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Ebook

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A user viewing an electronic page on a prototype OLPC
iLiad in sunlight
iLiad e-book reader equipped with e-paper display
The books pictured above would use less than 1% of the device's memory.

An electronic book (also e-book, ebook, digital book) is a text and image-based publication in digital form produced on, published by, and readable on computers or other digital devices.[1] Sometimes the equivalent of a conventional printed book, e-books can also be born digital. The Oxford Dictionary of English defines the e-book as "an electronic version of a printed book,"[2] but e-books can and do exist without any printed equivalent. E-books are usually read on dedicated hardware devices known as e-Readers or e-book devices. Personal computers and some cell phones can also be used to read e-books.

History

Among the earliest general e-books were those in Project Gutenberg, started by Michael S. Hart in 1971. An early e-book implementation were the desktop prototypes for a proposed notebook computer, the Dynabook, in the 1970s at PARC, which would be a general-purpose portable personal computer, including reading books.[3] Similar ideas were expressed at the same time by Paul Drucker. [citation needed]

Early e-books were generally written for specialty areas and a limited audience, meant to be read only by small and devoted interest groups. The scope of the subject matter of these e-books included technical manuals for hardware, manufacturing techniques and other subjects.[citation needed] In the 1990s, the general availability of the Internet made transferring electronic files much easier, including e-books.

Numerous e-book formats emerged and proliferated, some supported by major software companies such as Adobe with its PDF format, and others supported by independent and open-source programmers. Multiple readers followed multiple formats, most of them specializing in only one format, and thereby fragmenting the e-book market even more. Due to exclusiveness and limited readerships of e-books, the fractured market of independents and specialty authors lacked consensus regarding a standard for packaging and selling e-books. E-books continued to gain in their own underground markets. Many e-book publishers began distributing books that were in the public domain. At the same time, authors with books that were not accepted by publishers offered their works online so they could be seen by others. Unofficial (and occasionally unauthorized) catalogs of books became available over the web, and sites devoted to e-books began disseminating information about e-books to the public. [citation needed]

U.S. Libraries began providing free e-books to the public in 1998 through their web sites and associated services,[4] although the e-books were primarily scholarly, technical or professional in nature, and could not be downloaded. In 2003, libraries began offering free downloadable popular fiction and non-fiction e-books to the public, launching an e-book lending model that worked much more successfully for public libraries.[5] The number of library e-book distributors and lending models continued to increase over the next few years. In 2010, a Public Library Funding and Technology Access Study[6] found that 66% of public libraries in the U.S. were offering e-books,[7] and a large movement in the library industry began seriously examining the issues related to lending e-books, acknowledging a tipping point of broad e-book usage.[8]

As of 2009, new marketing models for e-books were being developed and dedicated reading hardware was produced. E-books (as opposed to ebook readers) have yet to achieve global distribution. In the United States, as of September 2009, the Amazon Kindle model and Sony's PRS-500 were the dominant e-reading devices.[9] By March 2010, some reported that the Barnes & Noble Nook may be selling more units than the Kindle.[10] On January 27, 2010 Apple, Inc. launched a multi-function device called the iPad[11] and announced agreements with five of the six largest publishers that would allow Apple to distribute e-books.[12] However, many publishers and authors have not endorsed the concept of electronic publishing, citing issues with demand, piracy and proprietary devices.[13]

In July 2010, online bookseller Amazon.com reported sales of ebooks for its proprietary Kindle outnumbered sales of hardcover books for the first time ever during the second quarter of 2010, saying it sold 140 e-books for every 100 hardcover books, including hardcovers for which there was no digital edition.[14] In July this number had increased to 180 Kindle ebooks per 100 hardcovers.[15] Paperback book sales are still much larger than either hardcover or e-book; the American Publishing Association estimated e-books represented 8.5% of sales as of mid-2010.[16]

