Sony to Leave Ereader Market

You knew it was coming.

Today, Panzer wasn't surprised by a post he found at The Bookseller about Sony's announcement it's leaving the ereader market. My Catosphere traveling bad boy told you back in February of Sony's departure from the ebook stores market. So, leaving the ereader market is a logical step.

According to Joshua Farrington and Lisa Campbell's post, Sony will instead concentrate on their Digital Paper PDF reader. They will be working with the business customers market now.

Panzer says, "The market keeps getting smaller."

To read about Sony's movement out of the ereader market, tootle over to Sony ereader

Kobo Is Downsizing

Hmmm. Who will be left?

Panzer stopped in at The Star's site to read a post by Kim Nursall about Kobo.

My bad boy discovered Kobo laid off 63 people as part of its "organizational changes." According to the post, Kobo has 400 employees worldwide, so laying off 63 is a pretty big loss. Makes you wonder if Kobo is following Barnes and Noble's Nook example with employee cuts.

Panzer told you Sony is gone. He told you Barnes and Noble has cut whole Nook divisions and now Kobo is cutting employees.

Panzer says, "I think Amazon Kindle is winning. How about you?"

If you want to read about the Kobo downsizing, tootle over to Kobo

Nook’s Goose Cooked?

Gone. Gone. Gone

Panzer told you in his Smashwords Farewell Sony Reader Store post a few days ago that Sony is closing their ereader stores. He just found some more disturbing news in the Catosphere. Barnes and Noble has gotten rid of the engineering department. This is the department responsible for the Nook.

Panzer's question now is, "Will the Nook follow the Sony?"

If you want to read the full announcement, tootle over to Nook’s Goose Cooked?

Smashwords: Farewell Sony Reader Store

So that's why.

Panzer found this announcement from yesterday at the Smashwords blog. In the post Mark Coker explains why Sony is leaving the ebook market. He includes information for those who bought their ebooks at the Sony store and for Smashwords authors (like Panzer and me) whose ebooks were sold there.

I've always wondered why our sales were so low at the Sony store, when they were so good everywhere else. Mark's post explains it all.

To read about Sony's closure, tootle over to Smashwords: Farewell Sony Reader Store: Goodbye to our friends at the Sony Reader Store. Sony today announced the imminent closure of its Sony Reader Store in the US and Cana...

2 More Places To Get Free Ebooks

It's time for the Wednesday Free Resources. Today I've got 2 More Places To Get Free Ebooks.

1. Inkmesh This is a site that lists free ebooks available at Amazon, B&N, Sony, Kobo, Baen Books, and Smashwords. You don't need to register to use this site, but you need to be registered with the respective e-store site to download the ebooks. I used the site and found you need to read carefully before you download. Although, the ebook may be free at one e-store, you might have to pay at another.

2. Hooks Progress Free Ebooks. Here you'll find audio books, author sites where they're giving away their work, sites giving away single ebooks, and organizations such as Project Gutenberg. I used this site to download a pdf ebook and didn't need to register.

My previous free ebook posts can be found at Five Places To Get Free Ebooks  and  Two Places To Get Free Ebooks .

If you know of any other free ebook sites, post it to the comments section.

Disclaimer: remember, whenever visiting unknown sites, read the instructions carefully, have your virus scanner on and your firewall up.