Tension mounts in e-reader saga

E-readers, those thin, portable devices that can hold the texts of hundreds of books and newspapers, were supposed to be a feel-good story for consumers this holiday season. Amazon dropped the price of its Kindle — which dominates the market — by about $40 to $260 as competitors introduced comparably priced alternatives. There also are Barnes & Noble's Nook, an expanded line of Sony Reader models and others from companies including Irex, Spring Design, Netronix and iRiver. Sales are expected to soar for the devices, which display text on a screen about the size of a paperback. So everyone lives happily ever after with a technology that could change how we read, right? Hardly. The e-reader saga is turning into a business thriller, as publishers and consumer electronics companies try to stop Amazon from amassing more power in this fast-growing field. It broke the digital market wide open in 2007 when it released the Kindle and offered thousands of e-books, including best sellers, priced at $10. Publishers "don't want Amazon to be the only game in town," says Jim Milliot, senior editor at Publishers Weekly. "They view e-books and e-book readers as inevitable, but they don't really know how it's going to shake out."