Electronic Book (e-Book) Watch
Last Updated January 8, 2000
Bob Jensen at Trinity University
Historical Timeline of Book Publishing
Microsoft Electronic Book Software
Barnes & Noble Deal With Microsoft Corporation
Bob Jensen's Commentary of Electronic Books
My January 11, 2000 Message
Historical timeline of books --- http://www.microsoft.com/READER/press/timeline_past.htm
Microsoft's view of history is biased. No mention is made in the historical timeline of the pioneering Rocket E-Book and the subsequent Softbook Electronic Tablet and EveryBook. See http://www.microsoft.com/READER/press/timeline_past.htm
Microsoft Electronic Book Reader Software --- http://www.microsoft.com/PressPass/press/1999/Aug99/SeyboldPR.htm
Microsoft Reader is the first product to include ClearType™ font-rendering technology. Developed by Microsoft Research, ClearType greatly improves font resolution on LCD screens to deliver a paper-like display. Microsoft Reader also pays strict attention to the traditions and benefits of good typography. It offers a clean, uncluttered display; ample margins; proper spacing, leading and kerning; plus powerful tools for book-marking, highlighting and annotation. It includes a built-in dictionary as well as a Library that can store and manage a large collection of books and other documents. It also features a flexible copy-protection system that allows publishers to distribute titles with protection from piracy and illegal copying.
Various publishers, book vendors and e-Book pioneers have expressed support for Microsoft Reader. "Microsoft is to be applauded for helping enable meaningful on-screen reading," said Michael Lynton, chairman and CEO of Penguin-Putnam. "This technology gives publishers and authors a better opportunity to reach readers with their titles in an electronic medium."
"It is the dawn of the age of the e-Book," said Steve Riggio, vice chairman of Barnes & Noble. "Microsoft Reader will vastly improve the readability of content on PCs and laptops and bring it to an installed base of millions of readers."
In his keynote address at the Seybold SF '99 conference, Brass predicted Microsoft Reader would change the pace of electronic book adoption by enabling hundreds of millions of existing PCs and laptops to function as high-quality e-Books.
"In less than 15 years, more than half of all titles sold will be electronic," Brass told the conference audience in his address. "Advances in computer displays and storage have made electronic reading possible; Microsoft Reader will make it widespread and profitable."
"Until now, the lack of readability on a typical PC or note-Book display has been the biggest obstacle to the widespread adoption of emerging technologies, such as electronic books, that emphasize continuous, long-duration reading on screen." Brass said. "With Microsoft Reader and ClearType, authors and publishers will be able to present works of a very high quality, which consumers will be eager to purchase."
To ensure that customers have easy access to a wide range of titles for electronic reading, Microsoft is working closely with publishers, distributors, retailers and e-Book pioneers to establish standards that will nurture the fledgling electronic book industry. In October 1998, Microsoft joined with dozens of other industry leaders to create the Open e-Book Standard, which provides publishers with a common standard for formatting and preparing electronic titles.
Microsoft ClearType Overview
Barnes & Noble deal with Microsoft--- http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB947175881851550760.htm
Software giant Microsoft Corp. and online bookseller Barnesandnoble.com Inc. Thursday said they would create an online store stocked with electronic books viewable with Microsoft's new Reader software.
Barnesandnoble.com will open the "Microsoft Reader e-Book" store on its Web site by midyear. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
"The combination of barnesandnoble.com's online strength and Barnes & Noble's dominant retail presence will make Microsoft Reader available to tens of millions of book consumers in a matter of months," said Dick Brass, vice president of technology development for Microsoft.
Steve Riggio, vice chairman of Barnes & Noble Inc., which co-owns New York-based Barnesandnoble.com along with German media company Bertelsmann AG, said the bookseller envisions "a time in the not too distant future when there will be electronic versions of virtually every book in print."
I purchased a Rocket e-Book in July of 1999.. This allows me to download copyrighted books and journals that are available for purchase in hard copy but are not available on the web. I found the selection of books to be very limited, but I anticipate that more will quickly become available as the Rocket e-Book takes off.
The Rocket e-Book has a cradle that attaches to your serial port of a PC linked to the Internet. You can then set up your account and download books and journals online. Note that you do not have to be connected to your PC in order to use the Rocket e-Book. You only have to connect when you want to download some more books. You can also delete books and reload them from an online library of books that you have selected for possible downloading.