Timeline

1971
1985–1992
1992
1993
1995
  • Amazon starts to sell physical books in Internet.
  • Online poet Alexis Kirke discusses the need for wireless internet electronic paper readers in his article "The Emuse".
1996
  • Project Gutenberg reaches 1,000 titles. The target is 1,000,000.
1998
  • Kim Blagg obtained the first ISBN issued to an ebook and began marketing multimedia-enhanced ebooks on CDs through retailers including amazon.com, bn.com and borders.com. Shortly thereafter through her company "Books OnScreen" she introduced the ebooks at the Book Expo America in Chicago, IL to an impressed, but unconvinced bookseller audience.
  • First ebook Readers: Rocket ebook and SoftBook.
  • Cybook / Cybook Gen1 Sold and manufactured at first by Cytale (1998–2003) then by Bookeen.
  • Websites selling ebooks in English, like eReader.com and eReads.com.
1999
2000
2001
  • Todoebook.com, the first website selling ebooks in Spanish.
2002
2004
2005
  • Amazon buys Mobipocket.
  • Bookboon.com is launched, allowing people to download free textbooks and travel guide eBooks.
2006
  • Sony Reader with e-ink.
  • LibreDigital launched BookBrowse as an online reader for publisher content.
  • BooksOnBoard, the largest independent ebookstore, opens and sells ebooks and audiobooks in six different formats.
2007
  • Zahurk Technologies Corp. launched the first[citation needed] digital book library on the Internet: BibliotecaKlemath.com [1], loslibrosditales.com [2] and digitalbook.us [3].
  • Amazon launches Kindle in US.
  • Bookeen launched Cybook Gen3 in Europe.
2008
  • Adobe and Sony agreed to share their technologies (Reader and DRM).
  • Sony sells the Sony Reader PRS-505 in UK and France.
  • BooksOnBoard is first to sell ebooks for iPhones.
2009
  • Bookeen releases the Cybook Opus in the US and in Europe.
  • Sony releases the Reader Pocket Edition and Reader Touch Edition.
  • Amazon releases the Kindle 2.
  • Amazon releases the Kindle DX in the US.
  • Barnes & Noble releases the Nook in the US.
  • Bookboon.com achieves over 10 Million downloads in one year — placing the company as the world's largest publisher of free eBooks.
2010
  • Amazon releases the Kindle DX International Edition worldwide.
  • Bookeen reveals the Cybook Orizon at CES.[17]
  • TurboSquid Magazine announces first magazine publication using Apple's iTunes LP format.[18]
  • Apple releases the iPad with an e-book app called iBooks. Between its release in April 2010, to October, Apple has sold 7 million iPads.
  • Kobo Inc. releases its Kobo eReader to be sold at Indigo/Chapters in Canada and Borders in the United States.
  • Amazon.com reported that its e-book sales outnumbered sales of hardcover books for the first time ever during the second quarter of 2010.[14]
  • Amazon releases the third generation kindle, available in 3G+Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi versions.
  • Kobo Inc. releases an updated Kobo eReader which now includes Wi-Fi.
  • Barnes & Noble releases the new NOOKcolor.
  • Sony releases its second generation Daily Edition PRS-950.

Formats

Main article: Comparison of e-book formats

There are a variety of e-book formats used to create and publish e-books. A writer or publisher has many options when it comes to choosing a format for production. Every format has its proponents and champions, and debates over which format is best can become intense.

Comparison of e-books with printed books

Advantages

There are over 2 million free books available for download as of August 2009.[19] Mobile availability of e-books may be provided for users with a mobile data connection, so that these e-books need not be stored on the device. An e-book can be offered indefinitely, without ever going "out of print". In the space that a comparably sized print book takes up, an e-reader can potentially contain thousands of e-books, limited only by its memory capacity. If space is at a premium, such as in a backpack or at home, it can be an advantage that an e-book collection takes up little room or weight.

E-book websites can include the ability to translate books into many different languages, making the works available to speakers of languages not covered by printed translations. Depending on the device, an e-book may be readable in low light or even total darkness. Many newer readers have the ability to display motion, enlarge or change fonts,[20] use Text-to-speech software to read the text aloud for visually impaired, partially sighted, elderly or dyslectic people, search for key terms, find definitions, or allow highlighting bookmarking and annotation. Devices that utilize E Ink can imitate the look and ease of readability of a printed work while consuming very little power, allowing continuous reading for weeks at time.

