An e-book (short for electronic book and also known as a digital book, ebook, and eBook) is an e-text An e-text is, generally, any text-based information that is available in a digitally encoded human-readable format and read by electronic means, but more specifically it refers to files in the ASCII character encoding that forms the digital media Digital media are usually electronic media that work on digital codes. Today, computing is primarily based on the binary numeral system. In this case digital refers to the discrete states of "0" and "1" for representing arbitrary data. Computers are machines that (usually) interpret binary digital data as information and thus equivalent of a conventional printed book A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of paper, parchment, or other various material, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf, and each side of a leaf is called a page. A book produced in electronic format is known as an electronic book, sometimes restricted with a digital rights management Digital rights management is a generic term for access control technologies that can be used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals to impose limitations on the usage of digital content and devices. The term is used to describe any technology that inhibits uses of digital content not desired or intended by the system. An e-book, as defined by the Oxford Dictionary of English, is "an electronic version of a printed book which can be read on a personal computer or hand-held device designed specifically for this purpose".[1] E-books are usually read on dedicated hardware A personal computer is made up of multiple physical components of computer hardware, upon which can be installed an operating system and a multitude of software to perform the operator's desired functions devices known as e-Readers or e-book devices. Personal computers and some cell phones can also be used to read e-books.

Contents

History

Among the earliest general e-books were those in the Gutenberg Project Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books. The project tries to make these as, started by Michael S. Hart Michael Stern Hart is an American best known as the founder of Project Gutenberg which makes electronic books freely available via the Internet. At least one version of each book is a plain text file that can be displayed on virtually any computer. Most of the early postings were typed in personally by himself. Today, the e-texts are produced ( 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.[2] 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 The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet Protocol Suite to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope that are linked by a broad array of electronic and 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 Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ: ADBE) is an American computer software company headquartered in San Jose, California, USA. The company has historically focused upon the creation of multimedia and creativity software products, with a more-recent foray towards rich Internet application software development with its PDF Portable Document Format is a generic computer term.[citation needed] The best-known PDF implementation is Adobe PDF, a file format created by Adobe Systems in 1993 for document exchange. The remainder of this article discusses Adobe PDF exclusively 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 Works are in the public domain if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all, if the intellectual property rights have expired, and/or if the intellectual property rights are forfeited. Examples include the English language, the formulae of Newtonian physics, as well as the works of Shakespeare and the patents over powered flight. 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]

As of 2009[update], 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 Amazon.com, Inc. is an American-based multinational electronic commerce company. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, it is America's largest online retailer, with nearly three times the Internet sales revenue of the runner up, Staples, Inc., as of January 2010 Kindle Amazon Kindle is a software and hardware platform developed by Amazon.com for the rendering and displaying of e-books and other digital media. Three hardware devices, known as "Kindle", "Kindle 2", and "Kindle DX" support this platform. Kindle software applications exist for Windows, iOS, BlackBerry, Mac OS X and model and Sony Sony Corporation (TYO: 6758, NYSE: SNE), or commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate with revenue exceeding ¥ 7.730.0 trillion, or $78.88 billion U.S. (FY2008). Sony is one of the leading manufacturers of electronics,'s PRS-500 The Sony Reader is an e-book reader. It uses an electronic paper display developed by E Ink Corporation that has 166 dpi resolution, eight levels of grayscale, is viewable in direct sunlight, requires no power to maintain a static image, and is usable in portrait or landscape orientation. The reader uses an iTunes Store-like interface to purchase were the dominant ereading devices [3]. By March 2010, some reported that the Barnes & Noble nook The Barnes & Noble Nook is an electronic book reader developed by Barnes & Noble, based on the Android platform. The device was announced in the United States on 20 October 2009, and was released 30 November 2009 for US$259. The nook includes Wi-Fi and AT&T 3G wireless connectivity, a six inch E Ink display, and a separate, smaller may be selling more units than the Kindle[4]. On January 27, 2010 Apple, Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and manufactures consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include Macintosh computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. Apple software includes the Mac OS X operating system; the iTunes media browser; the iLife launched a multi-function device called the iPad The iPad is a tablet computer designed and developed by Apple. It is particularly marketed for consumption of media such as books and periodicals, movies, music, and games; and for general web and e-mail access. At about 700 grams, its size and weight are between most contemporary smartphones and laptop computers. Apple sold 3 million iPads in the[5] and announced agreements with five of the six largest publishers that would allow Apple to distribute e-books.[6] However, not all authors have endorsed the concept of electronic publishing. J.K Rowling, author of the Harry Potter Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The main story arc concerns Harry's quandary involving series, has stated that there will be no e-versions of her books.[7][8]

In July 2010, online bookseller Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. is an American-based multinational electronic commerce company. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, it is America's largest online retailer, with nearly three times the Internet sales revenue of the runner up, Staples, Inc., as of January 2010 reported sales of ebooks for its proprietary Kindle Amazon Kindle is a software and hardware platform developed by Amazon.com for the rendering and displaying of e-books and other digital media. Three hardware devices, known as "Kindle", "Kindle 2", and "Kindle DX" support this platform. Kindle software applications exist for Windows, iOS, BlackBerry, Mac OS X and 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.[9] In July this number had increased to 180 Kindle Amazon Kindle is a software and hardware platform developed by Amazon.com for the rendering and displaying of e-books and other digital media. Three hardware devices, known as "Kindle", "Kindle 2", and "Kindle DX" support this platform. Kindle software applications exist for Windows, iOS, BlackBerry, Mac OS X and ebooks per 100 hardcovers [10]. 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.[11]

