EBooks
From MobileRead
This page is dedicated to a general overview of "eBooks" and the relevant information needed to start exploring the related technology.
Contents |
[edit] Definitions
- eBook
- an electronic document that maintains many of the formating characteristics of traditional books.
- an electronic version of any printed work
- eBook Reader
- a device dedicated to reading electronic documents
- software written to read electronic document formats.
Also known as E-Book and various combinations of the cases for the first two letters.
[edit] Overview
Ebook users, and the surrounding culture, are interested with anything electronic and text based. Its acolytes are focused on such pursuits as open intellectual property, well archived accessible data, or things as simple as reading with one hand in the bathtub. The idea to ponder is, what happens when all text is accessible electronically, and is viewable anywhere.
[edit] History
As eBook Readers have a computer inside the beginning of eBooks begins with the underpinnings of the computer itself. Initially the idea of electronic text was not in the minds of early computer designers if the 40's. Early computers were concerned with number crunching. A 4 bit code was developed called BCD (binary coded decimal) to represent the numbers. By the 50's the idea of letters appeared but they only considered text useful for messages. Adding letters increased the BCD coding scheme to 6 bits (64 combinations). Uppercase letters and some symbols were all that was supported.
Meanwhile the electric communications of messages in the 50's were struggling also to solve some of their own coding problems. They were using a 5 bit code derived from the Baudot code with only 32 combinations. They used two of those codes to switch between numbers/symbols and letters. As communication hardware and computer hardware began to interact a better system for coding was needed.
In the 60's a committee was assigned to solve the problem and the result was the seven bit ASCII code that we still use today. An initial design was implemented in 1963 but without lower case letters. In 1967 this was corrected. Part of the design was to select a letter order for the coding that permitted easy computer sorting alphabetically.
By the late 60's the guys over a Bell Labs were designing a new OS justified, in part, by the need for a decent text editing capability to create electronic documents to be printed out. The result was Unix which used the ASCII coding scheme.
In 1971 Project Gutenberg began with the typing in of the "Declaration of Independence." It was followed by the "Bill of Rights" and then the full Constitution of the United States. When this was completed the Bible was entered one book at a time and finally the plays of Shakespeare.
In 1977 the home computer revolution began with three dominant players, Radio Shack, Apple, and Commodore. Again the need for electronic text was overlooked as Apple left lower case out of its original character ROM and Commodore hid the lower characters in a ROM that could only be accessed with an obscure undocumented Poke command and even then they operated improperly on the keyboard requiring a shift for lower case. Both Apple and Commodore corrected these errors later.
Finally, in the 80's electronic text began to get the attention it needed but still primarily intended to be used to produce paper books. A few eBook texts started to appear only in TXT format and some Bible Study programs appeared featuring reading and searching text on the the computer screen. In 1989 Franklin introduced a portable hardware device containing the Bible and portable eBook reading had arrived.
[edit] PDAs
As more portable computer based solutions appeared in the 90's the idea of reading a book on a computer began to take form. Apple coined the term PDA to stand for Personal Data Assistant with the introduction of the Newton is 1992. The acronym stuck but the D came to mean Digital rather than Data. Early Palmtop portable solutions were developed by Psion and Hewlett Packard using 8086 type processors.
Palm launched the PDA revolution with is Palm Pilot in 1996. Initially an eBook reader was an add-on to palmtop and PDA solutions. The PalmDoc format for eBooks appeared in late 1996 with eBooks in 1997. Microsoft started their own WinCE OS in 1996, initially for Palmtop computers and the PocketPC emerged in 2000.
[edit] eBook Readers
The Rocket eBook and the Softbook Reader were introduced in 1998. Both products were bought by Gemstar LTD. in the year 2000. Hiebook appeared in 2001 from a Korean eBook company. In 2001, Gemstar went on to replace the black and white Rocket eBook with a black and white REB 1100 and later introduced a gray scale GEB 1150, which is currently the eBookwise-1150. The large screen (9.5") gray scale Softbook Reader was replaced with the REB 1200 / GEB 2150 color devices. The Bookeen Cybook Gen1 device was also a large screen color unit that used Windows CE as its embedded OS.
The first e-Ink device, the Sony Librie, appeared in 2003. Sony replaced the device with the PRS500 in 2006 and with the PRS505 in 2007. The Bookeen Cybook Gen3 and the Amazon Kindle were also released in 2007. These all have 6" screens. The larger screen market is currently controlled by the iRex iLiad with its 8.1" Gray scale screen.
[edit] Trends
- birth of computers
- first "Internets"
- prodigy / online encyclopedia
- early PDAs and digital bibles
- PalmOS
- eBooks of the late 90s
- Tablet PCs - 2003
- e-Ink Devices -2003
[edit] Advantages
- The biggest advantage is convenience and choice. A user can carry an entire library of eBooks with them and then pick the one they want to read or jump back and forth.
- Visually impaired folks can increase the font size to make reading easier. And others may enjoy this feature due to lighting conditions or just to relieve eye strain.
- Portability means you can read at odd moments when you are waiting around. Or perhaps look something up if you have some references on your device.
- Reading is generally one handed.
- EBooks can be obtained via downloading instead of having to visit a physical store.
[edit] Current Problems
Too many eBook formats (See eBook formats) each with their own eBook software reader
E-Ink is the current state of the art in eBook display but it has some limitations:
- limited gray scale (not color and not even very many levels of gray on most devices)
- no builtin light. e-Ink can't be backlit and other techniques haven't been developed.
- page turns are slow and include a flash to black. (Users seem not to mind.
- DRM usage has restricted eBook readers to a single format for DRM'd eBooks.
- DRM itself is a pain for many users.
- Readers are too expensive for many users.
PDF is the most popular format for eDocuments but does not scale well to eBook devices.
Many books that users want are not available as eBooks.