While an e-book reader costs much more than one book, the electronic texts are generally cheaper. Moreover, a great share of books are available free of charge. For example, all fiction from before the year 1900 is in the public domain. Also, libraries lend more current e-book titles for limited times, free samples are available of many publications, and there are other lending models being piloted as well. E-books can be printed for less than the price of traditional new books using new on-demand book printers.

An e-book can be purchased/borrowed, downloaded, and used immediately, whereas when one buys or borrows a book, one has to go to a bookshop or library during limited hours, or wait for a delivery. The production of e-books does not consume paper, ink, etc. Printed books use 3 times more raw materials and 78 times more water to produce albeit they do not require a machine for use[21] Depending on possible digital rights management, e-books can be backed up to recover them in the case of loss or damage and it may be possible to recover a new copy without cost from the distributor. Compared to printed publishing, it is cheaper and easier for authors to self-publish e-books. Also, the dispersal of a free e-book copy can stimulate the sales of the printed version.[22]

Drawbacks

Ebook formats and file types continue to develop and change through time through advances and developments in technology or the introduction of new proprietary formats. While printed books remain readable for many years, e-books may need to be copied or converted to a new carrier or file type over time. PDF and epub are growing standards, but are not universal. The lack of a single universal standard could significantly affect the longevity of some works and their availability or readability in the future as a result of the format(s) used at the time of production.[23]

Not all books are available as e-books. Paper books can be bought and wrapped for a present and a library of books can provide visual appeal, while the digital nature of e-books makes them non-visible or tangible. E-books cannot provide the physical feel of the cover, paper, and binding of the original printed work. An author who publishes a book often puts more into the work than simply the words on the pages. E-books may cause people "to do the grazing and quick reading that screens enable, rather than be by themselves with the author's ideas".[24] They may use the e-books simply for reference purposes rather than reading for pleasure and leisure.[25] Books with large pictures (such as children's books) or diagrams are more inconvenient for viewing and reading.

A book will never turn off and would be unusable only if damaged or after many decades. The shelf life of a printed book exceeds that of an e-book reader, as over time the reader's battery will drain and require recharging. Additionally, "As in the case of microfilm, there is no guarantee that [electronic] copies will last. Bits become degraded over time. Documents may get lost in cyberspace...Hardware and software become extinct at a distressing rate." [26] E-book readers are more susceptible to damage from being dropped or hit than a print book. Due to faults in hardware or software, e-book readers may malfunction and data loss can occur. As with any piece of technology, the reader must be protected from the elements (such as extreme cold, heat, water, etc.), while print books are not susceptible to damage from electromagnetic pulses, surges, impacts, or extreme temperatures.

The cost of an e-book reader far exceeds that of a single book, and e-books often cost the same as their print versions. Due to the high cost of the initial investment in some form of e-reader, e-books are cost prohibitive to much of the world's population. Furthermore, there is no used e-book market, so consumers will neither be able to recoup some of their costs by selling an unwanted title they have finished, nor will they be able to buy used copies at significant discounts, as they can now easily do with printed books. Because of the high-tech appeal of the e-reader, they are a greater target for theft than an individual print book. Along with the theft of the physical device, any e-books it contains also become stolen. E-books purchased from vendors like Amazon or Barnes & Noble.com are stored "in the cloud" on servers and "digital lockers" and have the benefit of being easily retrieved if an e-reading device is lost. Not all e-booksellers are cloud based; if an e-book is stolen, accidentally lost, or deleted, in the absence of a backup it may have to be repurchased.

The screen resolutions of reading devices are currently lower than actual printed materials.[27] Because of proprietary formats or lack of file support, formatted e-books may be unusable on certain readers. Additionally, the reader's interaction with the reader may cause discomfort, for example glare on the screen or difficulty holding the device. Due to digital rights management, customers typically cannot resell or loan their e-books to other readers.[28] However, some Barnes & Noble e-books are lendable for two weeks via their 'LendMe' technology.[29] Additionally, the potential for piracy of e-books may make publishers and authors reluctant to distribute digitally.[30] E-book readers require various toxic substances to produce, are non-biodegradable, and the disposal of their batteries in particular raises environmental concerns. As technologies rapidly change and old devices become obsolete, there will be larger amounts of toxic wastes that are not easily biodegradable like paper.

