Google gets an e-reader. What it can and can't do. UPDATE

GOOGLE GETS AN E-READER

The iriver Story HD is the first e-reader to have the open Google eBooks platform integrated.  Target has exclusive rights to sell it for 6 months, at $139.00.  iriver details are here.  They'll be on sale July 17.

The unit has a higher resolution (768 x 1024 at 213 ppi] vs the Kindle's 600 x 800 pixel resolution at 167 ppi) though I haven't read about the darkness of the font (the Nook Touch has less-dark fonts than the Kindle or even than the first Nook), but that display sounds good, and it's said to have faster page turns.   Here's their HUGE photo of the device.

  However, as you can see, it looks like a Kindle, with bronze-color lined keys (38 of them) and is not a touch-screen model.
Google has about 3 million books for download, the free ones primarily public domain books and historical documents from academic libraries, but whether its paid books are competitively priced is another story.

The images to the left, above, are of Kindle and Google versions of a book I ran across last week, when I was surprised at the price difference.  Google has this bio by Michael Munn for $14.72, while the Kindle price is $0.99 -- I didn't look further, but the difference in cost really caught my eye.

Besides the comparison-pricing of paid books, there are some other interesting considerations:

  . Google eBooks, which come in the ePub format and which use Adobe ADEPT for its digital-rights management ("DRM"), can be read on other e-readers, but cannot be purchased on other e-readers yet (LA times.)

  . The iriver connects to and syncs with the Google store via WiFi (no 3G cell phone wireless with this) and while it works via direct downloading of Google books, it doesn't allow customers to download them to their computers and then transfer them to the iriver.  Odd, if someone does not always have WiFi available.

UPDATE - The above was from TekGoblin's Andrew Wilson, but Commenter Tom Semple says that books that show "Nook/Sony" can be downloaded [to the computer] and sideloaded using Adobe's DRM, though there used to be some ebooks sold that didn't allow this option, he added.  Will have to check that out further. [End of update]

  . Also, TekGoblin's Andrew Wilson points out "...[the Google Books system] puts a crutch on the Story HD by not allowing it to [directly] download ebooks from anywhere else but from Google."

      Contrary to some misinformation, the Kindle can download ebooks from many other sites.

  . The dictionary used is 'Collins Dictionary.'

Essentially, this is a dedicated e-reader, made for just Google Books, but that means a lot of books.  As for Amazon's Kindle and open systems, Kindle books can be read on almost every type of device these days via its Kindle apps for Apple devices, Blackberry, Windows 7 Phone, Android, PC, and Macs.

The stories don't mention various features such as highlighting, note-taking, clippings (how they function if they're available), nor the many other features that other e-reader owners are used to -- they are targeting people new to e-reading (probably for that reason).  If curious what other functions to look for (if they're of interest), see the Nook vs Kindle features comparison here.

GeekWire's Todd Bishop opens his report with:

' Will this device give Amazon’s Kindle a run for its money?  Probably not, at least not on its own, but it’s a notable step for Google’s digital books initiative, as the first dedicated device with the search company’s eBooks platform integrated into the experience out of the box. '

Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's)   K3 Special ($114)   K3-3G Special ($164)   DX Graphite

---

Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

Amazon Tablet Rumors: Icewarp claims compatability with the Amazon tablet - UPDATE

MORE RUMORS, BASED ON EARLIER, CONFLICTING ONES

In a press release July 8, Icewarp stirred more dust clouds in the rumor fields by headlining their release, "IceWarp is Compatible with the Upcoming Amazon Tablet"

Way to get attention!  There are a ton of gadget news sites reporting that this is somewhat based on the June 22 Digitimes report that I also included in my monitoring of stronger rumors 'back then' and many are quoting WSJ's Matthew Jarzemsky's pick-up of that June 22 Digitimes article when they quote the numbers expected for August and September.  They were quoting Icewarp's press release.

