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Friday, October 15th, 1999 Media Cynic | Forum | Advertising | Classifieds | Jobs Penguin to Release Penguin Classic eBook CD Featuring Microsoft Reader At the Frankfurt Book Fair, Penguin Books Ltd. and Microsoft Corp. announced they will create and distribute an eBook CD for the English-language market. The CD, which will be available from computer software retailers and bookstores, will feature Microsoft Reader and a selection from Penguin Classics, the series published by Penguin worldwide. Microsoft Reader is a new software application designed to deliver an on-screen computer reading experience as an alternative to paper and includes ClearType display technology. Microsoft Reader includes a library that can store and manage a large collection of eBooks and a built-in dictionary. ``We at Penguin are tremendously excited by the potential offered by Microsoft Reader technology. We are delighted to be working with Microsoft to provide the best in world literature from the Penguin Classics series and to make available the very first titles to be published in this format,'' said Andrew Rosenheim, managing director of Penguin Press. Microsoft Reader is scheduled to be available early next year in English, with support for other languages expected soon thereafter. Pricing for the Penguin Classics CD has not yet been announced. Xerox, Bertelsmann Team Up to Address Book-on-demand Market Xerox Corporation has announced a partnership with Bertelsmann Arvato AG, an international book producer. At a press conference at the annual Frankfurt Book Fair, the companies announced that they will work together to deploy digital print-on-demand technology worldwide. The partnership will develop a digital book printing infrastructure that will allow Bertelsmann to use the Xerox' digital book publishing solutions for cost-effective short run books, review copies, reprints and out-of-print books. "This represents a major milestone for the digital book industry," said Pierre Danon, president of Xerox Europe. "When a company like Bertelsmann takes a direction like this, it not only signifies the maturity of digital books as a technology but also as a commercial imperative." Digital book production has been a specialized market. It accounted for only about 5 percent of the total global book publishing and printing market, which in 1998 reached $54 billion (US$) -- an increase of 4.5 percent over 1997, according to Charles M. Corr, director of On Demand Publishing & Printing Service for CAP Ventures, a leading worldwide document technology strategy and consulting firm. The New York Times Company to Acquire the Worcester Telegram & Gazette The New York Times Company and The Chronicle Publishing Company announced today that the Times Company has signed an agreement to acquire the Worcester Telegram & Gazette in Worcester, Massachusetts. The announcement was made by Russell T. Lewis, president and chief executive officer of the Times Company. Mr. Lewis said: "We are delighted to be acquiring the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and look forward to building on its tradition of quality journalism and service to readers, advertisers and the Worcester community. This acquisition also serves the interests of our shareholders given the financial strength of the Telegram & Gazette and the continuing growth of the market that it serves. That growth is being led by high technology and biotechnology firms. This newspaper is a good fit with our other long-term growth properties. The Telegram & Gazette, the largest paper in Worcester County, has a daily circulation of 107,000 copies and a Sunday circulation of 134,000. The daily paper achieves a household penetration of 40 percent in Worcester County; the Sunday paper achieves 50 percent. Worcester County is west of the Boston metropolitan area. The purchase price of the Telegram & Gazette was approximately $295 million. Hearst and NewStar Announce Redbook Line of Audiobooks Hearst Magazines and NewStar Media Inc. have announced the furthering of their licensing agreement with a new line of audiobooks featuring the editorial and subject matter of Redbook magazine, a magazine for young married women. The Redbook line of audiobooks will feature advice on marriage, motherhood, sex, work, health and style, taken primarily from the pages of the magazine and will be recorded under the supervision of Stefan Rudnicki, NewStar's Grammy award-winning producer. Single cassette audiobooks will be available at $4.99, and two-cassette collections at $7.99. The audiobooks will be available at all mass retail channels as well as at bookstores, and will be featured on NewStar's Internet site. "Today's married woman feels pressure from all sides and will appreciate 'listening' to Redbook-style programs at their leisure," said Lesley Jane Seymour, editor-in-chief of Redbook. internet.com Launches InternetEmailList.com internet.com, has announced the launch of InternetEmailList.com. The new site features a comprehensive directory of free E-mail service providers, featuring over 3,000 free E-mail domain names provided by over 290 companies including forwarding, POP3 and web based email services. Other categories to be added include anonymous re-mailer, bookmark managers and reminder services. "With the number of free E-mail services growing daily, it was our goal to create a comprehensive directory by which consumers and professionals can choose E-mail services tailored to their specific needs. Prior to InternetEmailList.com there was no site covering this rapidly growing area," said internet.com chairman and CEO, Alan M. Meckler. "This site is another example of how our forward-moving vision, along with our expertise, enables us to capitalize on opportunities relevant to the Internet space." Around the Web Bibles & Sacred Texts: Of the Making of Many Scriptures PublishersWeekly Ebay Lays Bricks and Mortar (Ebay Magazine) MediaWeek Microsoft Looks Ahead To Paper-Free Publishing Reuters New LATimes.com Takes Risk and Frustrates Editor&Publisher New Times Purchases Kansas City's PitchWeekly AAN Nobel Loser Relieved BookWire Prime-Time Activism Utne Reader Readers Not Yet Sold on Electronic Books Reuters 'Seinfeld' Scribes, Fox Plan Laffer Variety Top Scribes Attend LA Seminar Variety Town & Country Looking Inside To Replace Publisher? MediaWeek VarsityBooks seeks $75M IPO Media Central Watch Out for that Sneaky Hobbit Too Time Daily Web and Print Must Work Together, Editors Says Editor&Publisher Why is Microsoft Hawking eBooks? ZDNet Click here to return to the homepage of The Write NewsTM Click here to subscribe to our free weekly email newsletter.  www.writenews.com Copyright © 1997-2010 by Writers Write, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
