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June 2003
- New Harry Potter Book Napsterized
The latest Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Order of the
Phoenix (Scholastic), has already been scanned and made available for online
swapping. CNET reported that some websites provide instructions
for scanning books and formatting them into ebooks. Despite the
scanning, Harry Potter has already managed to sell over 5 million
hardcover copies very quickly.
Source: News.com 6-25-03
- Comedy Central Lays Off 20%
Comedy Central has laid off about 80 employees (over 20
percent of its staff). The layoffs come after Viacom bought
AOL Time Warner's 50% stake in the company.
Source: TelevisionWeek 6-24-03
- CMP Media is combining the editorial staffs of the trade
electronic publications EE Times and EBN.
This restructuring will result in some job cuts.
Source: BtoB 6-24-03
- Musicland Closes Request Magazine
Musicland will cease publishing Request, a music magazine.
Request magazine was part of Musicland's loyalty membership program.
59 employees were let go from the company.
Source: Startribune.com 6-24-03
- Editor & Publisher reports that several newspapers are suffering
from ongoing labor problems including: The Sun in Baltimore,
The Saint Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press, The Honolulu Advertiser,
The Providence Journal, The Boston Globe and
The New York Times.
Source: Editor & Publisher 6-23-03
- The T Sector Magazine, a regional San Diego technology
publication, has laid off most of its editorial staff and will
be cutting back on the number of issues it publishes.
Source: SignOnSanDiego.com 6-21-03
- Scholastic Targets Early Potter Reviewers
Scholastic has filed a $100 million lawsuit against the
New York Daily News for an early review of the latest Harry
Potter Novel. Scholastic is also considering legal action
against USA Today and the Associated Press for
providing editorial about the new book before it was released.
Scholastic did not distribute galleys or early copies of the
book to reviewers.
Source: New York Daily News 6-21-03
- Senator Orrin Hatch who is backing the extreme measures music
companies want to take to prevent people from downloading
illegal music files, has been using unlicensed
software on his own website. Hatch backs the music
companies plan to destroy people's computers if they illegally
download pirated music files.
Source: Media Cynic 6-20-03
- Alaskan Southeaster magazine will cease
publication in July. The publication has been unable
to turn a profit.
Source: Inside Alaska Business 6-20-03
- Gemstar Closes Ebook Division
One of the top ebook devices is headed for the recycle bin.
Gemstar entered the ebook marketplace in 2000 when it
purchased NuvoMedia Inc. and SoftBook Press Inc., which
at the time were two leading developers of ebook reading
devices. On Gemstar's website a message reads, "Effective
immediately, we will no longer be selling eBook devices. To
enable current users to purchase additional content, we
will continue to sell content until 5 PM PDT on July 16,
2003, at which point we will cease to sell all books and
periodical issues - either directly to customers or
through Powells.com." Existing content provided for
Gemstar GEB 1150 and GEB 2150 devices will be stored
at least through July 16, 2006. Gemstar said they closed
the ebook division because
were not able to obtain the size and revenue necessary to
support the current ebook operations in today's difficult
business climate.
Source: Gemstar, The Write News, Slashdot, Publishers Weekly 6-20-03
- Lonely Planet Plans 40+ Layoffs
Travel publisher Lonely Planet is planning to lay off
about 40 people in the U.S. and Australia, according to
Publishers Weekly. The company laid off about 80 employees
last year.
Source: Publishers Weekly 6-16-03
- Bad April for Books
Other than ebooks which soared up 268.3 percent in April, most
book categories were down -- according to figures released
by the Association of American Publishers (AAP).
Overall, book sales in April reflected current economic
trends, with net sales declining in 9 of 13 book categories.
Adult hardcover sales dropped 33.7 percent ($79.1 million),
while paperback sales fell 7.2 percent.
Calendar year to date figures show sales of hardcover books
down 28.7 percent and paperback down 9.9 percent.
Source: The Write News 6-13-03
- American Media, Inc. (AMI) announced that AMI's Country
Music will publish its final stand-alone edition on July 15
when the August-September edition goes on sale. After that,
Country Music Magazine will be folded into AMI's
Country Weekly,
a magazine covering country music, country stars and the
country lifestyle. 6-12-03
- MCA Records is being phased out. MCA staff and artists are being
moved to Geffen Records.
Source: soundgenerator.com 6-11-03
- U.S. News has laid off 12 editorial
employees as the advertising slump drags on.
Source: Washington Post 6-10-03
- Reuters reported that Walt Disney Co. is laying off about 140
Disney Stores employees (20% of its staff). 6-10-03
- Buck Stops for Web Panhandlers
People have soured on online begging and donations to online
beggars have dried up. People beg online for cash to pay for
everything from college tuition to new breasts. Many
websites, even though they are not non-profit organizations,
also beg endlessly for donations from readers to help keep
them afloat. Wired News says the gig is up for these
virtual panhandlers and it is time for them to get real jobs.
Source: Wired 6-10-03
- 80% of Children Received Inappropriate Spam
Most children receive spam in their email boxes according
to a recent study. The children get the same types of
spam that kind adults get:
get-rich schemes, pornographic content and ads for loans.
Sources: CNN, News.com, Wired 6-9-03
- Are webloggers journalists? If they are they certainly don't follow
gag rules. A couple bloggers unintentionally broke a gag order at a
recent Wall Street Journal technology conference. The bloggers claim
they were not informed about the gag order. However, incidents like
this one could lead to tougher action against bloggers in the future
or conference attendees could be forced to sign agreements stating they
will not blog about what is being said before they are allowed to
listen in.
Source: Wired 6-5-03
- New York Times editor Howell Raines has resigned because of
the Jayson Blair scandal. Blair has admitted to making up
details in many of his stories. Gerald Boyd, the managing editor,
has also resigned.
Source: BBC 6-5-03
- Penton Media's U.S. edition of Internet World magazine is transitioning to an electronic media franchise. Internet World's print magazine will cease publication of its monthly print magazine with its June 2003 issue.
Source: The Write News 6-4-03
- Gemstar Might Close Ebooks Division
Gemstar may soon close down
its ebooks division. The company has hired an investment
firm to help it finder a buyer or partner for its ebooks division.
Gemstar, which is best known for its TV Guide unit, entered the
ebook marketplace in 2000 when it purchased NuvoMedia Inc. and
SoftBook Press Inc., which at the time were two leading
developers of ebook reading devices.
Source: L.A. Times 6-3-03
- AOL has lost over 1 million subscribers since late last year.
Lower priced services and broadband (DSL) providers are taking
customers away from AOL, the leading ISP, which charges $23.90 in
monthly fees.
Source: Washington Post 6-3-03
- Scholastic has laid
off 400 employes, about 4% of its total workforce.
Source: Publisher's Weekly 6-2-03
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