UPDATE - ZOKnowsGaming was one site, saying, "After taking a look at this press release from IceWarp, it quickly became evident that there is an official Amazon tablet, and it will be launching soon." Most of the others like Marketwatch and iStockAnalyst were just press releases.  Google now lists only 12, and when you click on the 12 articles noted, only 4 exist now.  Another one, XYDO, saying "...other things are being made clear.  One of them is the fact that there will be full support for the IceWarp unified communications server system" in a piece titled, "Upcoming Amazon Tablet Will Have IceWarp Support."  OpenSource merely quoted the press release, under the same "IceWarp is Compatible with the Upcoming Amazon Tablet" headline.  It's amazing how many carry these business wires, even Quicken/Intuit site.  There were 33 left, but a search of 'icewarp' and 'tablet' brought up an MSN Money story by Kim Peterson (same date as the others), an 'icewarp' search 'found' result, but that search word is not in there now, although her report includes: "A report in DigiTimes says Amazon has shot up to the No. 2 spot in terms of tablet orders from manufacturers.  ... But Amazon takes the second spot, placing orders for 1 million to 1.2 million units..."."

  One that no longer shows up in search results is ZDNet UK's by Jack Schofield, on July 10, which reported, "However, IceWarp has recently fanned speculation by issuing a press release with the headline: IceWarp is Compatible with the Upcoming Amazon Tablet." [End of Update].

 A later rumor [than June 22], by Canaccord Genuity analyst Bobby Burleson was cited by Motley Fool in the article on July 8 which reports that Burleson "waxes favorably on NVIDIA and Atmel as he's hearing that Nvidia's Tegra chip and Atmel's maXTouch touchscreen controller will be part of Amazon's device."

  However, the earlier June 22 article mentions "TechnoBuffalo's Noah Kravitz writing about his own sources giving him information that conflicted with the previous strong rumors of "Hollywood" and "Coyote" code-named models that would be based, earlier reports had said, on NVIDIA processors.

  Not so, says Kravitz.
  "My sources tell me Amazon’s tablet computer will run Android but feature Intel-based innards, and not an Nvidia Tegra processor, but what beats at the heart of Jeff Bezos’ secret creation is barely half the story here."

So, what will Icewarp's compatability involve?
  Will Icewarp be compatible with a tablet with NVIDIA or with INTEL chips?  Icewarp mentions neither in their press release, but see their subtitle of their release:

  Their subtitle is: -- Unified Communications & Collaboration provider’s standards-based architecture currently supports all standards-based devices, regardless of clients --

  From Icewarp's release:

' SPRINGFIELD, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--IceWarp is compatible with the upcoming Amazon tablet, the global provider of unified communications and collaboration solutions announced Friday.  A rare exception in the UC space, IceWarp’s architecture is based on universal standards, doesn’t depend on any client and supports all mobile devices currently on the market.

“We are looking forward to testing this new exciting product and providing IceWarp customers with the option to use it as a part of our versatile and extremely secure business communications system,” says Jakub Klos, IceWarp Chief Technical Officer (CTO) and co-founder.  “IceWarp’s philosophy is not to dictate what device people should be using.  We rapidly embrace any new communication gadget that improves today’s mobile worker productivity.”

IceWarp has full ActiveSync capability that allows it to offer full synchronization for both personal and public data - email, calendars, contacts, and tasks delivering rich user experience.

“Future Amazon tablet users will be tapping rich Android Apps market, that delivers a plethora of solutions, such as Jabber (XMPP) for mobile Instant Messaging, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) for mobile multi-media conferencing – all supported by IceWarp,” explains Mr. Klos. “Paired with IceWarp, the tablet will deliver a full-fledged mobile UCC experience.”

They're saying that Icewarp is compatible with everything that's based on universal standards. Whether they're assuming the Amazon tablet will be or whether they've had any look at or involvement with any Amazon tablet isn't clear from this.