Timeline

Formats

Main article: Comparison of e-book formats

There is 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

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Advantages

Drawbacks

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.[25] 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.[26] 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]

E-books have their own bestseller lists, including those compiled by International Digital Publishing Forum, BooksOnBoard and Fictionwise.[citation needed] There are two yearly awards for excellence in e-books. The longest-standing and most inclusive of these is the EPPIE award, given by EPIC since 2000.[citation needed] The other is the Dream Realm Award, first awarded to speculative fiction e-books in 2002.

e-Readers

For more details on e-book readers, see List of 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.[27]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ Personal Dynamic Media – By Alan Kay and Adele Goldberg
  3. ^ http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10014045o-2000667842b,00.htm
  4. ^ http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20100426VL204.html/
  5. ^ http://www.apple.com/ipad/
  6. ^ http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/01/27ipad.html
  7. ^ Italie, Hillel (2007-02-04). [Rowling: No E-Book for Harry Potter VII "Rowling: No E-Book for Harry Potter VII"]. New York Times (Associated Press). Rowling: No E-Book for Harry Potter VII. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  8. ^ "J.K. Rowling: No E-Book for Harry Potter". Associated Press. 2007-02-05. http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/2/5/114757.shtml. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  9. ^ a b "E-Books Top Hardcovers at Amazon". New York Times. 2010-07-19. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/technology/20kindle.html. Retrieved 2010-07-19.
  10. ^ "Amazon Says E-Book Sales Outpace Hardcovers". Wall Street Journal. 2010-07-21. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703720504575377472723652734.html. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
  11. ^ }}". 2010-07-27. . Retrieved 2010-07-27.
  12. ^ http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/08/bookeen-debuts-orizon-touchscreen-e-book-reader/
  13. ^ http://turbosquidmagazine.com
  14. ^ http://www.law.stanford.edu/library/blog/?tag=2-million-free-ebooks
  15. ^ Harris, Christopher. "The Truth About Ebooks." School Library Journal 55, no. 6 (2009): 18. Wilson Select Plus. Online Database
  16. ^ Giving It Away - Forbes.com
  17. ^ Siegel, Lucy, "Should we switch to reading books online?", The Observer Magazine, 30th August 2009.
  18. ^ Darnton, Robert. "The Library in the New Age." 55, no. 10 (2008).
  19. ^ Abel, David. "Welcome to the library. Say goodbye to the books. The Boston Globe, 4 Sept. 2009.
  20. ^ Noorhidawat, A and Gibb, Forbes. "How Students Use E-books-Reading or Referring?" Malaysian Journal of Library and Infomation Science 13, no. 2 (2009): 1-14 Wilson Select Plus. Online Database.
  21. ^ For instance the screen resolution of Amazon Kindle is 167 ppi versus 600–2400 ppi for a typical laser printer.
  22. ^ http://gizmodo.com/369235/amazon-kindle-and-sony-reader-locked-up-why-your-books-are-no-longer-yours
  23. ^ http://www.zdnet.com/blog/mobile-gadgeteer/how-to-loan-ebooks-on-the-nook-with-lendme-service/2250
  24. ^ Print Books Are Target of Pirates on the Web http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/technology/internet/12digital.html?fta=y
  25. ^ Case where Amazon remotely deleted titles from purchasers' devices
  26. ^ The Book Standard is closed
  27. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/technology/22reader.html?ref=technology

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Electronic books
Computer sizes
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Mobile
Portable/Mobile data terminal · Electronic organizer · Pocket computer
Laptop Desktop replacement computer · Subnotebook (Netbook · Smartbook)
Tablet computer Tablet PC (Ultra-Mobile PC) · Mobile internet device (Internet Tablet)
Wearable computer Calculator watch · Virtual retinal display · Head-mounted display (Head-up display)
Information appliance PDA (Palm-size PC · Handheld PC · Pocket PC) · EDA · Mobile phone (Smartphone · Feature phone) · PMP · DAP · E-book reader · Handheld game console
Calculators Scientific · Programmable · Graphing
Others Single-board computer · Wireless sensor network · Microcontroller · Smartdust · Nanocomputer · Pizza Box Case
Electronic books
Formats ePub · FictionBook · Mobipocket/Kindle · PDF · eReader · XHTML · Plain text · LIT
Reading
Devices Alex Reader · Bookeen · computers · COOL-ER · Elonex ebook · enTourage eDGe · eSlick · FLEPia · Hanlin eReader · iRex · Kindle · Kobo · nook · Plastic Logic Reader · Samsung Papyrus · smartphones · SoftBook · Sony Reader
Software AlReader · Adobe Acrobat · Adobe Digital Editions · Aldiko · Bookglutton · Calibre · FBReader · Freda · iBooks · Lexcycle Stanza · Sony Reader Library
Editing Atlantis Word Processor · eBook Studio · eCub · Feedbooks · Sigil
Sources
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Paid Amazon.com · Barnes & Noble · ebooks.com · Fictionwise · Google Editions · iBookstore · Sony Reader Store

Categories: Books by type | Electronic publishing | Electronic paper technology | Web fiction

 

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