The portable e-Book device will hold over 4,000 pages (about 10 books on average). However, for about $99 it can be upgraded to where it will hold 32,000 pages (about 100 books). It has a built-in standard dictionary (Random House). You can point to most any word in a book and bring up the definition. You may not, however, install other dictionaries for more technical terminology. The battery is good for about 30 hours before you have to recharge in the cradle. Both the cradle and the e-Book are portable and do not have to be connected to a PC except for initialization of your account and for downloading books. The Rocket e-Book weighs 22 ounces, but it is easier to hold in one hand than a book. You can flip pages easily with your thumb while holding the book in one hand. Warning: old duffers who tend to doze should not drop the device even though they are prone to dropping books on the floor when they nod. It should come with a wrist cord. It does have a very nice carrying case. Its dimensions without the case are roughly 7 inches by 4.5 inches.
One nice surprise is that some books can be downloaded free as an enticement to purchase other books. For example, I am a mystery buff. I downloaded two mystery books (including one Agatha Christie book) for free. You can also download free samplers of books. The screen is monochrome, but the resolution is quite good. Old duffers like me can increase the font size. It will show the graphics. Audio is available, but the speakers are as bad or worse than laptop speakers.
With this gadget I will probably read books that I would not otherwise think of reading. The library list is pretty strong on the classics. It is weak on new books from publishing houses. Specialty books are available, but the selection is very limited. You should probably investigate what books are available before purchasing the Rocket e-Book.
Key web sites are as follows:
Franklin Electronic Publisher for Rocket e-Book at http://www.franklin.com/
Rocket e-Book Library at http://www.rocket-library.com/
Barnes
& Noble e-Books at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/bookshelf/e-Books/epub1.asp
There are a slew of new Rocket editions you can download from:
http://www.powells.com
http://www.bn.com
http://www.ecampus.com
Another E-book device is called the Softbook Electronic Tablet from Softbook Press at http://www.softbook.com/index.html. Don Steinberg gives it raves at http://www.zdnet.com/products/stories/reviews/0,4161,368946,00.html . He claims that this device has the best screen resolution among the electronic book alternatives..
You can now purchase or rent them from netLibrary. See http://www.thejournal.com/magazine/vault/A2356.cfm
A veritable library of electronic books has been created on the Internet by netLibrary. At www.netlibrary.com you can search, view and borrow e-Books such as reference, scholarly, mass market and professional publications. The list of publishers providing content include: Grove's Dictionaries, Inc., Macmillan Ltd., National Academy Press, St. Martin's Press, The Brookings Institution and McGraw-Hill Companies, as well as many university presses such as Cambridge University Press, Columbia University Press, Duquesne University Press, University of Akron Press, University of California Press, University of North Carolina Press, New York University Press, Ohio University Press and Rutgers University Press.The netLibrary provides the services of a traditional library in that patrons have the option of either borrowing the e-Book and viewing it online, or viewing it offline by downloading it to their computer. Patrons will have to wait for e-Books that have been lent to other patrons before them. Some of the nation's major libraries are charter customers of netLibrary. Individuals and corporations may also become customers and check out what these cyber shelves hold. netLibrary, Boulder, CO, (303) 415-2548, www.netlibrary.com .
The Rocket e-Book was priced at about $300, but it is now much cheaper. Many books are free, and some journals are available. You must pay for other books, but the prices are quite reasonable. Most publishers also allow you to download free samples. About 500 books are available for the Softbook. Softbook users may also subscribe to the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. This would be much easier to read on a plane or train than the hard copy versions. The Softbook costs $599 whereas the Rocket e-Book is only $299 before academic or other discounts.
What amazed me are the books that can be downloaded free. I can understand getting free classics such as Alice in Wonderland, the works of Shakespeare, and a lot of Keats' poetry books. But the selected free downloads of Agatha Christie books and the Sherlock Holmes books surprised me since the same books are actively sold in book stores at prices that are not free. You can view many of the free selections at http://www.rocket-library.com/. Some of the free downloads are amazing and some appear to be garbage. It is nice that readers supply reviews of unfamiliar books. You can spontaneously submit your own reviews.
Updated on September 2, 1999:
There is now a memory upgrade ($99 until September 30, 1999) that will raise the number of books that you can store at one time from approximately ten books to 100 books --- an additional 32,000 pages of text and graphics. That translates to 100 more books on your Rocket e-Book! This powerful upgrade brings you the freedom of conveniently taking even more books, web sites and documents wherever you go. There are now about 1,200 books available for downloading for a fee and another $1,000 (many classics) that can be downloaded free. Along with the additional memory, you will also have a more extensive dictionary that has over 75,000 definitions with hundreds of new words and meanings.
http://www.rocket-e-Book.com/Auto/32meg.html
e-Books
Why do publishing firms like Rocket e-Book and Softbook?