The press release continues:

' According to Dow Jones reporter Matthew Jarzemsky, Amazon (AMZN) is expected to hit the ground running in the tablet race, behind only Apple's (AAPL) dominant iPad in shipments seen in the 3Q. AMZN is likely to ship 1M to 1.2M units, beating the 750,000 to 900,000 seen for Acer (2353.TW), Samsung (005930.SE) and others, but trailing Apple's 14M to 15M. Total tablet deliveries, excluding unbranded generic models, seen topping 21M units, up from 13.5M to 14.5M in 2Q, Dow Jones reports. '

ALL that is quoted in maybe 50 stories today, but that one is an old story from June 22.  Well, old by today's rumor standards.  More:

' Already recognized as a leading email solutions provider, IceWarp (formerly Merak Mail Server) is deployed in more than 20,000 organizations and supports over 50 million users worldwide. The company disrupts the Unified Communications (UC) category by delivering all UC components (email, mobile synchronization, SMS, chat, voice and video) in one integrated, extremely secure and easy-to-deploy solution. Its customer include such market leaders as Marriott International, Inc. (NYSE: MAR) and Verizon Communications, Inc. (NYSE: VZ, NASDAQ: VZ), as well as small to midsized firms.

For more information, please visit IceWarp (www.icewarp.com) on Twitter and Facebook. '

So, was this just a deft way to get attention to Icewarp's email solutions program??  Or, am I missing something?  The fact that many news sites are reporting this as meaningful and citing WSJ's 6/22/2011 article [because Icewarp did) seems to indicate that it means more than I can see.  So, if you know what I'm missing, please add a comment. Thanks.

See the ongoing List of stronger Amazon tablet rumors with dates, titles and links to the Kindleworld blog articles, with linked sources.  [This won't be one of them.]

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For daily free ebooks, check the following links:

Temporarily-free books - Non-classics - USA: by: NEW:  May  June  July 2011    Publication Date   Late-listed    Bestselling   High-ratings UK: PubDate   Popular What is 3G? and "WiFi"?       Battery Care Highly-rated under $1,  Newest: $1-$2, $2-$3

Most Popular Free K-Books U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK):    Top 100 free UK-Only:    Top 100 free USEFUL for your Kindle (U.S. only, currently):   99c Notepad 1.1,   99c Calculator,   99c Calendar,   99c Converter

Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's)   K3 Special ($114)   K3-3G Special ($164)   DX Graphite

Kindle news + other bits. Project Gutenberg history giftbook download. Flipback books. Video on EInk? - UPDATE

For Project Gutenberg's 40th anniversary on July 4, they have a gift ebook for all their volunteers and visitors - a mini picture guide, in PDF format and downloadable, on "the history of Project Gutenberg; from the founding of the project by Michael Hart, to the first native French ebook, the inauguration of the Distributed Proof-readers, to the posting of ebook #30,000."

  The ebook has 15 pages of images, each with a paragraph covering the main milestones throughout PG’s 40 year history.  This would be best read in Landscape mode, if on a 6" display such as the Kindle 3 (UK: K3), if that mode is available).

  In fact, the Egyptian painting at the top-left accompanies the text for this milestone: "The 30,000th English-language ebook was posted on 12 April 2011.  Its title was The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia (1903), by Archibald Henry Sace.
  eBooks were also available in 59 other languages. 13 languages were lucky enough to have more than 50 books. 46 languages had up to 50 books.  Please join Distributed Proofreaders and contribute."

  The history is a very interesting read, no surprise.  The photo at the right, is one I took 1.5 yrs ago, about 4,000 yrs after the painting shown.

  To find out more about how to download free Project Gutenberg books directly to your Kindle (and to browse and search them from the Kindle, see the blog article explaining that.


"Wee book versus eBook in the battle of light reading"

Flipback books are in a recently created print format which you can see in the accompanying image, with the thought that book lovers "can enjoy the feel of a printed novel and the portability of an e-book, too."  Note that these books are almost as light as an iPhone, according to the article.

The publishers may not understand the many reasons for the increasing appeal of e-books, which has little to do with having one book at a time with a humongous amount of text facing you as you try to read, the print being even smaller when placed in a wee book like this.  People who read e-books have a tendency to increase the size of the font and they revel in being able to have many different books available to them at one time, on a light ebook holder.  The smaller screen size has been a boon for many who find the smaller chunks of text less formidable, and Kindle users have a good dictionary on hand, so to speak.

