Brace yourself for the next salvo in the battle of the ebook readers (or electronic reading devices, or e-reader, or whatever you want to call them).

Barnes & Noble is planning a “major event” next Tuesday in New York to announce a mystery… something.

The bookseller won’t say exactly what it will announce, but we’d be surprised if its NOT a digital book reader, to compete with Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s Reader series.

In fact, Gizmodo says it has the goods on the device — which it says has “a multi-touch display like an iPhone” — and picture of the device. Click the link and take a look.

What do you think of this device (which may or may not be the actual product)? For that matter, what do you think about e-readers? Are you ready to buy one?

Let us know in the comment area.

Hey Brian Dunn, CEO of gadget lover’s cathedral top electronics retailer Best Buy, what’s on your short list of five great bang-for-your-buck devices for this holiday season?
(Thanks to the CNN Money reporter for asking this question at a press conference today)

DUNN: My short list?

* (First), on my personal short list — a netbook is definitely on my short list - and by the way it’s a companion device. It’s lightweight, it’s small, it’s great to take on a quick trip.
* (Second) I think the HD Instinct is a very interesting smartphone. [Mediafile: That's Samsung's Instinct HD]
* (Third) I love my Flip HD camcorder. That’s a great piece.
* Four, I really love the Ultra Thin OLED TVs are cool. [Mediafile: Um, cool yes. Bang for Buck? At about $2,000 for an 11-inch screen, let's just leave it at cool and move on. mkay?]
* The fifth one, of course, is a gift card , that I can give to the people I love, so they can get whatever it is they want.

Well played, Brian. Well Played.

Ultraportable, Web-centric netbooks PCs have been on the market for a relatively short amount of time, but prices continue to fall, as new models flood the market and wireless carriers move to subsidize the purchase cost.

And now, in what is likely a sign of things to come, a netbook can be had for mere pocket change.

Best Buy is currently offering an HP netbook — the  Compaq Mini 110c-1040DX — for the low-low price of 99 cents with the purchase of a 2-year data plan from Sprint. AT&T and Verizon already offer similar subsidies for netbooks–just not so steep. The same netbook will cost you $200 with 2-year activation with Verizon or AT&T. And without a contract, the device will run you $390.

Although the Compaq netbook — a 10-inch device with an Intel Atom processor, a 16-gigabyte solid-state drive and a Webcam — costs less than a pack of gum, the data plan will pinch the pocketbook. Sprint charges $60 a month for a 3G plan that includes 5 GB of data.

Still, if Sprint’s 99-cent netbook gambit finds enough takers, expect to see more and more offers like it popping up.

Brian Dunn, who is set to become Best Buy's CEO next week, has his own example of what it means to be connected in today's digital age.

When he was visiting London a few weeks ago, Dunn watched the L.A. Lakers take on the Utah Jazz in the NBA playoffs on his notebook computer.  His three sons, who are also big basketball fans, were watching the game on TV at home, Dunn said.  They kept in touch using Skype to have a video chat.

As Dunn told Reuters, the boys were whispering to him, worried that their mother would hear that they were up too late.

"I'm across the Atlantic, but I'm connected to my sons, watching the game.  It's like the most pristine example I have right now of what this connected world means for people."

Maybe if more people tried to stay connected it could drive sales at Best Buy.  The retailer's first-quarter revenue rose less than Wall Street expected and its shares fell on Tuesday.

(Reuters photo)

It’s Napster’s 10th birthday today. How time flies when you’re disintermediating an industry.

In that short time, the music industry has changed somewhat — somewhat on its head. It all started with Napster’s launch on June 1st, 1999 by college student Shawn Fanning (right, in 2001). The file-sharing service changed the way generations of fans would perceive the value of music i.e., pretty much equal to zero.

In the wake of the original Napster’s demise by way of label lawsuits, there have been scores of digital music start-ups, both illegal and legal, that have tried to replicate original Napster’s popularity. Some have surpassed it in sheer customer volume as broadband penetration has grown to mainstream proportions, but few can claim to have genuinely become a by-word for how an entire business sector potentially could be eradicated.

The sector in this case is the traditional recorded music business. Other businesses like TV, movies, books, cable and of course newspapers, are trying to figure out what the labels did wrong when Napster came knocking in 1999. Should they have tried to work with Napster rather than shut it down?

The music industry is now getting more flexible as we pointed out in our earlier blog today, and here’s hoping it’s not all too late. After Napster was sued out of existence, its brand was bought and relaunched by current CEO Chris Gorog (left, 2006) and his team. US electronics retailer Best Buy bought Napster last October for $54 million net of cash. Last month Napster started offering an all-you-can-stream plus five download songs for $5 a month, which Gorog really believes is as close to the original and popular Napster as he’s going to get legally.

Here’s Gorog on the Napster blog discussing those 10 years and the future of the music industry.

(Photos: Reuters)

After scoring one of the biggest exclusive deals in music retailing in a long while-- or at least since Wal Mart snagged the exclusive for the new AC/DC opus "Black Ice" earlier this year-- Best Buy began selling the long awaited new recording by Guns n' Roses, "Chinese Democracy," on Sunday.

But stepping down the escalator at the chain's Chelsea story in New York City on Sunday, when a more than 17 year wait for original Guns n Roses material ended, it would have been easy to walk by the modest display box with the Chinese Democracy CDs and vinyl LP's. There were few other signs of CDs being available, and the store was not blasting it on the P.A. system as a record store would have back in the old days.

It was a far cry from the scenes in 1991, when fans waited in long lines outside record stores in cities around the world for the band's "Use Your Illusion" two-CD set.

But then again, 1991 was a long time before iTunes, Apple's online music store, made its debut. While Best Buy has the exclusive on "Chinese Democracy" in actual stores, the 14-song set is available on iTunes too, unlike the AC/DC record which can only be bought at Wal-Mart stores (and to accommodate Wal-Mart free New York City, at MTV's store in Times Square.)

And for all the quiet at the Chelsea store on Sunday afternoon, the new Guns n Roses is a clear early hit, with iTunes on Monday morning ranking it the #1 album in the U.S.

Either way, we'll know how well the CD did both online and at Best Buy next week, when Billboard reports its debut on the record charts.

(Photo/Reuters)

The long-expected launch of MySpace Music is happening in drips and drabs. On Sunday MySpace and major music label partners in the joint venture said MySpace Music will launch with four big name advertisers: McDonald’s, State Farm, Toyota and Sony Pictures.

But MySpace still did not confirm when it would launch — though that’s widely expected this week.

In the meantime, several blogs, led by TechCrunch, report that the partners are seeking third party funding of up to $100 million for MySpace Music, valuing the company at around $2 billion. Reuters has not been able to confirm this through our sources yet.

Also, LA Times reports that Facebook’s former chief operating officer Owen Van Natta and ex-Universal Music exec Andy Schuon are said to be in the running to be chief executive of MySpace Music, an appointment that MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe had hoped would be confirmed by now.

 Keep an eye on:

• Best Buy agrees to buy Napster for $121 million (Reuters)
• Electronic Arts ends merger talks with Take Two (Reuters)
• AT&T will ‘temporarily reduce’ broadband speeds (Ars Technica)

(Reuters photo of Chris DeWolfe)