E-books and software can easily track data, times, usage, pages, and details about what one is reading and how often. Similar to this is the growing amount of data available through Google search engines, Facebook, and through data mining. For the first time in history it is now far easier to track and record what specific people might be reading. The notions of privacy, private writing, solitude, and personal reading are changing.

Digital rights management

See also Digital rights management on E-books

Anti-circumvention techniques may be used to restrict what the user may do with an e-book. For instance, it may not be possible to transfer ownership of an e-book to another person, though such a transaction is common with physical books. Some devices can phone home to track readers and reading habits, restrict printing, or arbitrarily modify reading material. This includes restricting the copying and distribution of works in the public domain through the use of "click-wrap" licensing, effectively limiting the rights of the public to distribute, sell or use texts in the public domain freely.

Most e-book publishers do not warn their customers about the possible implications of the digital rights management tied to their products. Generally they claim that digital rights management is meant to prevent copying of the e-book. However in many cases it is also possible that digital rights management will result in the complete denial of access by the purchaser to the e-book.[31] With some formats of DRM, the e-book is tied to a specific computer or device. In these cases the DRM will usually let the purchaser move the book a limited number of times after which he cannot use it on any additional devices. If the purchaser upgrades or replaces their devices eventually they may lose access to their purchase. Some forms of digital rights management depend on the existence of online services to authenticate the purchasers. When the company that provides the service goes out of business or decides to stop providing the service, the purchaser will no longer be able to access the e-book.

As with digital rights management in other media, e-books are more like rental or leasing than purchase. The restricted book comes with a number of restrictions, and eventually access to the purchase can be removed by a number of different parties involved. These include the publisher of the book, the provider of the DRM scheme, and the publisher of the reader software. These are all things that are significantly different from the realm of experiences anyone has had with a physical copy of the book.

Production

Some e-books are produced simultaneously with the production of a printed format, as described in electronic publishing, though in many instances they may not be put on sale until later. Often, e-books are produced from pre-existing hard-copy books, generally by document scanning, sometimes with the use of robotic book scanners, having the technology to quickly scan books without damaging the original print edition. Scanning a book produces a set of image files, which may additionally be converted into text format by an OCR program.[32] Occasionally, as in some e-text projects, a book may be produced by re-entering the text from a keyboard.

As a newer development, sometimes only the electronic version of a book is produced by the publisher. It is also possible to convert electronic book to a printed book by print on demand. However this is an exception as tradition dictates that a book be launched in the print format and later if the author wishes, an electronic version is also produced.

There are some parts of the industry where there are particularly notable leading firms. In the general field of science-fiction and fantasy, Baen Books, an American publishing company established in 1983 by science fiction publishing industry long-timer Jim Baen (1943–2006) has a well-established position. It is a science fiction and fantasy publishing house that specializes in space opera/military science fiction and fantasy (though it does not restrict itself to these subgenres). It is notable for releasing books without DRM in a variety of formats, before hard-copy publication, and pre-releasing ebooks in parts before the hard-copy release. Many older titles are available for free, especially the first book in a series.[citation needed]

As of 2010, there is no industry-wide e-book bestseller list, but various e-book vendors compile bestseller lists, such as those by BooksOnBoard,[33] Amazon Kindle Bestsellers[34] and Fictionwise.[35] There are two yearly awards for excellence in e-books—the EPIC eBook Award[36] (formerly EPPIE) given by EPIC, and the Dream Realm Award[37] for science fiction, fantasy and horror e-books. Both awards have been given since 2000.

e-Readers

Further information: List of e-book readers and e-book readers

e-Readers may be specifically designed for that purpose, or intended for other purposes as well. The term is restricted to hardware devices and used to describe a category type.