Add that most don't appear to want small books or e-books to cost $20 each either :-) I'll explain that last remark with an excerpt from the story by Justin Norrie for The Sydney Morning Herald, which also explains how a Flipback book is made:

' The format was invented in 2009 when a Dutchman, Hugo van Woerden, chief of the Christian printing house Jongbloed, was looking for ways to use excess Bible paper.  He put the lightweight, high-quality "onion skin" into a series of miniature sideways books that can be read using only one hand.

The books were an instant success, prompting claims about a paper fight-back against electronic readers.

The publisher will release 11 titles in the flipback form on Tuesday next week.  The recommended price is $19.99 '

The comments are quite funny, and my favorite one, by Ugetsu, has to do with the ability to adjust fonts on an eReader:

' Now what we need is for restaurants to start providing their menus on an SD card so we plug them into our portable readers, hit enlarge and be able to read the bloody things! '

VIDEO on eInk Readers? (for masochists only but ok as comic book stills)
Video On A Kindle Now Possible with iPlayer
  "With iPlayer"?  How did Frisnit Electronic Industrial get (keep) that name from Apple?  (It's probably older and stands for "Internet.")

  Steve Andersen, writing for nexus404.com, says, "...how [the Kindle] goes about it is going to prove downright astonishing, if not necessarily all that useful."

  It reminds me of people trying to play "Angry Birds" on a Nook eInk Touch.  It's pretty grotesque.  But, The Challenge's the Thing.

  iPlayer converts video "into what amounts to a big comic strip with subtitles," Anderson writes.

' [iPlayer] takes DVB digital television and the accompanying subtitles, and then takes any frame that has dialogue involved and puts them up together. Then it goes through and takes out some extra frames to intersperse with the dialogue frames to show things like movement.

It then takes the resulting file and converts it to an HTML file, which can then be converted into PDF for “watching” on your Kindle, just like a big old comic book.

  The conversion process really does an impressive job of compressing the file–reportedly, a 30 minute show gets compressed down to a 20 meg file–and the file even looks pretty good for black and white. '

But is there actually a market for this?  You never know, but it sounds so painful to do, so there'd be $$$ involved.

UPDATE Here's a story that I put through google-translation to read in English.  It's by Michael Ilegems writing for ereader.nl -- "BBC's Mark Longstaff-Tyrrell developed a system that automatically converts a television episode into a sequence of static images with subtitles.  This can be viewed as an HTML or PDF file, and is therefore accessible to a larger number of carriers."  See Frisnit's online sample.

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For daily free ebooks, check the following links:

Temporarily-free books - Non-classics - USA: by: NEW:  May  June  July 2011    Publication Date   Late-listed    Bestselling   High-ratings UK: PubDate   Popular What is 3G? and "WiFi"?       Battery Care Highly-rated under $1,  Newest: $1-$2, $2-$3

Most Popular Free K-Books U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK):    Top 100 free UK-Only:    Top 100 free USEFUL for your Kindle (U.S. only, currently):   99c Notepad 1.1,   99c Calculator,   99c Calendar,   99c Converter

Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's)   K3 Special ($114)   K3-3G Special ($164)   DX Graphite

Latest Amazon tablet rumor (they all tend to conflict with one another)

CANACCORD GENUITY ANALYST BOBBY BURLESON PROVIDES LATEST RUMOR

The Motley Fool's Rick Munarriz references analyst Bobby Burleson's news the other day, "that Amazon plans to build more than 1.5 million tablets this quarter, with as many as 5 million rolling off the assembly line by the end of the year."

  Munarriz adds, "Amazon can do it. Perhaps more importantly, Amazon can sell each and every one of those tablets."  For the usual reasons we've seen in all the articles on Amazon's ecosystem.

' Burleson's report waxes favorably on NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA) and Atmel (Nasdaq: ATML), as he's hearing that Nvidia's Tegra chip and Atmel's maXTouch touchscreen controller will be part of Amazon's device.

These may both be multi-billion-dollar companies, but playing a key role in what will easily be the market's second most popular tablet by year's end is a needle-moving event. '

(More at the Motley Fool article...)


Below is the ongoing list of earlier blog articles on the many stronger rumors circulating on online gadget news sites about a coming Amazon color LCD tablet or family of tablets (by year end).

