Amazon

Amazon.com Closes Acquisition of Web Shoe Store Zappos

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 2, 2009 - 8:37am.
Seattle - Completing one of the summer's largest acquisitions, online retail giant Amazon.com (NASD: AMZN) on Monday officially closed its $850 million deal to buy Web shoe store Zappos.

Online Music Industry to Develop EU-Wide Licensing Scheme

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 21, 2009 - 9:22am.
Brussels - The EU's Competition Commissioner, Neelie Kroes, on Wednesday announced a partnership between European royalty collection societies, major labels and online music retailers including Apple (NASD: AAPL) and Amazon (NASD: AMZN), to develop an EU-wide licensing scheme for music. Currently, rights for music and other copyrighted works must be negotiated separately for each individual country, with that particular country's collection society.

Amazon Balks at Google's Digital Book Reseller Offer

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 11, 2009 - 7:58am.
Washington - In a bid to appease those worried its digital book archive would give the company a monopoly, Google (NASD: GOOG) said at a Congressional hearing this week that it would allow other booksellers to sell books covered under its proposed settlement on out-of-print but in-copyright works.

Amazon to Replace Deleted "1984" E-books; $30 Credit Offered

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 4, 2009 - 7:14am.
Seattle - Amazon.com (NASD: AMZN) will replace the e-book copies of George Orwell's "1984" it remotely deleted from its customers' Kindle e-book reader devices, or else provide a $30 Amazon credit, or cash, TechCrunch reported.

TuneCore Adds CD Distribution via Amazon's CreateSpace

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 2, 2009 - 11:59am.
Seattle - TuneCore, a provider of low-cost digital music distribution for artists and labels, has opened a store at Amazon's (NASD: AMZN) CreateSpace on-demand CD pressing service, meaning that TuneCore acts can now also distribute CDs of their music through Amazon.com, Hypebot reported.

Sony to Support Google in Settlement with Authors

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 31, 2009 - 7:32am.
New York - Sony (NYSE: SNE) intends to file a brief supporting Google's (NASD: GOOG) position in its landmark settlement with authors, over the use of copyrighted works in its massive book-scanning project, Wired.com reported.

Do You Plan To Get An E-Book Reader Anytime Soon?

Authored by Jay Baage on August 4, 2009 - 1:18pm.
tags: Sony | CE | Amazon | E-Books | Kindle |

Amazon "Kindle" iPhone App Offers 240,000 E-books

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 4, 2009 - 10:23am.
Seattle - Online retailer Amazon.com (NASD: AMZN), which last week introduced the second iteration of its own e-book reader device, the Kindle 2, has released a new application for Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iPhone and iPod touch that lets owners of those devices purchase and download the library of over 240,000 e-books available from Amazon.com. The "Kindle" application, available from Apple's online App Store, also features Amazon's "Whispersync" technology, which saves and synchronizes a customer's bookmark across Kindle, Kindle 2, iPhone and iPod touch devices.

Do You Plan To Buy An E-Book Reader in 2009?

Authored by Jay Baage on February 27, 2009 - 12:32pm.

Report: U.K. Prefers Amazon Over Apple for Media Downloads

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 24, 2009 - 11:42am.
London - Online retail giant Amazon (NASD: AMZN) is the most preferred vendor for digital music, video and video game downloads in the U.K., beating out Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes Store, MSN and eBay in a consumer survey conducted by market research firm Strategy Analytics.

Amazon Introduces Slimmer Kindle 2 E-book Device

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 9, 2009 - 12:27pm.
Seattle - Amazon.com (NASD: AMZN) on Monday introduced the second-generation version of its Kindle e-book reader device, which features a slimmer design, 25% longer battery life, more storage, crisper images and a new text-to-speech "Read-To-Me" feature. At the press event today announcing the Kindle 2, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was joined onstage by author Stephen King, who penned an original novella, "Ur," exclusively for the new Kindle.

Springsteen Tops Amazon Sales After Super Bowl Gig

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 2, 2009 - 1:49pm.

