Michael Kozlowski

11736 posts
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Crunchyroll unveils new membership plans

Crunchyroll is likely the best streaming platform for anime and they also provide digital manga. The company has just unveiled new subscription options, prior to this move, they only had a free and premium tier. The various new perks offered to its members not only provide simple entertainment for the fans, but also help to officially support the Japanese anime industry from all across the world.

Manga Sales are booming due to COVID

Viz Media is one of the largest manga distributors in the United States and due to COVID, sales are booming. Kevin Hamric, the vice president of publishing sales at Viz Media recently gave an interview to ICV2 and stated “VIZ has been doing extraordinarily well during the pandemic period. Our sales are beyond expectations. For VIZ, it’s extremely good, but the manga market is strong as well. We outperformed the book trade during the COVID period, that critical period of nine weeks.We outperformed that. We did not drop as much as the category did. We propped up the category with our sales. So, we’re very happy right now.”

Remarkable 1 vs Remarkable 2 – Which one should you buy?

Should you buy the Remarkable 1 or the Remarkable 2? The first generation is around $100 cheaper, has physical buttons and drawing on a plastic based screen is better than a glass based one. The Remarkable 2 is very hard to buy, the company is taking pre-orders, with ship takes month in advance, so it is hard to make an impulse decision. This device is thinner, has a better stock/premium stylus. It does have a subtle speed increase, due to the hardware, but is not night and day vs the first gen. I would honestly recommend you buy the Remarkable 1 at this point. It has the same battery and the same OS, so you will not miss out on any new enhancements. You can buy it for $299 new or $279 refurbished. Don’t get me wrong, the Remarkable 2 is capable, but it is an incremental upgrade.

TCL NXTPAPER wants to compete against E INK

TCL is the company responsible for making budget 4K televisions and all sorts of other devices, such as smartphones and tablets. They have just unveiled a new breed of screen technology called TCL NXTPAPER and they want to compete against E INK for readers eyes. The new TCL NXTPAPER technology is a low-power, reflective display that works without a backlight, but which displays color graphics at refresh rates high enough for video or other animations.

Bertelsmann is considering a bid for Simon & Schuster

Bertelsmann is the parent company of Penguin Random House, and this year they own 100% of the company, after they bought out the stake Pearson had in it. Penguin Random House is responsible for almost half of all books published in the world, on a yearly basis.  When Viacom and CBS merged, in late 2019, the company said that Simon & Schuster was “not a core asset. It is not video-based. It does not have significant connection for our broader business,” said ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish. “We have had multiple unsolicited inbound calls about that asset, and so as the market stabilizes, we are going to engage in a process” to examine strategic alternatives. ViacomCBS said publishing revenue in 2019 came to $814 million, down 1.3% from $825 million in the prior year.

Audiobook and ebook sales are up 15% at Penguin Random House

In the first six months of 2020, Penguin Random House announced that total revenue fell 8.9% and the publisher generated €7.85 billion Overall profit fell to €488 million from €502 million in the first six months of 2019. The pandemic was one of the reasons why book sales fell, globally. The publishers investment in digital, was one of the big reasons why the loss wasn’t greater.

Dasung Not an e-Reader gets Wacom Support and 10.3 inch display

Dasung has just unveiled their latest Kickstarter campaign for their Not an e-Reader, their Indiegogo customers are still waiting for their 7.8 inch units to be delivered. This campaign is for an entirely new product, a 10.3 inch display with either just a touch screen or a touchscreen and Wacom support for a stylus.

What e-note is better? The Sony DPT-CP1 or Remarkable 2?

The Sony Digital Paper DPT-Rp1 has been available for the past three years and sets the gold standard for viewing and editing PDF files. The split screen view is robust and it is great for making notes. The Remarkable 2 has started to ship to people who placed pre-orders back in April and this device can not only view/edit PDF files, but also EPUB ebooks too. The drawing app is one of the best in the business, with their layering system and handwriting to text engine.

Would you buy a refurbished Kindle?

There are a few different ways you can buy refurbished Kindle e-readers. The first is Amazon owned woot, which tends to only focus on overstock and used items. You can find anything on this site, and every month they have around 30-100 different Kindle models that go on sale, until they are sold out. Here is an example of a 1 day sale. It is important to note that Woot is only available for US customers. Amazon also sells refurbished Kindle e-readers on their various websites. Amazon.com has a used selection of only 3 devices, but once in awhile there are lots of them listed. The current list focuses on the entry level Kindle and previous generation Kindle Paperwhites. Ebay is one of the originals, many people used to exclusively shop on this site, before Amazon became a big thing. You can find plenty of every generation of Kindle e-readers, from lightly used, to sealed in the box and never used. Some vendors buy up the woot stock when it goes on sale and lists it on Ebay to get a little bit of profit. Still, you can find lots of deals.