ONE rumor has been about a smaller e-Ink Kindle as well, with touch screen, some time during the fall (via David Carnoy at CNet, who's repeated it twice since then).)  Another rumor involves Qualcomm's Mirasol.

Kindleworld ANDROID TABLET blog articles on the larger rumors:

Friday, July 8, 2011
Latest Amazon tablet rumor (they all tend to conflict with one another)
http://bit.ly/kwtab0708

Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Mirasol color e-paper readers due from someone soon, they say
http://bit.ly/kwmira3

Friday, July 1, 2011
Apple's boost in orders for touchscreens may stall Amazon tablets
http://bit.ly/kw0701

Wednesday, July 22, 2011
Kindle News: Latest Amazon Tablet Rumors - by Aug or Sept
http://bit.ly/kwatabs

Wednesday, June 15, 2011
RUMOR: Amazon 10" color tablet to offer free streaming video as promo. Updated
http://bit.ly/kwtstream

Monday, May 16, 2011
Amazon tablet family rumors grow, with 'Coyote' and 'Hollywood' code names
http://bit.ly/kwamtab2

Saturday, May 14, 2011
Amazon's Android Tablet(s) later this year - more on the likely display
with samples of the type of screen resolution we might see
http://bit.ly/kwamtab

Thursday, May 12, 2011
Jeff Bezos talks about possible Tablet and concerns over adKindles
http://bit.ly/kwcrjb

Thursday, April 21, 2011
Is Samsung building an Android tablet for Amazon?
http://bit.ly/kwatss

Tuesday, May 24, 2011
SMALLER E-INK Kindle [possibility] with touchscreen - per David Carnoy
http://bit.ly/kwksmall#ksmall

Friday, November 5, 2010
That Amazon Android Tablet May be a Reality - UPDATE
http://bit.ly/kwktab2

Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's)   K3 Special ($114)   K3-3G Special ($164)   DX Graphite

---

Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

Apple Denied Injunction in Amazon 'App Store' Battle (PC Mag)

Well, a bit of sense in this world

PC Magazine's Chloe Albanesius reports that Apple did NOT get its way this time in one of their many lawsuits focused on forbidding others to use common words they want for their own.

  She writes: "Apple was dealt a blow in its bid for exclusive rights over the term "app store" this week when a California district judge denied Cupertino's request for an injunction against Amazon's AppStore."

' Apple has failed to establish that its "App Store" mark is famous enough to be considered prominent or renowned, the court found.  Essentially, people automatically think of Apple when someone says iPad, iPhone, or iPod, but the same association is not necessarily made with "app store." '

As others have said, 'app store' IS a term "used by other companies for a place to obtain software applications for mobile devices," Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton wrote in her decision.

When Apple filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2008 to register the mark "App Store," the PTO, by January 2010, put out a call for any objections.  Microsoft objected, which kicked off a legal battle between the two companies, Albanesius says.  And when Amazon launched its Android Appstore in March this year, "Apple filed suit, demanding that Amazon stop using the term."

Microsoft and Amazon of course argued that the term is a generic one and doesn't apply only to Apple's App Store, while Apple claimed it was a well-known term and that use of it by others would dilute Apple's App Store brand.

  Judge Hamilton, however, found that "Apple has not established a likelihood of success on its dilution claim."

  Albanesius explains the PTO's classifications -- which ones are granted federal trademark protection.

  Judge Hamilton found that the term is, at this point, more "descriptive than it is distinctive" and didn't meet the bar for federal trademark protection.

  Apple went so far as to claim that the Amazon AppStore's use of the term would "tarnish" Apple's App Store by allowing "inappropriate content, viruses, or malware to enter the market" but didn't make clear to the judge just how that would harm Apple's reputation when the Amazon apps are not offered for Apple devices.

(More at the article...)

