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November 6, 2000 E-Books |
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Tidbit ArchiveLast Week's Tidbit -- U.S. Presidential Candidates' Views on Science and Technology
| E-books, depending on whom you ask, are either the most important
development in publishing since the Gutenberg printing press or an
idea whose time has not yet come. In fact, they may be both of these
things. If the barriers that have so far kept electronic books from
breaking out of a rather small niche can be overcome, they might ultimately
grab a large share of the market now claimed by paper books. The
advantages are evident: a device such as the one pictured above weighing
about a pound (~0.5 kg) can hold up to 20 books in its memory--future versions
will no doubt carry far more. In addition, they offer the advantages
of digitized text: search capability, hotlinks, and built-in dictionaries.
And if you run out of reading matter away from home, no problem.
Just plug into a phone line, dial up an online bookstore and download something
new--no computer needed.
On the other hand, you don't have to be a technophobe to resist giving up the look and feel of an actual book in your hands, to flip through the pages, and to savor its totally non-electronic, non-mechanical essence. And you don't have to be a lawyer to understand authors' and publishers' concerns about losing control of their intellectual property the way musicians have through widespread copying of tapes, CDs, and MP3s. In addition, there is the matter of price. RCA's new ebooks (see below) start at $300 and run $700 for the color version. Developers are working on these issues, offering platforms that mimic paper books and encryption solutions that protect copyright (at the cost of restricting the utility of the text to proprietary devices). It remains to be seen, however, whether these solutions and the entry of major consumer electronics firms into the field will make electronic books "the next big thing." |
Links:"Not a Bestseller, Yet: Can Electronic Books Get Over the Legal and Practical Hurdles?" by Doug Isenberg, Internet World, Nov. 1, 2000.
"Electronic Books: The Texts of Tomorrow," by Sylvia Carr, CNET, Sept. 29, 1998.
E-Book World. A confererence and exhibition in New York City, this week (Nov. 6-7, 2000).
Electronic Book 2000. Another conference, this one sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Information Standards Organization. It was held in Washington, DC, Sept. 25-27, 2000.
eBook-Gemstar owns Rocket-eBook.com and SoftBook.com and is providing the technology for RCA's new line of eBooks.
"The Pros and Cons of e-books: A Primer for Understanding the Latest in Publishing Trends," by Sheila Ochoa, CNN.com Book News, Sept. 25, 2000.
E-Books.org -- Information about reading appliances and related products.
Open eBook Forum. An organization whose purpose "is to create and maintain standards and promote the successful adoption of electronic books."
Project Gutenberg. The granddaddy of all ebook sites, dating back to prehistoric times (1971). Its purpose "is to make information, books and other materials available to the general public in forms a vast majority of the computers, programs and people can easily read, use, quote, and search." A huge archive of digitized materials, all in the public domain.
Other sources of e-books:
BookRags (classics to read online free, with notes for the motivationally-impaired)
Awe-Struck e-Books -- a wide range of titles to download to your Palm or Rocketbook.
eBookCity -- "your online resource for everything ebook." Includes some free titles.
BookDigital.com -- an online collection of 10,000+ titles in html.TeleRead -- "a plan to get electronic books and other educational resources into American homes—through a national digital library and small, sharp-screened computers that eventually could sell for under $100. The same idea could apply to many other countries. " An online equivalent to public libraries.
Microsoft Reader -- software "designed to make the on-screen reading experience as close as possible to reading a printed book, while adding active reading capabilities, instant access to content and storage of a personal library. " (Free download for desktop PCs and laptops.)
Google Web Directory's listings for e-books. Many of the links listed above are included, together with a substantial number of others.
E-mail your tidbit suggestions to ateich@aaas.org.Search for more on information on the candidates and technology:
