It was bound to happen. When the new fancy kid on the block started charming the pants off everyone and their mother (yes, even well-heeled matriarchs have been spotted around town, whipping iPads out of their Louis Vuitton oversized tote bags while sipping on caramel frappuccinos at overrated, trendy coffee shops), the humble devices known as dedicated eReaders started to develop a serious inferiority complex. And for good reason.
Monochrome displays, no apps or page turning technology, and wait, no iTunes? Oy! You get the picture. It’s all so early 2010. But, as fast as you can say “LED-backlit screen”, Barnes & Noble and Amazon have decided to take action so that the Nook and Kindle will stay relevant for a while, yet. How? By lowering the price of their devices, of course. If there’s one thing Amazon and the others know all too well, it’s that avid readers (the human type) are numerous enough that there’s still a healthy market out there of consumers who have no use for all the latest bells and whistles – to go along with their electronic reading fix. Just give ‘em some type of portable technology that allows them to process the written word through the neurological magic of the mind’s eye, and they’re happy. By making it cheap (or cheap-er), we bet they’re downright giddy right now.
So, here we are. As the east coast swelters in the midst of the most intense heat wave of the last decade, the eReader war has just started to warm up. Barnes & Noble was the first to blink.
And Amazon quickly responded. Both seem to have settled on the just-under-200 bucks price platform – although there’s a WiFi only version of the Nook for $150, or so. How low will they eventually go? Nobody knows (maybe Starbucks will make the WiFi Nook available for free to go along with that overpriced cup-o-Java – not a bad idea right?) What’s for sure is that eBook retailers better remain nimble and adapt to whatever may come their way. Add the havoc wreaked by the A5 pricing model into the mix and only the best will be certain to survive.
Yours truly read the writing on the wall a while ago and, as we write these words that you may or may not be reading on one of the aforementioned devices, we’re in the process of making some really, really big changes. Let’s just say that ours is the lofty goal of becoming the very best agnostic eBook retailer out there today.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Diesel eBook Store is totally committed to delivering one of the most advanced, and smartest, user experiences to our customers. In fact, if we may be so bold, we’d like to ask you what we can do to become an even better eBookstore.
What say you, dear reader? We’re dying to know. As far as we’re concerned, you’re the only sheriff in town.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I have to say your site is becoming vastly more popular to me because you seem to be one of the few that actually are offering any of the new titles from the big publishers. I also like your bundle concept. That said I’m having some difficulty with the fact that most recent titles are being offered in only Adobe and Epub, neither of which are portable for me, I read off of a Palm. It has helped me to save quite a few $’s though in recent months because I have curtailed my book buying quite a bit this year. I don’t want to go back to having a bunch of paperback books lying around so I’ve decided not to purchase until more variety is offered in the books that I want to read. I have an extensive “wish list” with the NY public library and will probably satisfy my need to read with them for a while.
I do have a couple of things that I like in other ebook sites that always drew me to them as opposed to you guys (not so much anymore because they just don’t have the new titles). I like the sites that once a week have all of the new titles listed that they have uploaded for sale in each category for that week. That way I can go to one page and see all new books regardless of what category they are in. They extend that (and you do this too) to be able to sort by most recently added. I also like an alphabetic author search, that way I don’t have to absolutely have to know how to spell their last name, I can scan down a list. I also like that some sites have a list of publishers that you can search off of, then you can sort by most recently added. I use the customer reviews quite a bit, at the price of an ebook now I want to make sure that I get the best bang for my buck, it would be nice to have either a score system or some sites have a star system that indicates how much or little you enjoyed the book, zero to 5 stars, that type of thing. The stars then indicate the average review at a quick glance. And finally, when I put a book on my wish list and then purchase it, I like it taken off of my wishlist, this doesn’t happen at Diesel. Well……….. you asked! On the whole I’m liking Diesel more and more each day, keep up the good work!
Melanie,
You might want to look into Calibre: http://calibre-ebook.com/about. It’s a free and open source e-book library management application that is great for converting formats.
Frank,
Great article! I’ve been eying the Nook Ereader for those bathtub reads (it’s very difficult to put a laptop in a ziploc baggy), but I hear there are some problems with the new Mac OS X updates and the B&N Ereader software.
Is it too much to ask for standardized format and affordable ereaders that you can just turn on, and well, READ?
Shay,
The only problem with the Calibre application is that is does not read DRM ebooks. That said, the only way to get some of the A5 books now is to get a reader that will allow you to purchase books from either Barnes & Nobles, Amazon, or the Sony ebookstore.
Thanks for the head’s up Shay, I’ll check it out. And I second your question, why can’t we just have a common ereader format. It’s all a money making game for someone!
Diesel is one of my favorite sites, but I would love to add one feature. When you find an author you like it would be great to click on the author’s name and be linked to all of their books. You can do this on most sites, but not Diesel.
Hello Lisa! Duly noted! At this current state in our planning, that particular feature will be included in our redesign of the site. Also, thank you for the kind words about the Diesel eBook Store. We love it too! Don’t hesitate to post more comments, suggestions, compliments (*especially the compliments* but constructive criticism is good too!)
One more compliment. I have had a couple of minor issues and worked both times with Tamara in Customer Service. She is an excellent resource and very helpful. I don’t hesitate to buy here because I know if I have an issue it will be handled quickly and efficiently.
First of all I’d like to say that I find your bookstore very easy to use.
The biggest problem I have isn’t really with your site – it’s that I’m from Denmark and so 80% of what I’d like to buy isn’t available. -By now at least you display the territory restrictions openly so I don’t have to be disappointed each time I press checkout.
I buy mostly books within series. The one thing I miss when shopping being able to see which part in a series comes next. oh – and btw – did you know that I can buy Anita Blake #19 Bullet (although at a steep price) but not #18 Flirt? I might be willing to buy Bullet if I could get Flirt – but I really like to read series in the proper order…
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