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For daily free ebooks, check the following links:

Temporarily-free books - Non-classics - USA: by: NEW:  May  June  July 2011    Publication Date   Late-listed    Bestselling   High-ratings UK: PubDate   Popular What is 3G? and "WiFi"?       Battery Care Highly-rated under $1,  Newest: $1-$2, $2-$3

Most Popular Free K-Books U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK):    Top 100 free UK-Only:    Top 100 free USEFUL for your Kindle (U.S. only, currently):   99c Notepad 1.1,   99c Calculator,   99c Calendar,   99c Converter

Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's)   K3 Special ($114)   K3-3G Special ($164)   DX Graphite

Amazon's new offering of unlimited music space on the Amazon Cloud

AMAZON OFFERS UNLIMITED MUSIC SPACE FOR $20/YR, AND FREE STORAGE FOR ALL MP3's PURCHASED FROM AMAZON, PLUS SUPPORT FOR THE IPAD

Here is the new area for managing your Amazon Cloud Drive and seeing the storage plans.

  See earlier basic information (now expanded to drop limitations on space when music is involved)

  The earlier Amazon offer of buying one low-cost album to become eligible to a total of 20 gigs of storage space has ended.

  That has been replaced by a

  . limited-time offer to choose a storage space upgrade and get unlimited music space along with the increased general storage space.

  . free storage space for all mp3's purchased from Amazon, including music purchased before the Cloud feature was born.  All Amazon customers are alloted 5 gigs of basic, general storage space, but the Amazon-purchased mp3's won't count against storage-space limits.

  Unfortunately, the storage-upgrade feature isn't available, at this time, in 27 countries, which are listed in the table at the bottom of this blog article.


MORE ON THE NEW OFFERINGS BY AMAZON
  What's different today then?  Instead of getting an upgrade to a total of 20 gigs for year 1 when buying one mp3 album, customers in countries eligible for the upgrades can now receive an unlimited amount of space for music stored (and streamable in the U.S.) with purchase of any of the storage upgrades.

  Amazon-purchased mp3's will just not count against a customer's storage quota.

  The lowest-cost upgrade option (beyond the basic, free 5 gigs of space that everyone gets automatically) is for 20 gigs of total general storage space per year.

  How it worked before -- for those who did buy mp3 albums after the Cloud features launched.
  Under the original plan, I had bought a low-cost mp3 album and found myself with an upgrade to the 20 gigs per year storage plan for my Amazon Cloud of music and data.

 I subsequently bought another low-cost album (99c) and received another 20 gigs of storage space for a future year.  That was the end of bonuses for rebuying any albums though.
  Just a reminder: Cloud storage space can be used also for videos, photos, and documents.

How this affects Kindle users
  Anything we upload to our Amazon 'Cloud' drive is also downloadable to our various devices, and from our computers, we can copy or move some mp3's to our Kindle's "music" folder, which is on the same level as the "documents" folder.

  Player limitations: the Kindle 2, 3, and DX all play the mp3's in the order they're installed and in the background while you're reading.  The Kindle 1 plays them entirely in random order).

  However, if you want to be able to select an mp3 to play, you can put some in the 'Audible' folder and then they'll show up in the menu, but it'll no longer be treated as background music, which means you won't be able to read a Kindle book at the same time using this method.

  Remember also that mp3 files tend to be several times larger than book files, so it's best not to put too many on the Kindle.  (The Kindle doesn't stream music from the Net, of course.)


WORDING from Amazon's announcement Wednesday in its press release (emphases mine):

' "Customers are already enjoying Cloud Drive and Cloud Player and now for just $20 a year, customers can get unlimited space for music," said Craig Pape Director of Amazon Music.

  "Additionally, we are adding free storage for all MP3s purchased from Amazon MP3 and support for the iPad..." '

  In March, Amazon help pages for Cloud features explained:

'...When you save your Amazon MP3 Store purchases directly to your Cloud Drive, they don't take up any of your storage space and are always stored for free. '

  What is new here is that before yesterday, this unlimited storage for Amazon-purchased mp3's applied only to NEW Amazon mp3 purchases.

  TODAY, even your OLDER Amazon mp3 purchases will not count against any of your Cloud storage space and will always be stored for free there.  This had been much requested.