Why are publishing firms afraid of electronic books in general, including web-based books? I think the primary fear is that authors are tempted to by-pass publishing houses by producing and distributing their own books. You can write your own Rocket e-Book, make it available to the world, and receive 100% of the revenues. Of course you can also write your own textbooks and publish them directly on the web. Professors Murthy and Groomer are going to demonstrate their great online textbooks at the American Accounting Association annual meetings in San Diego:
Sunday, August 15 (afternoon) Workshop 37 at
http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/99annual/cpe/99cpe37.htm
Their web site is at http://www.cybertext.com/
Will online books and/or e-Books replace hard copy on campus? Once again there is bad news and good news. Students probably will prefer reading from hard copy. Some courses need color images, especially science courses. Online books must be viewed on PCs or printed as desired on a computer printer. It is not possible to read e-Books on a PC or to print the pages. An e-Book must be viewed in a device such as Rocket e-Book or Softbook. It sounds a bit unlikely, but there are some advantages for students if and when their textbooks are available for e-Book and Softbook. These advantages include:
Immediate improvements would be wrist strap and a cord that prevents users from misplacing the stylus. Medium-term improvements would be a detachable keyboard (like the keyboard that is at last available for the Palm VII), a color screen, and a wireless modem connection that bypasses a PC when users want to download books. Long-term improvements would be to add a wireless digital phone and enough memory to store hundreds of books (coupled with a new fee arrangement based upon book usage rather than book downloading). One day these devices may be a part of wireless computers (e.g., a subset of the computer that cannot be accessed by other parts of the computer for copying pages into the computer's hard drive.)
I do not think that these devices will replace hard copy in this decade, but then I didn't buy a PC until 1990 --- I thought it would never be anything but a gadget for bored adults to play with in leisure time. I was a main frame die hard! Now I own an e-Book and have joined the "Boys-and-Their-Toys Club."
After posting the first version of the July 30 New Bookmarks on the AECM, Craig Polhemus wrote the following:
Here at the American Accounting Association, we are experimenting with both devices. (And also eagerly awaiting release of the Everybook [www.everybook.net].)
We of course are looking at them from the perspective of a publisher, though one less concerned about unauthorized copying than most commercial publishers. In this regard, the inability to "cut and paste" or print from these electronic books is more of a drawback than an advantage for us.
One aspect you did not dwell on is the (limited) ability in each system to add your own materials. For the Rocket e-book, you can add PDF files on your own -- but, due to the small size of the screen, essentially every table, graph, etc., would need to be re-formatted.
For the Softbook, you can add ASCII files on your own and can allegedly buy software (some of which is not really released yet) to convert HTML files as well. Unlike the Rocket e-book, the Softbook screen is about a full page, so tables and graphs that are already in HTML will probably look pretty good without manual re-formatting to fit another screen size.
I believe screen size is very important for professional journals, which is why I am so eager to see a functioning Everybook -- it is said to show two portrait pages at once. I envision this as being important to someone who wants to look at a chart or graph on one page while reading relevant text on another. (I do not know how easy it may be to transfer one's own material to the Everybook -- I've been told to "expect a response" to my inquiries of a month or so ago.)
So far, I have downloaded PDF versions of Accounting Horizons articles to the Rocket e-book and transferred ASCII versions of various AAA materials to the Softbook. The Softbook company has also promised to convert one or more articles from the online HTML version of Accounting Horizons to Softbook format -- I'll check tonight to see if they have done so. I will have both devices with me at the AAA Annual Meeting in San Diego, if any list members are interested in seeing them.
Ultimately, I think B5-sized note-Book computers will have all the capabilities of these early electronic books without the dubious "advantage" of restricting printing and copying text. However, for now the electronic books are about one-tenth the cost, and even after B5 prices stabilize it may be that copy-fearing publishers will keep the separate electronic book market alive as well.
(As a reader rather than a publisher, I like both the Rocket e-book and the Softbook -- with an edge toward the latter because of its larger screen size. On the other hand, the Rocket e-book's ability to present text either portrait or landscape is a really neat feature! I read several books on the Softbook on the way to and from the AAA First Globalization Conference in Taiwan, and although the Softbook is heavier than one book, it's much lighter than ten!)
Craig Polhemus, American Accounting Association [ AAACraig@AOL.COM ]
Especially note Craig's reference to the forthcoming Everybook Dedicated Reader described at http://www.everybook.net/. Everybook will have two screens that open up like a book. More importantly, they will be color screens (I don't know what this will do to battery life and weight).
Medical Professionals on the run can read their journals and reference books in full color, with easy-to-view charts, graphs, and formulas, as well as high-resolution photographs and illustrations.
