Amazon
Although sales of digital music tracks are rising year-on-year, it's clear that U.S. music lovers are still spending most of their hard-earned cash on physical media. According to Nielson SoundScan (which measures point-of-sale of recorded music products), of the 316 million albums purchased stateside in 2012, 193 million were on CD, compared to 118 million digital downloads. Amazon has launched a new service called AutoRip that will save many of those spinning disc buyers the trouble of converting the just-arrived CD to MP3 for playback on a modern portable music player. Anyone who buys an AutoRip CD from the online retail giant will also get a digital copy free-of-charge. Read More
Philip M. Parker, a marketing professor at INSEAD (the European Institute of Business Administration), has written and patented a system that uses an algorithm to automatically compile data into book form. Between his works and those of his research group (ICON Group International), he has over 900,000 books currently for sale on Amazon. More than a smart search engine, his system only requires a few minutes or a few hours to scan the databases relevant to any given topic and organize that data into a technical report. Next stop? Romance novels. Read More
The smartphone market can be cruel. With Apple and Samsung making most of the profits, even established players like HTC, Motorola, and LG have struggled. Newcomers may face even longer odds. According to industry sources, though, Amazon is ready to take its chances with a budget-friendly Kindle phone. Read More
Five years after the release of the first Kindle, eReaders are still going strong. Despite the threat from tablets, many customers still love e-ink screens. If you're wanting to get in on the fun, the choices can be overwhelming. Let us help – with our 2012 eReader Comparison Guide. Read More
The budget tablet market is getting crowded. Ruled last year by Amazon, it now hosts products from Apple, Asus, Barnes & Noble, and Samsung. Amazon alone released three Kindle tablets this year, and they all start at under US$300. How does the best of those - the Kindle Fire HD 8.9" - compare to the Nexus 7? Read More
We can thank Amazon and Barnes & Noble for making tablets more affordable. B&N created the cheap seven-inch tablet with 2010's Nook Color. Amazon took the concept to new levels with last year's Kindle Fire. Now the two companies are back with improved models. How does the Nook HD compare to the Kindle Fire HD? Let's take a look. Read More
Tablets are everywhere. No matter where you turn this holiday shopping season, you'll see them. Apple's iPad is still in the driver's seat, but its field of competitors is rapidly growing. How do you sort through all the noise, and make the best purchase? Look no further than our 2012 Tablet Comparison Guide. Read More
Amazon's Kindle Fire filled many stockings during the 2011 holiday season. This year, though, its family of sequels have stiff competition. The most fearsome competitor is Apple's new iPad mini. Is it worth spending an extra US$130 over Amazon's 7-inch Kindle Fire HD? Let's take a look ... Read More
In the short history of tablets, one of the key figures has been the Kindle Fire. Before its launch, the market was basically the untouchable iPad vs. a bunch of geeked-up Android slates, collecting Best Buy dust. Then the Fire marched in with its familiar branding, Blackberry Playbook-inspired design, and – most importantly – rock-bottom price. A year later we have the inevitable sequel with two seven-inch devices – the Kindle Fire HD (7") and (upgraded) Kindle Fire. We take a look at how these two budget media devices stack up. Read More
Kindle Paperwhite vs. Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight
While Apple dominates the tablet market with its iPad, there are two big names competing for your dollars in the dedicated e-book realm: Amazon's Kindle and Barnes & Noble's Nook. Both have been around for several generations, and have closely followed each others' footsteps. This year both product lines saw a long-anticipated upgrade: backlit displays. This tech allows for easier reading in low-lit conditions, which was long the Achilles heel of e-readers. So how do Amazon's Kindle Paperwhite and Barnes & Noble's Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight stack up? Read More