Unlimited Space for Music (ANY mp3's, purchased anywhere) for $20 per year
Amazon's press release explains:

' Now, for a limited time, Amazon customers who purchase a Cloud Drive storage plan will receive unlimited space for their MP3 and AAC (.m4a) music files.  This offer is available for even the lowest price plan: $20/year for 20 GB of file storage plus unlimited space for music.  Customers can visit (www.amazon.com/clouddrive/manage) to purchase a Cloud Drive storage plan and receive unlimited space for music. '

Amazon Mp3 Purchases

' Customers can now store all of their Amazon MP3 purchases for free in Cloud Drive, including future MP3 purchases as well as all purchases made before the launch of Cloud Drive and Cloud Player.
  MP3s purchased from Amazon MP3 and stored in Amazon Cloud Drive will not count against a customer's storage quota. '

Cloud Player for Web on iPad
Earlier Amazon offered Cloud Player for Web and for Android.
Now they're offering Cloud Player for Web on iPad also.  From the press release:

' Amazon customers will be able to play music stored in the cloud on any Android phone, Android tablet, Mac, PC, and now on their iPad.  "Cloud Player for Web has been optimized to offer customers streaming playback of their Cloud Drive music using the Safari browser for iPad. To access Cloud Player for iPad, customers simply open their Safari browser and visit (www.amazon.com/cloudplayer) to start listening to their music.

Storage for Music and More

'All customers automatically start with 5 GB of free Cloud Drive storage to begin uploading their digital music library, and for a limited time, those who purchase any Cloud Drive storage plan will receive unlimited space for music at no additional cost.

  In addition to unlimited space for music, Cloud Drive allows customers to upload and store all kinds of digital files, including photos, videos and documents which are stored securely and available via web browser on any computer.

  Customers who qualified for 20 GB of free storage from earlier promotions will receive the unlimited space for music at no additional cost.

In March, Amazon launched Cloud Drive (www.amazon.com/clouddrive), Amazon Cloud Player for Web (www.amazon.com/cloudplayer), and Amazon Cloud Player for Android (www.amazon.com/cloudplayerandroid).

Together, these services enable customers to securely store music in the cloud and play it on any Android phone, Android tablet, Mac or PC, and now iPad, wherever they are. Customers can easily upload their music library to Amazon Cloud Drive and can save any new Amazon MP3 purchases directly to their Amazon Cloud Drive for free. '

Cloud FAQ.  The Cloud FAQ includes a table that shows the countries for which storage upgrades are not available at this time.

' Where is Amazon Cloud Drive [not] available?

The 5 GB free storage plan is available to all Amazon.com customers, however further upgrades to the storage plan are currently unavailable in the following countries:

Austria	Belgium	Bulgaria
Cyprus	Czech Republic	Denmark
Estonia	Finland	France
Germany	Greece	Hungary
Ireland	Italy	Latvia
Lithuania	Luxembourg	Malta
Netherlands	Poland	Portugal
Romania	Slovakia	Slovenia
Spain	Sweden	United Kingdom

'

OTHER NEWS: Hundreds of new jobs in a few Amazon fulfillment centers
With Amazon's announcements this week of the opening of 1) fulfillment centers in Plainfield, Indiana and Phoenix, Arizona, each one "creating hundreds of new jobs" and 2) the Allentown, Pennsylvania fulfillment center now "hiring for hundreds of full-time jobs with great benefits," the Amazon tablet rumors can only increase.

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Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's)   K3 Special ($114)   K3-3G Special ($164)   DX Graphite

Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

Kindle-Edition NYTimes subscribers finally get full access to NYT-Web

NEW YORK TIMES FULL WEB ACCESS NOW READY FOR KINDLE-EDITION NYT SUBSCRIBERS

That full web access to The New York Times is finally available after silence for over 3 months -- "Kindle subscribers are entitled to complete online coverage of breaking news, articles, videos, audio clips, multimedia and blogs on NYTimes.com."

Kindle customers can now link their Kindle New York Times subscription to their NYTimes.com account by visiting www.nytimes.com/kindleaccess.

To order The New York Times for Kindle, visit the Amazon page for the New York Times.

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Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's)   K3 Special ($114)   K3-3G Special ($164)   DX Graphite

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Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.