Thanks to its cutting-edge technology, the EB Dedicated Reader™ is poised to take its place as the natural extension of the traditional book.
I added the following on October 12, 1999:
I received the following message from
Debra (Brown?) Messick. It may well be that Everybook will be the answer to
many copyright concerns of authors. Given the new electronic book standards,
it may well be that the library of the future will merely be an enormous
database in which we can designate pointers (sometimes free and sometimes for
a fee) for our own customized library table of books. At any time, we may then
download at will from that table. My Rocket e-Book now holds up approximately
100 books that I can download from my customized table of hundreds of pointers
to books (most of which were free selections).
Dear Bob:
Thank you for your interest in the Everybook Dedicated ReaderTM (EB).
We will be offering two models of the EB: · A Professional model with a screen dimension of approximately 8-1/2" x 11" and · A Personal model with a screen dimension of approximately 6" x 9".
The EB Professional model is anticipated to be in full production in June of 2000. It will sell for approximately US $1,600. plus tax, shipping and handling. The EB has the potential to pay for itself over time because of the projected discounts the owner will receive on every book title purchased -- 25-40% off list. The more books you buy, the more quickly the EB pays for itself and then starts saving you money.
Some of the features of this model include: · Two screens-each with an approximate dimension of 8-1/2" x 11" · 24-bit color screens · A rendered image of approximately 300+dpi · Two full page touch screens for easy navigation · Full annotation capabilities (highlighting, margin notes, full-page notes) and search features (hypertext) · Digital audio · Digital video · Phone line, Internet access to browse and purchase (no PC needed) · Removable storage card (different size options) which hold up to 500,000 pages · Discounted book prices enabling the owner of an EB to make back their investment over time.
The Professional model is designed to optimally display professional trade journals, manuals and reference libraries as well as college textbooks. In addition, all artwork, complex schematic drawings, charts and tables are displayed in their original format and context.
Our second model, the Personal EB Dedicated Reader is anticipated to be available in late 2000. It will have virtually the same functionality of the Professional model, but will have two smaller screens - each with an approximate dimension of 6" x 9" - that almost meet in the center so that the book can be opened flat and read as one single screen. This allows the user to read reference-sized material in its original format one page at a time.
The most important advantages that Everybook has to offer are:
1. The Everybook Dedicated ReaderTM is the world's first true electronic book. The EB's full-page, two-screen display is 24-bit color and 300+dpi rendered resolution. The other e-Books are really tablets since they offer only one small screen, gray-scale, 72-105 dpi, and very limited storage capacity. You can store up to 200 fully illustrated reference books or 2,000 novels on each of the EB's removable storage cards and no PC is needed for downloading. There are no monthly fees or minimum purchases required.
2. The EB is the only e-Book that supports PDF, the publishing industry's standard. The others, which use HTML, cannot display high-resolution photos, illustrations, charts, formulas, etc. With the EB, publishers need not pay to have books converted, since 90% of them already format their publications in PDF.
3. We are not striving to sell the EB to the "gadget" market. Our first model is geared toward professionals such as scientists, medical professionals, pharmacists, lawyers, engineers, architects, salespeople, business-to-business applications, and the military.
4. College students will be able to buy or lease an EB from their college bookstores. The EBs will come fully loaded with their textbooks, course packs, and required reading.
Nothing will ever truly replace the traditional book. Instead, we see the EB as the natural extension of the book, because it replicates all the things we love about books while adding mass storage, portability of your entire collection, frequent updating of information, and 24-hour-a-day access to the Everybook Store where you can browse, purchase, and download publications instantly. Book sales--and the number of titles available--will increase because titles will no longer go out of print or require a large market in order to make them profitable.
We have found wide acceptance of the EB because of its familiar dual-page layout, full-color images, and high-resolution display of page layouts in their original format. Publishers find that we understand their requirements and they appreciate the fact that we are the only e-Book manufacturer that supports the PDF file format. We are not forcing a computer-based paradigm on them; instead, we studied their needs and built an electronic book system around them.
An estimated 90% of publishers have been electronically formatting their books in Adobe System's PDF file format for the production of traditional books. This makes PDF the de facto publishing industry standard for electronic books. Using PDF gives us access to the 10 to 15 years' worth of printed publications and eliminates the cost of conversion. We offer publishers a no-risk, low-cost distribution of their publications, with secure copyright protection, and sales incomes 60-90 days faster than current standards.
We plan to sell EBs directly from our web site, through professional associations, college bookstores, and through licensing agreements with entities such as corporations and the military.
If you have any additional questions, please feel free to write.
Regards, Debra G. Messick
Sales Consultant
http://www.everybook.net/
717-939-3995 ext. 101