Specialized devices have the advantage of doing one thing well. Specifically, they tend to have the right screen size, battery lifespan, lighting and weight. A disadvantage of such devices is that they are often expensive when compared to multi-purpose devices such as laptops and PDAs.

In 2010, competition sent the price for the most popular electronic reading devices below USD 200.[38]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Gardiner, Eileen and Ronald G. Musto. “The Electronic Book.” In Suarez, Michael Felix, and H. R. Woudhuysen. The Oxford Companion to the Book. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010, p. 164.
  2. ^ "e-book". Oxford Dictionaries. April 2010. Oxford Dictionaries. April 2010. Oxford University Press. (accessed September 02, 2010).
  3. ^ Personal Dynamic Media – By Alan Kay and Adele Goldberg
  4. ^ Doris Small. "E-books in libraries: some early experiences and reactions." Searcher 8.9 (2000): 63-5. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-66217098.html
  5. ^ Genco, Barbara. ”It’s been Geometric! Documenting the Growth and Acceptance of eBooks in America’s Urban Public Libraries.” IFLA Conference, July 2009.
  6. ^ http://www.ala.org/ala/research/initiatives/plftas/2009_2010/index.cfm
  7. ^ 66% of Public Libraries in US offering eBooks
  8. ^ "At the Tipping Point: Four voices probe the top ebook issues for librarians." Library Journal, August 2010
  9. ^ Bookeen Cybook OPUS | ZDNet UK
  10. ^ Nook outnumbers Kindle in March, says Digitimes Research
  11. ^ Apple - iPad - See the web, email, and photos like never before
  12. ^ Apple Launches iPad
  13. ^ USATODAY.com - J.K. Rowling refuses e-books for Potter
  14. ^ a b "E-Books Top Hardcovers at Amazon". New York Times. 2010-07-19. Retrieved 2010-07-19. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  15. ^ Fowler, Geoffrey A. (2010-07-21). "Amazon Says E-Book Sales Outpace Hardcovers". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2010-07-21. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  16. ^ Lynn Neary, Don Gonyea (2010-07-27). "Conflict Widens In E-Books Publishing". NPR. Retrieved 2010-07-27.
  17. ^ Bookeen debuts Orizon touchscreen e-book reader - Engadget
  18. ^ http://turbosquidmagazine.com
  19. ^ 2 million free eBooks
  20. ^ Harris, Christopher. "The Truth About Ebooks." School Library Journal 55, no. 6 (2009): 18. Wilson Select Plus. Online Database
  21. ^ Siegel, Lucy, "Should we switch to reading books online?", The Observer Magazine, 30th August 2009.
  22. ^ Giving It Away - Forbes.com
  23. ^ Advantages and Disadvantages of Ebook Publishing - freewritingadvice.com
  24. ^ Abel, David. "Welcome to the library. Say goodbye to the books. The Boston Globe, 4 Sept. 2009.
  25. ^ Noorhidawat, A and Gibb, Forbes. "How Students Use E-books-Reading or Referring?" Malaysian Journal of Library and Information Science 13, no. 2 (2009): 1-14 Wilson Select Plus. Online Database.
  26. ^ Darnton, Robert. "The Library in the New Age." 55, no. 10 (2008).
  27. ^ For instance the screen resolution of Amazon Kindle is 167 ppi versus 600–2400 ppi for a typical laser printer.
  28. ^ Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader Locked Up: Why Your Books Are No Longer Yours
  29. ^ How to loan ebooks on the nook with LendMe service | ZDNet
  30. ^ Print Books Are Target of Pirates on the Web
  31. ^ Case where Amazon remotely deleted titles from purchasers' devices
  32. ^ The Book Standard is closed
  33. ^ BooksOnBoard Bestsellers
  34. ^ Amazon Kindle Bestsellers
  35. ^ Fictionwise Bestseller eBooks
  36. ^ EPIC eBook Awards
  37. ^ Dream Realm Awards
  38. ^ Stone, Brad (2010-06-21). "Amazon and Barnes & Noble Cut E-Reader Prices". The New York Times.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Electronic books.
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