Hummingbird Digital has been sold to 360 Media

Hummingbird is not a household name, but it was a service that allowed users to sell audiobooks and ebooks in their online store and earn a commission whenever something was sold. If you wanted to do business with the company, you had to be a US resident. Hummingbird was sold to 360 Media Direct, the marketing and fulfillment agency with roots in the magazine publishing world. 360 Media Direct was founded more than 30 years ago and has expanded to include a range of digital services, including lead generation tools, customer loyalty platforms and targeted advertising media programs

Readmoo suspends relationship with Alipay

Readmoo is the largest digital bookstore in Taiwan and they have just ended their relationship with Alipay, which is located in China. Alipay demanded the removal of politically sensitive books from the platform. Rather than capitulate, Readmoo decided to simply terminate the agreement.

Remarkable 2 Marker Plus Pen Review

The Remarkable 2 comes with a free white stylus, but the company…

E INK is developing 2nd generation color e-paper

E INK has confirmed with Good e-Reader that they are developing a second generation model of their Print Color E-Paper or the better known marketing name of Kaleido. It will be launched sometime in 2021 and will be able to display more colors and the front-light doesn’t always need to be on to display proper color accuracy. The screen size of 2nd generation colored e-paper will be further enlarged, and the scope of applications will also be expanded to include advertising billboards and ID cards in addition to current ones such as electronic shelf labels (ESLs) and e-book readers. This will pave the way for larger screen devices such as e-notes, that have larger screens.

Amazon Kindle will support the Microsoft Surface Duo

The Microsoft dual screen Surface Duo is coming out on September 10th. This device is running Android 10 and should be good for reading. Amazon has just updated their Android app with full support for reading ebooks on both screens at once. You will get a two page spread, where each page is on a single screen. So it will function like reading a real book, once you have finished reading both pages, you can swipe or tap and both pages will automatically turn, populating both screens with the next two pages.

Amazon issues new update for the Kindle Paperwhite 3

Some of the new features it received today was a new search experience making it easier to navigate through your search results in the book without losing the page you were reading. To get started, simply search for a term in your book and tap on a search result. They have also updated the Page Flip experience that shows recently read pages as dots on the progress bar, including your most recent page read from another device. If you have a Freetime Unlimited subscription, kids will see a new layout, improved search, book details, and Audible support. In supported marketplaces, kids with access to Amazon FreeTime Unlimited will see rows of recommended eBook and Audible content that are age-appropriate.

Powell’s Books will stop selling books on Amazon

Powell’s Books is one of the most iconic indie bookstores in Portland and many people in the United States place orders with them online. They have announced they will no longer be selling their books on Amazon.

Avalue and E INK partner for white labeled Sony DPT-RP1 solution

E INK has announced that they have got their hands on a white labeled version of the Sony Digital Paper DPT-Rp1 and have partnered with Avalue. These two Taiwanese companies will not only sell the units, but also provide software enhancements and technical assistance. This is because it is running Android, so it is quite easy to load in a few apps, or develop custom functionality. I do not know if they are sharing the entire kernel to customers who want to develop their own software, but I assume they will. I have reached out to both companies to find out pricing, MOQ and how much software development costs. This might be ideal for other startups or established players to jump into the e-note field, with a product with an extensive track record.

Remarkable 2 Hands on Review

The Remarkable 2 is one of the best e-notes on the market, it has the most advanced note taking features, handwriting recognition, can view and edit PDF files and ebooks. There are very few devices that can successfully compare against it. The main competitors against the Remarkable 2 is the Onyx Boox Note 2, which might not have all of the advanced note taking things, it does hold its own, it has a microphone, so you can even do audio to text, in addition to handwriting recognition. The Supernote A5 also competes against it, but is older, slow, and their handwriting software has been broken for years. I would really recommend the Remarkable 2 to someone who has an older e-note and wants to upgrade to the latest and greatest. The only barrier right now is the pre-order system, you can’t just buy it and have it delivered in a few weeks. If you order today, it will take 3-4 months for it to be sent out and this depends on stock availability. Hopefully in 2021 the stock situation stabilizes and can be purchased right away, ditto with standalone accessories, cases, stylus and nibs.

Remarkable 2 delayed by another couple of weeks

The first batch of the Remarkable 2 was delayed by a couple of months and people were getting excited that pre-orders placed in April and early May were finally going to ship out soon. Remarkable has confirmed with Good e-Reader that the device has been delayed again, but only by a couple of weeks. 

Onyx Boox closes down their forum

Onyx Boox has been operating their online forum for a number of…