What is an eBook?
Written by gadget
eBooks
eBooks, or “electronic books”, come in many guises – popular contemporary novels, popular works of non-fiction, etc. – just like printed books. Unlike the printed equivalent, however, eBooks are not necessarily intended to be read from cover to cover. An eBook written specifically for the Internet, for example, may feature text that can be searched, by a word, phrase or subject, or may contain hypertext links to other sections of the eBook, itself, or to external sites on the Internet.
eBooks are available for download directly from the Internet, from our eBook Store, or can be purchased on CD, or DVD, and read on a computer, laptop or PDA (”Personal Digital Assistant”) screen, or on a dedicated device, known as an eBook reader ( See What is an eBook Reader? ).
Indeed, many eBook titles are in what is known as the “public domain”, and are available free of charge, from libraries, or from suppliers such as Amazon. eBooks also provide an avenue for authors to self-publish, if they so desire, making their work available to the general public for a small fee, without the need for an agent, or publisher, per se. The cost of publishing electronically is minimal, when compared to the cost of hard copy publishing, and – whether an author distributes, or sells, 1 or 10,000 copies of an eBook – no additional costs are incurred.
Current eBook Market Share
Despite several “false dawns” since the appearance of book titles on CD-ROM in the 1990s – a technology which, unfortunately, coincided with the advent of, and was quickly superseded by, the Internet – the market for eBooks remains small, at present.
The construction of sufficiently sophisticated, yet affordable, eBook readers has proved a major challenge for manufacturers – unlike digital music technology, which dates back to the CD, reading device technology is something new, and demands a more complex interface, and longer battery life – as has the standardisation of file formats and DRM (”Digital Rights Management”) systems across the industry. Adobe, Microsoft and Sony, amongst many other manufacturers have all introduced proprietary eBook file formats at one time or another.
To continue the digital music technology analogy, the development of eBook readers was also hamstrung by the fact that consumers need to purchase not only the reader, but eBooks to read as well; digital music, conversely, existed long before the birth of the MP3 player. Buying books, of any description, is something that consumers are loathe to do; a survey conducted in 2004 revealed that 34% of adults never read at all, and that, on average, we buy just 7 books per person, per year.
The Future of eBooks
The future of the eBook is not all gloom and doom, however. In fact, recent signs are very encouraging indeed. The arrival of the Kindle eBook reader, produced by Amazon, has, indeed, “rekindled” interest in a previously flagging market for eBooks and eBook readers, to the extent that at least 2,000 units were sold in the first few months of production, with a corresponding rise of 10%, or more, in eBook sales. This increased awareness of eBooks in general has also stimulated interest in downloadable eBooks for the original Sony Reader, released in 2006, which have seen increases of between 100% and 150% in the same time period. The Sony Reader PRS-505 is due to launch in the UK in September 2008, and – following its success in the United States, where it has been available since 2006 – can only help to promote eBook readers, and eBook technology in general.
eBooks have remained the preserve of a minority of enthusiasts, to date, principally because of the sheer inconvenience of the technology – the fact that eBooks needed to be read on a computer screen – but the advent of compact, portable, ergonomically designed eBook players means that the general public may, at last, be prepared to embrace what is, fundamentally, and highly attractive and useful technology. The fundamental challenge, of course, is to convince readers that they are as comfortable, if not more so, in holding an eBook reader – with its inherent technological advantages – as they are in holding a “real”, printed book.
It would appear, too, that eBook technology is attracting the attention of major publishing houses in the United Kingdom. Two of the largest, Random House, and Hachette – collectively responsible for 30%, or more, of the domestic market – have announced plans to offer downloadable eBook versions of all their best-selling titles, and this move is likely to covered by all the major publishers in the country.
Best Prices - Sony eBook Reader PRS-505
| Stockist | Product Name | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sony Shop | Sony Reader PRS505 | £189.00 | Visit Store |
| Play.com Electronics | Sony Reader PRS505 | £189.99 | Visit Store |
| Dixons | Sony Reader PRS505 | £193.99 | Visit Store |
| Advanced MP3 Players | Sony Reader PRS505 | £194.76 | Visit Store |
| Currys | Sony Reader PRS505 | £195.73 | Visit Store |
Copyright Gadget Heaven™
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[...] – such as Microsoft Reader, or Adobe Reader – that allows you to read an electronic book, or “eBook“, in the same way that you read a conventional, printed book. More often than not, however, the term [...]