Los Angeles - The day after his performance at Super Bowl XLIII, Bruce Springsteen is atop the most popular album chart on Amazon.com (NASD: AMZN), and is second on the iTunes Store's (NASD: AAPL) album chart, Wired.com reported. Springsteen told The New York Times that his motivation in accepting the Super Bowl gig was mainly to promote his new album, "Working on a Dream," which was released last Tuesday.

Amazon Beats Q4 Estimates; Stock Climbs Almost 7%

Authored by Jay Baage on January 29, 2009 - 1:26pm.
Seattle - Internet retail giant Amazon.com posted a healthy Q4 revenue of $6.7 billion and profit of 52 cents a share, which topped the Street consensus of $6.44 billion and 39 cents and the stock rallied almost 7% in after-hours trading.

Report: Amazon to Debut New Kindle E-book Reader Next Month

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 28, 2009 - 8:55am.

Seattle - Amazon.com (NASD: AMZN) may be set to introduce a new version of its Kindle e-book reader next month, Wired.com reported, citing a media event the company is hosting on Feb. 9 at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City. The first version of the device was released in late 2007, and Amazon has said the Kindle is one of the best-selling electronics devices it offers.

Analysis: eMusic and the Long Tail

Authored by Robin Goad on January 20, 2009 - 7:23am.

The online music retailer eMusic has put out some interesting data that, it is claimed, supports the famous “Long Tail” theory of online retail. Chris Anderson (picture), the editor in chief of Wired magazine, coined the phrase in a 2004 article, claiming that Internet retailers would sell more niche products at the expense of mass-market items. However, this theory was challenge in a recent study by Will Page and Andrew Bud, which claimed more than 10 million of the 13 million music tracks available on the Internet failed to find a single buyer last year. In response, eMusic has reported that 75% of the tracks in its catalogue were bought at least once in 2008.

New York Gov. Paterson Floats Tax on Entertainment Downloads

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 17, 2008 - 11:28am.

New York - New York Gov. David Paterson has proposed levying a new batch of taxes on digitally delivered entertainment services, such as music and video downloaded from iTunes, and e-books purchased for Amazon's Kindle device, The New York Daily News reported.

Oprah Winfrey Endorses Amazon Kindle E-book Reader

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 24, 2008 - 11:24am.

Los Angeles - Talk show and book club maven Oprah Winfrey endorsed Amazon's (NASD: AMZN) Kindle e-book reader as her "favorite new gadget" on her program Friday, according to reports. "I'm telling you, it is absolutely my favorite new thing in the world," Winfrey says in a post on her website. As a special offer for Oprah viewers, Amazon is knocking $50 off the Kindle's $359 price tag to those who enter the promotional code "OPRAHWINFREY" during the checkout process on Amazon.com through Nov. 1.

Report: iTunes Continues Dominance; Amazon, Rhapsody Gain

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 9, 2008 - 10:35am.

New York - While Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes Store continues to dominate the digital music market, Amazon's (NASD: AMZN) MP3 store and RealNetworks' (NASD: RNWK) Rhapsody made strides in terms of brand awareness and user preference over the past year, according to a report from market research firm Ipsos. Among users who were aware of more than one source for digital music purchases, 57% preferred iTunes -- an increase of 7% from a year ago. Meanwhile, 9% favored Amazon MP3, which has only been around a year, and 7% preferred Rhapsody, a 3% increase from a year ago.

Amazon to Expand MP3 Store Into U.K. Next Month

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 18, 2008 - 12:10pm.

London - Amazon.com has held a series of talks with U.K. record labels, and plans to launch its MP3 download store in the U.K. next month, New Media Age reports. The store was launched a year ago in the U.S., and currently offers over 5 million songs, from all four major labels and a bevy of independents.

tags: Music | DRM | Amazon | Amazon MP3 |

Amazon to Launch Content Delivery Network Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 18, 2008 - 10:10am.

Seattle - Amazon.com (NASD: AMZN) is preparing to launch its own content delivery network service, aiming to offer even smaller websites faster, more efficient delivery of their media and other content to end users, Webmonkey reports, citing a post on the Amazon Web Services blog.

tags: Video | Amazon | S3 | CDN |