with Adobe, today released a firmware update for the Sony Reader PRS-505, which includes the ability to read DRMed eBooks in both EPUB format and PDF from the major publishers. BooksOnBoard was the first eBook retailer to offer mass market EPUB titles in late June.

“Sony Reader customers can now enjoy a much wider selection of eBooks,” according to Susan Kiser, publisher at Abbey House Press, an EPUB publishing partner of BooksOnBoard. “Until now, they were limited to Sony’s proprietary selection of approximately 45,000 eBooks. Now they can purchase from any retailer who offers industry standard Adobe EPUB or PDF eBooks. Plus the eBooks can be read on other devices that have Adobe’s free Digital Editions software.”

Abbey House Press, an early adopter of the EPUB standard, offers several hundred classics in the Adobe EPUB format through BooksOnBoard, including its Century Bundle of 100 Classics. The Hachette Book Group offers both new and backlist titles from James Patterson, Jimmy Buffett, David Baldacci, Nicholas Sparks, Robert Ludlum, Joyce Meyer, Karen Rose, and Michael Connelly, distributed by OverDrive Media.

“OverDrive is delighted to support BooksOnBoard, one of the leading innovators in the digital media space,” said David Burleigh, OverDrive Director of Marketing, after BooksOnBoard’s EPUB release late last month. “We expect the new industry standard EPUB to become the dominant eBook reading format and congratulate BooksOnBoard for being among the first to offer it.”

The International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), the industry standards association for text-based digital reflowable books and publications, developed the EPUB standard in partnership with the publishing industry.

“We are excited the consumer now has the option to purchase and enjoy an EPUB version of a title,” stated Michael Smith, Executive Director of IDPF, after BooksOnBoard began offering EPUB titles in June. “With BooksOnBoard now offering EPUB versions this completes an EPUB circle. It begins with the publishers creating EPUB files, software ability to render and enable EPUB with benefits, retailers bringing EPUB to the consumer and ultimately the consumer enjoying an eBook, which reflows according to their screen size and text preferences.”

BooksOnBoard is unflinching in its commitment to advancing standards for the consumer.

“We are excited about Sony’s decision to include the ability to read EPUB titles in their new firmware,” states Nathan Johnson, BooksOnBoard’s Director of Operations. “The first to offer mass market titles in the EPUB format, our team believes in standardization. The EPUB format opens the door to a dramatically improved customer experience on many fronts, including the nature of the content itself.”

EPUB standard-based eBooks provide for important needs of both readers and publishers: open standards, permanence, accessibility, reflowability, and high typographic quality.

“This upgrade opens the door to a whole host of paid and free content from third-party eBook stores, web sites and even public libraries,” said Steve Haber, senior vice president of consumer product marketing for Sony Electronics in Sony’s statement issued earlier today.

Other EPUB features that can provide an even more compelling digital reading experience in the near future include the ability to embed images, objects and Flash multimedia files.

BooksOnBoard (www.booksonboard.com) is an online retailer of eBooks, downloadable audiobooks, and Cybook ebook readers (for Mobipocket users). Known for strong customer support, free online tutorials, and aggressive prices, BooksOnBoard has the largest eBook catalog online with over 220,000 titles. BooksOnBoard is also one of the few eCommerce websites to offer an RSS feed. For the latest from BooksOnBoard, subscribe to the RSS feed: http://www.booksonboard.com/rss/bob_rss.xml



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